Short answer
Florida had 174 aerospace product and parts manufacturing establishments in 2023, employing 20,215 people on a $2.18 billion payroll (Census County Business Patterns), second among states after California. 106 have fewer than 20 employees. The Miami metro has 72 establishments; the Space Coast and Orlando hold the large missile, propulsion and space sites. L3Harris, HEICO and Redwire are listed aerospace companies headquartered in the state.
- 174 aerospace manufacturing establishments and 20,215 employees in 2023, 9.15% of the US total.
- Four space vehicle propulsion establishments employ 7,609 people, 38% of the state's aerospace manufacturing jobs.
- The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro has 72 establishments, mostly small parts and engine shops.
- Federal aerospace manufacturing contracts performed in Florida totaled $11.01 billion in fiscal 2025, fourth among states.
- L3Harris ($21.87 billion revenue), HEICO ($4.49 billion) and Redwire ($335.4 million) are headquartered in Florida.
On this page
This report is for buyers and engineers looking for a Florida aerospace supplier, job seekers comparing the state's regions, and B2B sellers deciding where in Florida to spend their time.
Florida aerospace in Census data
US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 3364 (Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing), State of Florida:
| Measure (2023) | Florida |
|---|---|
| Establishments | 174 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 20,215 |
| Annual payroll | $2,176,489,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 116.2 |
| Average annual pay | $107,667 |
| Share of US establishments | 9.15% of 1,901 |
| Rank among states by establishments | 2nd |
CBP counts establishments with paid employees (one company can have several), excludes the self-employed, and classes each site by its main activity.
A long tail of small shops
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 67 |
| 5 to 9 | 18 |
| 10 to 19 | 21 |
| 20 to 49 | 24 |
| 50 to 99 | 20 |
| 100 to 249 | 12 |
| 250 to 499 | 4 |
| 500 to 999 | 4 |
| 1,000 or more | 4 |
In broad bands, 106 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 44 have 20 to 99 and 24 have 100 or more. Florida has a higher share of tiny sites than California, Texas or Washington: 67 of its 174 have fewer than five employees. Even if every site under 1,000 sat at the top of its size class, the four largest would still hold at least 7,250 jobs.
What Florida makes
| Industry (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Other aircraft parts and auxiliary equipment (336413) | 84 | 2,812 |
| Aircraft engines and engine parts (336412) | 43 | 2,889 |
| Aircraft manufacturing (336411) | 37 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| Guided missiles and space vehicles (336414) | 4 | 442 |
| Space vehicle propulsion units and parts (336415) | 4 | 7,609 |
"Not reported (high-noise)" means the Census Bureau published a figure but flagged that its confidentiality noise changed it by 5% or more. Two more establishments aren't published by code. The striking line is propulsion: four sites with 7,609 employees, more than the 127 parts and engine makers combined.
Three regions, three markets
| Metro area (CBP 2023) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach | 72 | 3,621 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford | 17 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| Jacksonville | 15 | 1,434 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | 15 | 1,078 |
| Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | 11 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach | 8 | 129 |
South Florida is a parts, engines and aftermarket economy. Its 72 establishments average about 50 employees, and the same dataset counts 378 air transportation support businesses in the metro (NAICS 488190) with 8,920 employees, the maintenance and parts trading that serves Miami's cargo and airline traffic. Palm Beach County's 11 sites employ 1,907 people.
The Space Coast (Brevard County, the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro) has few establishments but large ones. Lockheed Martin's 2025 10-K lists Cape Canaveral for its Space segment, Northrop Grumman's lists Melbourne and St. Augustine for Aeronautics Systems, and Boeing's lists Kennedy Space Center. Space Florida, the state's aerospace finance and development authority, reports $3.3 billion of private investment in spaceport infrastructure across 44 projects since 2012.
Orlando is missiles, mission systems and simulation. Lockheed Martin lists Ocala and Orlando for Missiles and Fire Control and Orlando for Rotary and Mission Systems; Northrop Grumman lists Apopka for Mission Systems. The Orlando Economic Partnership cites more than $7 billion a year in simulation-related contracts in the region, a figure it attributes to the National Center for Simulation, and the Team Orlando military simulation and training alliance.
Listed aerospace companies headquartered in Florida
Each checked on the cover of its latest 10-K:
| Company (ticker) | Headquarters | Latest fiscal year revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| L3Harris Technologies (LHX) | Melbourne | $21,865 million (year to 2 Jan 2026) | About 45,000 |
| HEICO (HEI) | Hollywood | $4,485.0 million (year to 31 Oct 2025) | About 11,100 |
| Redwire (RDW) | Jacksonville | $335.4 million (2025) | About 1,410 |
| Coda Octopus Group (CODA) | Orlando | $26.6 million (year to 31 Oct 2025) | About 100 |
| Eve Holding (EVEX) | Melbourne | No revenue yet (2025) | 198 full-time |
Coda Octopus makes underwater sonar, so its SEC industry code (navigation and guidance) overstates its aerospace role. Eve is developing an eVTOL aircraft and reported only expenses for 2025.
Federal contracts performed in Florida
USAspending shows $11.01 billion of federal contract obligations in fiscal 2025 coded to aerospace manufacturing (NAICS 3364) with a Florida place of performance, fourth among states. Guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing accounted for $6.07 billion and aircraft parts for $2.94 billion. Lockheed Martin records total about $8.0 billion, followed by Northrop Grumman ($1,308.3 million), SpaceX ($673.7 million), Longbow ($228.5 million), Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace ($135.4 million) and CAE USA ($115.6 million). The record places obligations where the contract says the work happens and leaves out subcontracts.
Prospecting Florida aerospace companies, by region
| Region | Best-fit sellers | First contact |
|---|---|---|
| South Florida parts and engine shops | Inventory finance, FAA and quality compliance, logistics, ERP | Owner or general manager |
| Space Coast | Facilities, test, cleanroom, launch-site services, engineering staffing | Site operations and supply chain leads |
| Orlando | Simulation software and hardware, cyber and CMMC, engineering services | Program managers and subcontracts managers |
A South Florida shop selling replacement parts into the civil fleet needs an FAA Parts Manufacturer Approval under 14 CFR Part 21, subpart K, and a repair shop needs a Part 145 repair station certificate, so ask for certificate numbers. Defense work brings ITAR registration (22 CFR 122.1) and CMMC, where Phase 2 starts on 10 November 2026. Confirm AS9100 status in the IAQG's OASIS database.
Illustrative example. The lender and its loan figures are invented; the counts are from Census data.
Biscayne Parts Capital (biscayneparts.example) lends against aircraft parts inventory. Its market is the 72 South Florida aerospace manufacturers, which skew small, plus the larger pool of 378 aftermarket and support businesses. If 30 manufacturers fit its credit box and it closes a fifth of them at an average $400,000 facility, that's six facilities and $2.4 million of loans. It finds them through the federal and FAA records they already have, then writes to the owner. Bebop can build that list from a description like "FAA PMA parts makers in Miami-Dade and Broward with 10 to 99 employees".
State sources
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Space Florida | Spaceport investment, facilities and financing programs |
| Orlando Economic Partnership, aerospace and defense | Central Florida employers, simulation and workforce data |
| USAspending | Awards by recipient and place of performance |
| SAM.gov | Federal contractor registrations |
| IAQG OASIS | AS9100 certified sites |
Next step: see how aerospace fits the state's manufacturing base in the report on manufacturing companies in Florida.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns methodology (noise flags), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- L3Harris Technologies, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 12 February 2026
- HEICO Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 22 December 2025
- Redwire Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 27 February 2026
- Coda Octopus Group, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 29 January 2026
- Eve Holding, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 16 March 2026
- Lockheed Martin Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (Item 2, Properties), US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 29 January 2026
- Northrop Grumman Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (Item 2, Properties), US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 27 January 2026
- Space Florida, Space Florida, accessed 30 October 2026
- Aerospace and Defense, Orlando Economic Partnership, accessed 30 October 2026
- Advanced Search: prime contract obligations, FY2025, NAICS 3364, place of performance Florida, USAspending.gov, US Department of the Treasury, accessed 30 October 2026
- 14 CFR 21.301, Parts Manufacturer Approvals: applicability, US Government Publishing Office (govinfo), 1 January 2025 edition
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many aerospace companies are in Florida?
Census County Business Patterns counted 174 aerospace product and parts manufacturing establishments in Florida in 2023, employing 20,215 people, second among states after California. 106 of them have fewer than 20 employees. The count is of locations with paid employees and excludes maintenance businesses, avionics makers and engineering firms, so the full aerospace sector is much larger.
What are the biggest aerospace companies in Florida?
L3Harris Technologies, headquartered in Melbourne, is the largest listed aerospace and defense company based in Florida, with $21.87 billion of revenue in its latest fiscal year. HEICO in Hollywood reported $4.49 billion. Lockheed Martin, which runs large Orlando, Ocala and Cape Canaveral operations, had about $8.0 billion of aerospace manufacturing contract obligations performed in Florida in fiscal 2025.
Where are aerospace companies located in Florida?
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro has the most establishments, 72, mostly small parts and engine makers. Orlando has 17 and the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro on the Space Coast has 11, but those are larger sites building missiles, mission systems and space hardware. Jacksonville and Tampa have 15 each, according to 2023 Census data.
How much do aerospace manufacturing jobs in Florida pay?
Florida's aerospace manufacturing establishments paid $2.18 billion in 2023 to 20,215 employees, an average of $107,667, according to Census County Business Patterns. Pay is higher at the large Space Coast and Orlando sites than at small South Florida shops. The average blends all roles and uses employment in the week of March 12.
What does Space Florida do?
Space Florida describes itself as Florida's aerospace finance and development authority. It provides infrastructure, financing and workforce support for aerospace companies and reports $3.3 billion of private investment in Florida spaceport infrastructure across 44 projects since 2012. In August 2026 Florida was selected as one of seven NASA-designated Aerospace Workforce Hubs, according to its site.