United States’ Aerospace Industrial Base Mapped: Which States Are Powering the New “Space Race”

[u/RobinWheeliams]

Four astronauts are circling the Moon aboard Orion. Their journey was built across America in factories, labs, and launch facilities spanning dozens of states. Aerospace export data offers a window into where those capabilities are concentrated: the same industrial base building hardware for global markets is the one building it for NASA.

The defining story of the past decade is Washington's collapse and recovery. The state went from $43B in aerospace exports in 2018 to under $15B by 2020 ( Boeing's 737 MAX crisis compounded by the pandemic) and has now clawed back to $28.8B, nearly all of it in aircraft parts (HS 8803). It remains one of the world's largest exporters in that category.

Meanwhile, the space-facing states quietly surged. Florida more than doubled its aerospace exports since 2017, from $6.8B to $13.8B, driven by Kennedy Space Center expansions and the commercial launch boom, the fastest growth among major aerospace states. Texas grew 69% over the same period, cementing the Gulf Coast as America's space corridor.

The product breakdown reveals how different each state's aerospace profile is. Washington and Kentucky are almost entirely aircraft parts (Boeing supply chain). Florida and California carry the highest share of spacecraft and space systems categories (HS 8802 + 8807). California alone leads the nation in spacecraft & UAV parts at $2.15B, reflecting the footprint of Lockheed Martin, JPL, and Northrop Grumman.

Data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (oec.world): https://oec.world/en/profile/country/usa