United States · NAICS 481 · Annual, 2025

Air Transportation in the United States

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 481 in the United States, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Air Transportation (NAICS 481) employed about 572,000 people in the United States across roughly 7,915 establishments, with average annual pay of $122,960.

Employment in Air Transportation in the United States grew 23.7% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 56.2% above the all-industries average in the United States. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 572,000. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for the United States are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 572,000Employment, 2025
  • 7,915Establishments
  • $122,960Avg. annual pay
  • 0.4%Share of U.S. jobs

The 2025 figures above are a DTG estimate: Estimated · 1.00. † Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Air Transportation in the United States, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 514,300 to 572,000.0200K400K600K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 514,300; 2005 500,500; 2006 482,200; 2007 491,400; 2008 490,600; 2009 461,800; 2010 448,300; 2011 455,300; 2012 459,000; 2013 448,800; 2014 446,300; 2015 457,900; 2016 474,200; 2017 493,500; 2018 502,900; 2019 505,400; 2020 462,500; 2021 459,400; 2022 509,500; 2023 551,900; 2024 565,200; 2025 572,000.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025571,9517,915$122,961 1.2%est. · 1.00
2024565,2327,741$118,845 2.4%est. · 1.00
2023551,9407,335$107,882 8.3%est. · 1.00
2022509,4786,801$97,837 10.9%est. · 1.00
2021459,4416,300$92,947 0.7%est. · 1.00
2020462,5346,061$91,592 8.5%est. · 1.00
2019505,4455,990$90,260 0.5%est. · 1.00
2018502,9165,875$88,707 1.9%est. · 1.00
2017493,4635,794$87,040 4.1%est. · 1.00
2016474,2295,812$84,491 3.6%est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Air Transportation in the United States, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for air transportation in the United States. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.