Impacts on the Economy

In 2022, NASA published an Economic Impact Report, the first part of which presents the estimation of NASA impacts on the US, each of the 50 states, and Washington D.C. for the Fiscal Year 2021.  In 2021, NASA was granted $23.3 billion, and generated more than $71.2 billion in total economic output (with an estimated $7.9 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues). This economic output has direct impacts on governments and citizens alike. Increased tax revenues allow the government to invest more money into infrastructure, education, public services, and social programs. 

Out of the roughly 10,000 private space companies across the globe, around 5,582 are located within the U.S. Although there is no data specific to the industry in the U.S., in 2022 the global space industry made $426.6 billion in revenue. Revenue and investments made into the space sector are important contributors to the stimulation of the economy. As competition between private space companies increases to keep up with growing demands for commercial space services, the expansion of the industry contributes to many of the same benefits previously discussed in relation to NASA, such as better infrastructure and services for the people. 

As of Fiscal Year 2021, NASA alone supported roughly 340,000 jobs nationwide. Alongside this, as of 2020, the private space industry supported around 150,000 jobs. As the industry expands, the jobs provided by these companies are not solely reserved to areas such as mathematics, physics, engineering, but also extend into construction, manufacturing, and other trade based fields. Around 50% of salaries at NASA are above $117,000, compared to the private space sector's average salary of $123,000. Both of these are significantly higher than the average salary in the US of $59,000.

“NASA has 700 different active partnerships with non-federal U.S. partners and partnerships in 44 of 50 states”. These partnerships and the money private companies can gain from them add incentive and competition to the industry. Competition can lead to higher wages, increase in the quality of products, and further stimulation of the economy.