New Mexico·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-2011

Best Aerospace Engineer programs in New Mexico, ranked by enrollment

Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture.

4 schools in New Mexico run programs that feed this job, graduating 568 people a year. The job pays a median of $132,850 in New Mexico across about 570 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDesign EngineerSystems EngineerAerospace EngineerFlight Test EngineerEngineerDynamicistTest AnalystTest Engineer
Graduates / yr
568
in New Mexico
Median pay · New Mexico
$132,850
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
570
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
45%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Mexico that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in New Mexico that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Mexico (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New Mexico page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1328
57.7%
4$70,724$24,833
2151
26.6%
3$77,636$25,000
389
15.7%
1$72,210$25,000

Top 4 schools in New Mexico

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 4 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1New Mexico State University - Main Campus
Las Cruces, NM Public · 3 feeder programs
291Mechanical Engineering$62,81355%89%
2University of New Mexico - Main Campus
Albuquerque, NM Public · 2 feeder programs
183Mechanical Engineering$61,61155%95%
3New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Socorro, NM Public · 2 feeder programs
93Mechanical Engineering$57,42457%44%
4Navajo Technical University
Crownpoint, NM Public · 1 feeder programs
1Mechanical Engineering12%

All 4 schools in New Mexico

Every school in New Mexico with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in New Mexico that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
New Mexico State University - Main CampusLas CrucesPublic2913
University of New Mexico - Main CampusAlbuquerquePublic1832
New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologySocorroPublic932
Navajo Technical UniversityCrownpointPublic11

What aerospace engineers earn in New Mexico

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in New Mexico
$132,850
Mean annual
$141,430
Jobs in state
570
What the range looks like
10th pct$97,350Median$132,85090th pct$195,110
Versus the national median
-1.6%

U.S. median $134,960. New Mexico pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.51×

Concentrated here: New Mexico employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM
$132,850median
290 jobs
Las Cruces, NM
$136,860median
70 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+6.1%
Faster than average
Openings per year
4,500
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
4,400
71,600 → 75,900
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Aerospace Engineers page.

How to become a Aerospace Engineer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingScienceReading ComprehensionSpeakingWritingActive Listening

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in New Mexico

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Aerospace Engineers5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 14.0201Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General
  • 14.0202Astronautical Engineering
  • 14.0299Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, Other
  • 14.1001Electrical and Electronics Engineering
  • 14.1901Mechanical Engineering

Common questions

Answers for people weighing aerospace engineers programs in New Mexico.

What degree do you need to become an Aerospace Engineer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Mechanical Engineering, which awarded 328 degrees in New Mexico in 2024-25, 57.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Aerospace Engineer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mechanical Engineering, Electrical, Aerospace. Together they graduate about 568 people a year in New Mexico.

How much do aerospace engineers earn in New Mexico?+

The median is $132,850 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.6% below the U.S. median of $134,960. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for aerospace engineers growing?+

BLS projects a +6.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 4,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New Mexico?+

4 institutions in New Mexico reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do aerospace engineers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Design Engineer, Systems Engineer, Aerospace Engineer, Flight Test Engineer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-2011.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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