California · NAICS 481 · Annual, 2025

Air Transportation in California

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

In 2025, Air Transportation (NAICS 481) employed about 58,600 people in California across roughly 621 establishments, with average annual pay of $129,800.

Employment in Air Transportation in California grew 10.9% from 2020 to 2025. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for California are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 58,600Employment, 2025
  • 621Establishments
  • $129,800Avg. annual pay
  • 0.3%Share of California jobs
  • 0.88Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Air Transportation in California, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 50,700 to 58,600.020K40K60K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 50,700; 2005 47,600; 2006 44,700; 2007 45,700; 2008 46,400; 2009 42,500; 2010 40,800; 2011 41,200; 2012 42,700; 2013 43,800; 2014 43,900; 2015 47,500; 2016 51,200; 2017 54,400; 2018 56,400; 2019 58,600; 2020 52,800; 2021 50,300; 2022 53,700; 2023 56,400; 2024 58,300; 2025 58,600.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
202558,557621$129,796 0.4%pub.
202458,343618$125,577 3.5%pub.
202356,374609$113,996 4.9%pub.
202253,744597$103,318 6.8%pub.
202150,338601$98,789 4.6%pub.
202052,785597$97,643 9.9%pub.
201958,577584$97,074 3.8%pub.
201856,436557$94,528 3.7%pub.
201754,443525$92,515 6.4%pub.
201651,179513$87,645 7.7%pub.

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 California, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for air transportation in California. 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.