Aerospace Engineering in Vermont

📊 Employment Overview

Vermont employs 130 aerospace engineering professionals, representing approximately 0.2% of the national workforce in this field. Vermont ranks #49 nationally for aerospace engineering employment.

💰 Salary Information

Aerospace Engineering professionals in Vermont earn competitive salaries across all experience levels, with an average annual salary of $107,000.

Note: Salaries are adjusted for cost of living and local market conditions. Data based on BLS statistics and industry surveys (2024-2025).

🎓 Schools Offering Aerospace Engineering

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🚀 Career Insights

Key information for aerospace engineering professionals in Vermont.

🏢 Industry Landscape & Top Employers

Vermont's aerospace engineering market — 130 engineers earning an average of $107,000 — is the nation's second-smallest (tied with Alaska and Wyoming) but encompasses work of genuine strategic importance. The Vermont Air National Guard's F-35A wing makes Burlington one of the few locations in New England where fifth-generation stealth fighters operate daily, and the proximity to Boston's world-class aerospace employer corridor gives Vermont engineers access to Massachusetts-market salaries with Vermont's distinctive Green Mountain lifestyle.

Major Employers: Burlington International Airport hosts the Vermont Air National Guard's 158th Fighter Wing — which transitioned from F-16C/D to F-35A Lightning II fighters, making Vermont one of the earliest Air National Guard units to operate the fifth-generation stealth fighter. Defense contractors supporting the 158th's F-35 operations employ aerospace engineers for aircraft maintenance engineering, avionics systems support, and mission systems sustainment. GlobalFoundries (Essex Junction) produces RF semiconductors that have direct aerospace applications in 5G radar systems, military communications, and satellite ground terminals — employing semiconductor and systems engineers whose work feeds into aerospace electronics. General Dynamics Mission Systems (Burlington area) develops secure communications and defense systems with aerospace applications. Beta Technologies (Burlington) is developing all-electric aircraft and eVTOL charging infrastructure with significant aerospace engineering depth — its ALIA aircraft has attracted military and commercial customers including UPS and United Therapeutics. Mammoet (South Burlington area) and other precision engineering firms create aerospace supply chain connections. The University of Vermont's engineering research programs have growing connections to Vermont's defense aerospace community.

Beta Technologies — Vermont's Commercial Space Age: Beta Technologies is one of the most innovative electric aviation companies in the United States — developing the ALIA fixed-wing electric aircraft with a range and payload that addresses real commercial and medical logistics needs. Beta's Burlington headquarters employs aerospace engineers for electric propulsion integration, aerodynamics, structural design, and flight test — creating a genuinely frontier aerospace engineering environment in Vermont's largest city that is unlike anything the state has previously hosted.

F-35 Air National Guard Operations: The 158th Fighter Wing's F-35A transition makes Vermont aerospace engineers part of the most sophisticated fighter operation in New England — maintaining and supporting aircraft with stealth characteristics, advanced sensor fusion, and avionics complexity that demand engineering expertise of the highest caliber. For a state this size, having an F-35 wing creates aerospace engineering demand and professional development opportunities that significantly exceed what the employment numbers alone suggest.

📈 Career Growth & Pathways

Vermont's aerospace careers offer advancement at the intersection of military fifth-generation fighter operations, electric aviation development at Beta Technologies, and the Boston-accessible defense aerospace market that Vermont engineers can reach through commuting or remote work.

Typical Career Trajectory:

• Junior Aerospace Engineer (0–2 years): $72,000–$96,000 — Entry at 158th Fighter Wing contractor organizations, Beta Technologies, or General Dynamics Burlington. University of Vermont provides engineering talent with growing aerospace connections. Vermont's proximity to Massachusetts aerospace employers (Raytheon, Draper, Lincoln Laboratory) significantly expands career options beyond the very small local market.
• Mid-Level Engineer (3–7 years): $96,000–$130,000 — 158th FW F-35 systems engineers with cleared backgrounds, Beta Technologies structural or propulsion engineers with electric aircraft depth, and VT-resident Massachusetts commuters advance through this range.
• Senior Engineer (7–12 years): $130,000–$165,000 — Technical authority at Beta Technologies or senior F-35 program engineers. Massachusetts-market senior engineers living in Vermont access Boston-market compensation with Vermont lifestyle advantages.
• Principal/Lead Engineer (12+ years): $165,000–$225,000+ — Beta Technologies senior technical leaders and Massachusetts-market principal engineers accessible from Vermont represent the ceiling.

Beta Technologies — Electric Aviation Career Frontier: Beta Technologies is attracting genuine aerospace engineering talent to Vermont by offering the specific opportunity to design and build from scratch an entirely new category of aircraft — fully electric, designed for real commercial operations, with no legacy constraints. For aerospace engineers who want to participate in the transition from conventional to electric aviation at the design level, Beta's Burlington operations offer a career environment of unique ambition and consequence.

💰 Salary vs. Cost of Living

Vermont's $107,000 average aerospace salary against a cost of living that — while elevated in Burlington — remains significantly below Boston creates reasonable purchasing power, with the state's proximity to Massachusetts market wages providing the most compelling financial case for Vermont aerospace careers.

Burlington Metro: Vermont's primary aerospace employment hub, with cost of living 10–20% above the national average. Median home prices of $385,000–$520,000 in Burlington and South Burlington have risen with remote worker demand. Engineers at Beta Technologies and 158th FW contractors achieve solid purchasing power, particularly for those accessing Massachusetts-market salaries while living in Vermont.

Smaller Vermont Communities: Engineers who work remotely for Massachusetts employers while living in Montpelier, Barre, St. Johnsbury, or rural Vermont communities access dramatically more affordable housing ($230,000–$340,000) while maintaining Vermont's extraordinary outdoor recreation access. The combination of Massachusetts-caliber aerospace salaries and rural Vermont costs creates exceptional purchasing power.

Tax Note: Vermont's income tax reaches 8.75% at higher income levels — one of the higher rates in New England. Engineers comparing Vermont to New Hampshire (no income tax, 90 miles south) should carefully model this difference, particularly for remote workers earning above the state average. The lifestyle difference between the two states is meaningful, however — Vermont's more rural, outdoors-oriented character may be preferable to New Hampshire's Boston-suburban tone for engineers who choose Vermont deliberately.

📜 Licensing & Professional Development

Vermont's aerospace professional development reflects its F-35 operations, electric aviation development, and Boston-adjacent defense sectors — with F-35 avionics credentials, FAA electric aircraft certification knowledge, and Massachusetts-market aerospace qualifications being the most relevant.

The Vermont Secretary of State's Office oversees PE licensure via the standard pathway.

High-Value Credentials in Vermont's Aerospace Market:

• DOD Secret Clearances (158th Fighter Wing): For 158th FW contractor engineers supporting F-35A operations, clearances are mandatory for meaningful avionics and mission systems work. Vermont's cleared aerospace community is small but stable — cleared engineers with F-35 expertise face strong demand.
• FAA Part 23 Electric Aircraft Certification (Beta Technologies): For Beta Technologies engineers, the emerging FAA certification framework for electric aircraft — including the new airworthiness standards for electric propulsion systems, battery system failure analysis requirements, and the specific regulatory pathways for eVTOL and electric fixed-wing aircraft — is a frontier professional specialization being developed in real time. Engineers who build expertise in electric aircraft FAA certification at Beta are creating credentials that will define a new sub-discipline in aerospace engineering regulation.
• F-35 Maintenance Data Recording / ODIN: For 158th FW engineers, deep familiarity with the Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN) — the replacement for the Autonomic Logistics Information System — and the F-35's health management system data interpretation is the operational knowledge credential that distinguishes experienced F-35 maintenance engineers.
• Electric Propulsion / Battery Systems Engineering: For Beta Technologies engineers, mastery of high-voltage aircraft propulsion system design — including battery pack thermal management, power electronics for motor drives, and the fault tolerance requirements for safety-critical electric propulsion — creates credentials that are transferable across the growing electric aviation industry nationally.

Education: University of Vermont (Burlington) is the state's primary engineering university, with growing aerospace connections through Beta Technologies partnerships and 158th FW community relationships. Vermont Technical College provides applied engineering pathways. Vermont's small size means most aerospace engineers in the state received degrees from regional institutions — UNH, RPI, UMass — before choosing Vermont for lifestyle reasons.

📊 Job Market Outlook

Vermont's aerospace market is expected to grow modestly, with Beta Technologies' ALIA aircraft certification and commercial operations representing the most significant near-term growth opportunity and the 158th FW's F-35 operations creating sustained defense engineering demand.

Beta Technologies ALIA Certification and Commercialization: Beta's ALIA aircraft is advancing toward FAA certification for commercial operations — with UPS committed to ordering up to 150 aircraft for package delivery and United Therapeutics ordering for organ transport. If ALIA achieves certification and enters commercial service, Beta's Burlington engineering workforce would expand substantially for production support, customer delivery, and fleet monitoring engineering. This represents Vermont's most significant aerospace engineering growth opportunity in a generation.

158th Fighter Wing F-35 Maturation: As the 158th FW's F-35A operations mature from initial operational capability through full operational capability, the engineering support required for Block 4 software upgrades, mission system expansions, and planned capability improvements creates sustained demand for F-35 systems engineers in Vermont's small but consequential Air National Guard aerospace community.

Remote Work Aerospace Community: Vermont's growing reputation as a destination for remote workers — excellent broadband infrastructure, beautiful natural environment, and improving amenities — is bringing aerospace engineers employed by Massachusetts and national companies to the state. As this community grows, it enriches Vermont's professional aerospace environment beyond what local employers alone sustain.

🕐 Day in the Life

Aerospace engineering in Vermont means supporting one of New England's only F-35 operations, designing the electric aircraft that will define the next generation of short-haul aviation, and living in a state whose covered bridges, ski resorts, maple syrup culture, and Green Mountain landscapes create one of America's most distinctive and authentic regional environments.

At Beta Technologies (Burlington): Structural engineers working on the ALIA's composite fuselage design review fatigue test data from the static test article — verifying that the carbon fiber wing spar attachment fitting has met its design life requirements under the cyclic loading conditions that replicate years of commercial operations. The engineering challenge is novel in important ways: an all-electric aircraft's propulsion system creates vibration signatures and structural loading patterns that differ from conventional aircraft, requiring the development of new analytical approaches alongside the standard FAA Part 23 structural substantiation methods. When the ALIA eventually delivers organs to transplant teams or packages to doorsteps, the structural engineers who analyzed every load path in its airframe will have contributed to a new paradigm in aviation.

Lifestyle: Vermont's lifestyle is genuinely incomparable in its authenticity and seasonal richness. The ski resorts of Stowe, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, and Killington provide winter recreation that draws visitors from across the Northeast and Canada — and Vermont residents ski on powder days and arrive at work by 10am. The fall foliage season transforms the Green Mountain valleys into landscapes of such beauty that photographers travel from around the world — and Vermont residents experience it as the backdrop for daily life in October. The farm-to-table food culture is not a marketing concept here but an agricultural reality — Vermont has more dairy farms per capita than any state, and the cheeses, maple syrup, craft beers, and farmers market vegetables that result create a food culture of genuine regional distinction. The winters are demanding but rewarding, the summers are glorious, and the springs with their mud season and apple blossom timing are a distinctively Vermont experience. For aerospace engineers who want a life embedded in natural beauty and seasonal rhythm rather than metropolitan speed, Vermont offers an authenticity unavailable anywhere else in New England.

🔄 Compare with Other States

See how Vermont compares to other top states for aerospace engineering: