Is NASA a good company to work for?

NASA has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5, based on over 3,241 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has increased by 1% over the last 12 months. 86% of employees would recommend working at NASA to a friend and 60% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about NASA have been left by employees working as Software Engineer(Internship) , Astrophysicist and Intern - Hourly .

Does NASA pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, NASA employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at NASA. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at NASA?

86% of NASA employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated NASA 4.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.4 for culture and values and 4.3 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at NASA?

Intern (290) , Aerospace Engineer (125) , Engineer (101) , Astronaut (95) , Internship (77) , Software Engineer (58) , Systems Engineer (38) , Software Engineer(Internship) (37) , Mechanical Engineer (35) , Engineering Intern (31) , Research Scientist (24) , Summer Intern (23) , Contract Specialist (22) , Astrophysicist (21) , Senior Software Engineer (21)

What are the pros of working at NASA according to real employee reviews?

"Great people and learning experiences" ((in 290 reviews)); "Work life balance is great when you don’t go through management and let HR inform them of any accommodations" ((in 93 reviews)); "This makes it easy to win the best place to work in federal government awards year after year." ((in 80 reviews)); "benefits are good and useful" ((in 65 reviews)); "Good work environment and people" ((in 56 reviews))

What are the cons of working at NASA according to real employee reviews?

"low pay and old buildings" ((in 146 reviews)); "Government salaries are low and therefore it's hard to subsist in CA without a higher salary." ((in 56 reviews)); "Long hours and lots of talking about sending people into space." ((in 31 reviews)); "no management pretty much do what u want" ((in 31 reviews)); "Some non performers and very poor managers." ((in 15 reviews))

What are employees saying about NASA layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about NASA layoffs and their outlook for job security at NASA in 2026.

What are the top reviewed NASA locations?

Houston , Mountain View , Washington , Hampton , Huntsville , Greenbelt , Moffett Field , Kennedy Space Center , New York , Cleveland , Cape Canaveral , Los Angeles , Edwards AFB , Pasadena , Merritt Island , San Francisco , Goddard , Stennis Space Center , Edwards , Orlando , San Jose , Wallops Island , Las Cruces , Texas City , Norfolk , Fairmont , Denver , Chicago , Virginia Beach , Austin

NASA reviews

4.4

86% would recommend to a friend

(1,793 total reviews)

Charles F. Bolden, Jr.

83% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

NASA has an employee rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars, based on 1,793 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The NASA employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

5.0

Oct 31, 2016

Stellar!

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Truly Out of this World

Cons

Sometimes it is dark (night)

5.0

Jul 18, 2011

Challenging work with tangible results.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting work, interest in space exploration, every day work is varied, opportunity to work on many different projects, satisfaction in seeing vehicles and payloads launched in space.

Cons

After many years, kind of get "pigeon holed". Progress is dependent on the actions of the president and congress. This causes impacts to schedule and advancement.

2.0

Sep 9, 2010

It's a mixed-bag

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Ames has a casual work environment and people always think it's cool when you say you work at NASA. Work life balance is generally easy to obtain.

Cons

You'll probably end up working on a lot of canceled projects. Also, it's not that great for moving around and advancing as you get pigeon-holed pretty quickly. A lot of people have been there for way too long. Half the workforce is contractor-based which leads to confusing relationships between employees.

Viewing 1618 - 1620 of 1,793 Reviews

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NASA

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Stellar!

Challenging work with tangible results.

It's a mixed-bag

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