America’s largest companies tend to be located in major metropolitan areas. New York City alone is home to the headquarters of more than 70 of U.S.’s 1,000 largest public companies, the most of any city in the nation.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed annual revenues to determine the largest company in every state. All but five states are home to at least one Fortune 1000 company. And the five most populated states account for more than 40% of the Fortune 1000 list.
There can be large differences between the biggest company in one state and the biggest company in another — not just in the industries they operate in but also in their size. Apple, the largest company in California, reported revenue of $233.7 billion in 2015. That is roughly 500 times the revenue of Barnard Construction Company, Montana’s largest company.
Click here to see the largest company in each state.
Unlike most big companies, however, some of America’s largest enterprises are headquartered in small cities. The largest company in the world by revenue, Wal-Mart, is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, a city of around 40,000 residents. With 2.3 million employees, Wal-Mart’s workforce is 50 times the population of its home town.
Most of the largest companies are publicly traded. An initial public offering — the first sale of stock by a private company to the public — can have lucrative benefits. The increase in liquid capital from the IPO helps companies finance further growth and invest in new market opportunities. Because of these advantages, the largest company in all but 10 states is publicly traded.
Still, some of the most successful businesses remain privately owned and often achieve the highest revenue of any company in a state. In Kansas, for example, privately held Koch Industries is substantially larger than Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, the largest public company in the state. The $6.6 billion in annual revenue Spirit reported in 2015 is only a fraction of Koch’s revenue of $123 billion.
A state’s biggest company is often tied to the state’s largest industries. In Nevada, where a large share of the state’s GDP is generated by casino resort companies in Las Vegas, the largest company is Las Vegas Sands — the largest of these casino resorts. Similarly, automobile manufacturing is a large part of Michigan’s economy, and Detroit-based General Motors is the state’s largest company.
To identify the biggest company in each state, 247 Wall St. reviewed the 1,000 largest public U.S. companies by revenue from Fortune. PrivCo provided revenue figures for the largest private companies in the country. When available, more recent figures were obtained from annual SEC filings.
These are the largest companies in each state.
1. Alabama
> Largest company: Regions Financial
> Revenue: $5.7 billion
> Headquarters: Birmingham, AL
> Ownership: Public
2. Alaska
> Largest company: Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
> Revenue: $2.7 billion
> Headquarters: Barrow, AK
> Ownership: Private
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3. Arizona
> Largest company: Avnet
> Revenue: $27.9 billion
> Headquarters: Phoenix, AR
> Ownership: Public
4. Arkansas
> Largest company: Walmart (NYSE: WMT)
> Revenue: $482.1 billion
> Headquarters: Bentonville, AR
> Ownership: Public
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5. California
> Largest company: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
> Revenue: $233.7 billion
> Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
> Ownership: Public
6. Colorado
> Largest company: Arrow Electronics
> Revenue: $23.3 billion
> Headquarters: Centennial, CO
> Ownership: Public
7. Connecticut
> Largest company: General Electric (NYSE: GE)
> Revenue: $117.4 billion
> Headquarters: Fairfield, CT
> Ownership: Public
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8. Delaware
> Largest company: DuPont (NYSE: DD)
> Revenue: $25.1 billion
> Headquarters: Wilmington, DE
> Ownership: Public
9. Florida
> Largest company: Publix Super Markets
> Revenue: $32.6 billion
> Headquarters: Lakeland, FL
> Ownership: Public
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10. Georgia
> Largest company: Home Depot (NYSE: HD)
> Revenue: $88.5 billion
> Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
> Ownership: Public
11. Hawaii
> Largest company: Hawaiian Electric Industries
> Revenue: $2.6 billion
> Headquarters: Honolulu, HI
> Ownership: Public
12. Idaho
> Largest company: Albertsons Companies, Inc.
> Revenue: $58.7 billion
> Headquarters: Boise, ID
> Ownership: Private
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13. Illinois
> Largest company: Walgreens Boots Alliance
> Revenue: $103.4 billion
> Headquarters: Deerfield, IL
> Ownership: Public
14. Indiana
> Largest company: Anthem
> Revenue: $79.2 billion
> Headquarters: Indianapolis, IN
> Ownership: Public
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15. Iowa
> Largest company: Principal Financial
> Revenue: $12.0 billion
> Headquarters: Des Moines, IA
> Ownership: Public
16. Kansas
> Largest company: Koch Industries Inc
> Revenue: $123.0 billion
> Headquarters: Wichita, KS
> Ownership: Private
17. Kentucky
> Largest company: Humana
> Revenue: $54.3 billion
> Headquarters: Louisville, KY
> Ownership: Public
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18. Louisiana
> Largest company: CenturyLink
> Revenue: $17.9 billion
> Headquarters: Monroe, LA
> Ownership: Public
19. Maine
> Largest company: LL Bean
> Revenue: $1.7 billion
> Headquarters: Freeport, ME
> Ownership: Private
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20. Maryland
> Largest company: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)
> Revenue: $46.1 billion
> Headquarters: Bethesda, MD
> Ownership: Public
21. Massachusetts
> Largest company: Liberty Mutual Insurance Group
> Revenue: $37.6 billion
> Headquarters: Boston, MA
> Ownership: Public
22. Michigan
> Largest company: General Motors (NYSE: GM)
> Revenue: $152.4 billion
> Headquarters: Detroit, MI
> Ownership: Public
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23. Minnesota
> Largest company: UnitedHealth Group
> Revenue: $157.1 billion
> Headquarters: Minnetonka, MN
> Ownership: Public
24. Mississippi
> Largest company: Sanderson Farms
> Revenue: $2.8 billion
> Headquarters: Laurel, MS
> Ownership: Public
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25. Missouri
> Largest company: Express Scripts Holding (NASDAQ: ESRX)
> Revenue: $101.8 billion
> Headquarters: St. Louis, MO
> Ownership: Public
26. Montana
> Largest company: Barnard Construction Company, Inc.
> Revenue: $467 million
> Headquarters: Bozeman, MT
> Ownership: Private
27. Nebraska
> Largest company: Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A)
> Revenue: $210.8 billion
> Headquarters: Omaha, NE
> Ownership: Public
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28. Nevada
> Largest company: Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS)
> Revenue: $11.7 billion
> Headquarters: Las Vegas, NV
> Ownership: Public
29. New Hampshire
> Largest company: C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.
> Revenue: $29.8 billion
> Headquarters: Keene, NH
> Ownership: Private
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30. New Jersey
> Largest company: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
> Revenue: $70.1 billion
> Headquarters: New Brunswick, NJ
> Ownership: Public
31. New Mexico
> Largest company: PNM Resources Inc
> Revenue: $1.4 billion
> Headquarters: Albuquerque, NM
> Ownership: Public
32. New York
> Largest company: Verizon (NYSE: VZ)
> Revenue: $131.6 billion
> Headquarters: New York, NY
> Ownership: Public
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33. North Carolina
> Largest company: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC)
> Revenue: $83.4 billion
> Headquarters: Charlotte, NC
> Ownership: Public
34. North Dakota
> Largest company: MDU Resources Group
> Revenue: $4.2 billion
> Headquarters: Bismark, ND
> Ownership: Public
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35. Ohio
> Largest company: Kroger
> Revenue: $109.8 billion
> Headquarters: Cincinnati, OH
> Ownership: Public
36. Oklahoma
> Largest company: Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc.
> Revenue: $26.1 billion
> Headquarters: Oklahoma City, OK
> Ownership: Private
37. Oregon
> Largest company: Nike (NYSE: NKE)
> Revenue: $30.6 billion
> Headquarters: Beaverton, OR
> Ownership: Public
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38. Pennsylvania
> Largest company: AmerisourceBergen
> Revenue: $136.0 billion
> Headquarters: Chesterbrook, PA
> Ownership: Public
39. Rhode Island
> Largest company: CVS Health (NYSE: CVS)
> Revenue: $153.3 billion
> Headquarters: Woonsocket, RI
> Ownership: Public
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40. South Carolina
> Largest company: Domtar
> Revenue: $5.3 billion
> Headquarters: Fort Mill, SC
> Ownership: Public
41. South Dakota
> Largest company: Poet, LLC
> Revenue: $6.7 billion
> Headquarters: Sioux Falls, SD
> Ownership: Private
42. Tennessee
> Largest company: FedEx (NYSE: FDX)
> Revenue: $47.5 billion
> Headquarters: Memphis, TN
> Ownership: Public
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43. Texas
> Largest company: Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM)
> Revenue: $268.9 billion
> Headquarters: Irving, TX
> Ownership: Public
44. Utah
> Largest company: SkyWest
> Revenue: $3.1 billion
> Headquarters: St. George, UT
> Ownership: Public
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45. Vermont
> Largest company: Keurig Green Mountain
> Revenue: $4.5 billion
> Headquarters: Waterbury, VT
> Ownership: Public
46. Virginia
> Largest company: The Long & Foster Companies, Inc.
> Revenue: $49.5 billion
> Headquarters: Chantilly, VA
> Ownership: Private
47. Washington
> Largest company: Costco (NASDAQ: COST)
> Revenue: $116.2 billion
> Headquarters: Issaquah, WA
> Ownership: Public
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48. West Virginia
> Largest company: Camcare Inc.
> Revenue: $480 million
> Headquarters: Charleston, WV
> Ownership: Private
49. Wisconsin
> Largest company: Johnson Controls
> Revenue: $37.2 billion
> Headquarters: Milwaukee, WI
> Ownership: Public
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50. Wyoming
> Largest company: Cloud Peak Energy, Inc.
> Revenue: $1.1 billion
> Headquarters: Gilette, WY
> Ownership: Public
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