Special Report

The Largest Company in Every State

Evan Comen, Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 23, 2017 6:03 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 10:44 am

The United States is home to some of the largest global companies. Of the world’s 50 largest public companies by revenue, 21 are based in the United States, including five of the top 10.

Many of the largest American companies are headquartered in the country’s major economic capitals, including New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, and the D.C. metropolitan area. New York City alone is home to the headquarters of dozens of the world’s largest public companies, the most of any city in the United States. Some companies can be found in somewhat smaller, but still substantial business hubs such as California’s Silicon Valley.

Still, most states, even those that are less populous and lacking a major city, are home to at least one company with $10 billion or more in sales. In fact, many of the largest companies in the country are based in small states such as Nebraska and Arkansas. Based on company filings and estimates of private company figures, as provided by S&P Capital IQ, these are the largest companies in every state.

Click here to see the largest company in every state.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.

Source: Thinkstock

1. Alabama
> Largest company: Alabama Power
> Revenue: $5.6 billion
> Headquarters: Birmingham, AL
> Industry: Utilities

Founded in 1906, when most of Alabama was without electricity, Alabama Power now supplies electricity to 1.4 million homes, which account for about $2.3 billion of the company’s revenue. Commercial and industrial clients account for another $3.0 billion. Coal is the source for a majority of the company’s electricity generation.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

2. Alaska
> Largest company: Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
> Revenue: $2.5 billion
> Headquarters: Barrow, AK
> Industry: Energy

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which employs some 12,000 people, reported $2.5 billion in revenue in 2015. Owned by approximately 13,000 Iñupiat Eskimo shareholders, the company has several lines of business, including energy services, petroleum refining, construction, and resource development. The company owns roughly 5 million acres of land in Alaska’s North Slope region, where most of the oil in the state is produced.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

3. Arizona
> Largest company: Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT)
> Revenue: $26.2 billion
> Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ
> Industry: Electronics

Electronic products distributor Avnet, Inc. is the largest company in Arizona. Headquartered in Phoenix, the company reported over $26 billion in annual revenue in 2016. The company produces everything from circuits to digital displays to cell phone components to batteries. Avnet employs about 17,700 employees worldwide.

Source: walmartcorporate / Flickr

4. Arkansas
> Largest company: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT)
> Revenue: $485.9 billion
> Headquarters: Bentonville, AR
> Industry: Discount stores

Wal-Mart is not just the largest company in Arkansas, but the largest company in both the country and the world. The Bentonville based chain of discount retail stores reported close to half a trillion dollars in revenue in 2016, and currently employs 2.3 million people worldwide.

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Source: Dicklyon / Wikimedia Commons

5. California
> Largest company: Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS: AAPL)
> Revenue: $215.6 billion
> Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
> Industry: Consumer electronics

Based in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, Apple has grown over the past four decades to become one of the three largest companies in the U.S. The iPhone and iPad maker’s reported annual revenue is in excess of $215 billion. Shares of the company are up by more than 50% over the last 12 months.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

6. Colorado
> Largest company: Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: ARW)
> Revenue: $23.8 billion
> Headquarters: Centennial, CO
> Industry: Electronics

Arrow Electronics was founded in New York City in 1935 and relocated to Centennial, Colorado in 2011. Since relocating, the company’s revenue grew at an annual rate of 4.1%, increasing from $18.7 billion in 2010 to $23.8 billion in 2016. Arrow is one of 10 Fortune 500 companies in Colorado.

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Source: Sage Ross / Wikimedia Commons

7. Connecticut
> Largest company: Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET)
> Revenue: $63.2 billion
> Headquarters: Hartford, CT
> Industry: Insurance

Until recently, the largest company in Connecticut was General Electric, but the company moved its headquarters to Boston at the beginning of this year. Today, Aetna, a major health insurance company, holds the title. Aetna is based in Hartford, which is home to a number of insurance companies. The company employs some 50,000 people.

Source: Thinkstock

8. Delaware
> Largest company: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD)
> Revenue: $24.6 billion
> Headquarters: Wilmington, DE
> Industry: Chemicals

Founded as a gunpowder manufacturer in Wilmington, Delaware in 1802, DuPont has since grown to become one of the largest chemical companies in the United States. Dupont has contributed to the Wilmington economy for more than two centuries and is responsible for the construction of such key city infrastructure projects as the 217-room Hotel du Pont, a portion of the U.S. Route 13 highway, and the Wawaset Park planned community.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brownpau/

9. Florida
> Largest company: Publix Super Markets, Inc.
> Revenue: $34.0 billion
> Headquarters: Lakeland, FL
> Industry: Supermarkets

Publix, the large supermarket chain with locations throughout the south, is headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. It is the state’s largest company with estimated annual revenue of $34 billion. Publix has nearly 190,000 employees in over 1,000 locations in six southern states.

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Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardboygenius/

10. Georgia
> Largest company: The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD)
> Revenue: $94.6 billion
> Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
> Industry: Home improvement

The Home Depot was founded in Atlanta in 1978, and remains headquartered there today. It is the largest company in Georgia, with nearly $95 billion in annual revenue. The company, which claims to be the largest home improvement retailer in the world, employs nearly 400,000 people throughout more than 2,200 locations across North America.

Source: hawaiianairlines.com

11. Hawaii
> Largest company: Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.
> Revenue: $2.5 billion
> Headquarters: Honolulu, HI
> Industry: Airline

Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. is the holding company of Hawaiian Airlines, the largest airline in the state. The Hawaiian tourism industry has increased in activity in recent years, reaching a record high 8.8 million passenger arrivals by air in 2016. Hawaiian Holdings reported $2.5 billion in revenue in 2016 — a 6% increase from 2015 — surpassing Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. as the largest company in the state.

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Source: Caldorwards4 at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons

12. Idaho
> Largest company: AB Acquisition LLC
> Revenue: $59.7 billion
> Headquarters: Boise, ID
> Industry: Supermarkets

AB Acquisition is the parent company of Albertsons Companies, a grocery store chain. Founded in Boise, Idaho in 1939, Albertsons has since gone through a number of mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations. Albertsons merged with Safeway in 2015, more than doubling its store count and creating a network of 2,400 locations in total. AB Acquisition, which had $59.7 billion in revenue in 2016, is today one of the largest U.S.-based grocery store chains in the world.

Source: Anthony92931 / Wikimedia Commons

13. Illinois
> Largest company: Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NasdaqGS: WBA)
> Revenue: $117.4 billion
> Headquarters: Deerfield, IL
> Industry: Retail pharmacy

In 2014, drugstore chain Walgreens and European pharmaceutical wholesale company Alliance Boots merged. The combined company, which is headquartered in Deerfield, is the largest company in Illinois, with nearly $120 billion in annual revenue. Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently waiting for approval from the Federal Trade Commission to purchase Rite Aid, one of its largest competitors.

Source: Thinkstock

14. Indiana
> Largest company: Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ANTM)
> Revenue: $85.0 billion
> Headquarters: Indianapolis, IN
> Industry: Insurance

Indianapolis based health insurance provider Anthem is the largest company in Indiana. Anthem provides insurance for nearly 40 million Americans and employs more than 50,000 workers. In June, Anthem withdrew from the Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange in Ohio, becoming one of the largest insurers to withdraw from an ACA exchange.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

15. Iowa
> Largest company: Aegon U.S. Holding Corporation
> Revenue: $37.9 billion
> Headquarters: Cedar Rapids, IA
> Industry: Insurance

Aegon is a life insurance, pensions and asset management company whose roots stretch back to Netherlands in the 1840s. Aegon began its U.S. operations in the 1980s with the acquisition of several U.S.-based insurance companies, and established its American division headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in June 1998. Aegon has operated under the Transamerica brand in the United States since acquiring the company in July 1999.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

16. Kansas
> Largest company: Koch Industries, Inc.
> Revenue: $100.0 billion
> Headquarters: Wichita, KS
> Industry: Conglomerate

Founded in 1940, Koch Industries is the biggest company in Kansas and one of the biggest private companies in the world. Through its subsidiaries, the family-owned and -operated conglomerate has interests on six continents in industries as disparate as chemicals, ranching, commodity trading, and fuel production.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

17. Kentucky
> Largest company: Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM)
> Revenue: $54.4 billion
> Headquarters: Louisville, KY
> Industry: Insurance

Close to 320 million Americans have health insurance coverage. Health insurance networks are often divided by geographical region, and as a result, there are very large health insurance companies found all over the country. Humana, one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States, is based in Louisville. The company covers more than 14 million Americans, including about 630,000 in Kentucky. Of its over 500 offices and medical facilities, only 26 are in Kentucky and over 200 are in Florida.

Source: raincii.com

18. Louisiana
> Largest company: Rain CII Carbon LLC
> Revenue: $23.6 billion
> Headquarters: Covington, LA
> Industry: Coal producer

In 2007, Indian company Rain Calcining Limited acquired U.S.-based CII Carbon. The resulting company, Rain CII Carbon LLC, relocated its headquarters to Covington, Louisiana in 2014 — some 10 years after it had to move out of the state following the events of Hurricane Katrina. The company reported revenue of $23.6 billion in 2016, and is one of the largest calcined petroleum coke producers in the world.

Source: IDEXX Laboratories

19. Maine
> Largest company: IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDXX)
> Revenue: $1.8 billion
> Headquarters: Westbrook, ME
> Industry: Healthcare

IDEXX Laboratories is a multinational corporation that develops and manufactures products related to the veterinary and animal testing industries. One of the company’s flagship products, the SNAP test, can detect a range of diseases in dogs, cats, and other animals. Since 2006, the company has invested more than $80 million in new facilities throughout southern Maine, where it employs many of its 7,365 employees.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

20. Maryland
> Largest company: Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT)
> Revenue: $47.2 billion
> Headquarters: Bethesda, MD
> Industry: Defense contractor

Lockheed Martin is one of a number of large defense contractors are based in the Washington D.C. area. It is the largest company in Maryland, with $47.2 billion in revenue in 2016. The company had a total of $36.3 billion in federal contract obligations in the government’s 2015 fiscal year, the most of any U.S. defense contractor. Lockheed has produced many of the military’s most widely-used vehicles, aircraft, and weapons systems.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

21. Massachusetts
> Largest company: General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)
> Revenue: $123.7 billion
> Headquarters: Boston, MA
> Industry: Conglomerate

General Electric moved its headquarters from suburban Connecticut to downtown Boston in August 2016, displacing Liberty Mutual as the largest company in Massachusetts. One of the largest U.S. companies, GE was offered $145 million in incentives to move to Massachusetts. The conglomerate, which operates in many fields from aircraft engines to finance to health care, reported $123.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2016.

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Source: www.chevrolet.com

22. Michigan
> Largest company: General Motors Company (NYSE: GM)
> Revenue: $166.4 billion
> Headquarters: Detroit, MI
> Industry: Auto manufacturing

Founded in 1908, General Motors has been at the center of Michigan’s economy for more than a century. The company sold a record 10 million cars in 2016 and reported $166.4 billion in revenue. GM sells several major automobile brands worldwide, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac.

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Source: Courtesy of UnitedHealth Group

23. Minnesota
> Largest company: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH)
> Revenue: $184.8 billion
> Headquarters: Minnetonka, MN
> Industry: Healthcare

UnitedHealth Group is the largest company in Minnesota and one of the largest in the United States. After reporting heavy losses from providing individual coverage to Americans under the Affordable Care Act, the health care provider limited its Obamacare offerings to just three states. Following the move, the company substantially increased revenues and profits. The company reported $184.8 billion in revenue and $7.0 billion in profit in 2016, an 18% and 21% corresponding increase from 2015 figures.

Source: Thinkstock

24. Mississippi
> Largest company: Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAFM)
> Revenue: $2.8 billion
> Headquarters: Laurel, MS
> Industry: Poultry farms

Sanderson Farms is the third largest poultry producer in the United States. Founded in Laurel, Mississippi in 1947 as a feed and fertilizer store for the local community, the company has since grown into the only Fortune 1000 company headquartered in the state. Sanderson Farms sold a record 3.7 billion pounds of poultry in 2016 as it reported $2.8 billion in revenue.

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Source: lab.express-scripts.com

25. Missouri
> Largest company: Express Scripts Holding Company (Nasdaq: ESRX)
> Revenue: $100.3 billion
> Headquarters: Saint Louis, MO
> Industry: Healthcare

The largest U.S. pharmacy benefit management company, Express Scripts is a third-party administrator of prescription drugs for various commercial and government health care plans. One of the company’s largest customers is the U.S. Department of Defense’s Tricare program, which is the health care system of the U.S. military. Express Scripts reported $100.3 billion in revenue in 2016 and employs some 25,600 people.

Source: Thinkstock

26. Montana
> Largest company: National Flood Services, Inc.
> Revenue: $692.1 million
> Headquarters: Kalispell, Montana
> Industry: Insurance

National Flood Services is a flood insurance provider based in Kalispell, Montana that handles more than 3 million policies nationwide. While the company is the largest U.S. flood insurance vendor, it may soon have to downsize. National Flood Services recently lost its contract with the U.S. government to serve as the direct servicing agent for the National Flood Insurance Program.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

27. Nebraska
> Largest company: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A)
> Revenue: $223.6 billion
> Headquarters: Omaha, NE
> Industry: Conglomerate

Based in Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate with interests in energy, railroad, insurance, retail, and finance, among other industries. Formed when Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates merged with Hathaway Manufacturing Company in 1955, the company reported $120 million in revenue its first year. Since Warren Buffett took over the company’s management in 1965, Berkshire has expanded considerably, now reporting $223.6 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year.

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Source: sands.com

28. Nevada
> Largest company: Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS)
> Revenue: $12.2 billion
> Headquarters: Las Vegas, NV
> Industry: Casinos and resorts

Starting with a single property in 1990, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. now has stakes in markets as diverse as Pennsylvania, Singapore, and Macao. Though the company is headquartered in Las Vegas, most of its $12.2 billion in revenue was generated in Macao.

Source: Thinkstock

29. New Hampshire
> Largest company: C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.
> Revenue: $29.5 billion
> Headquarters: Keene, NH
> Industry: Wholesale procurement

C&S Wholesale Grocers is a food distribution company. The company stocks over 95,000 different grocery products in 6,500 grocery stores nationwide. The company was started in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1918 and has since established headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire. C&S brought in an estimated $29.5 billion in revenue in 2016, the most of any U.S. food wholesaler.

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Source: Thinkstock

30. New Jersey
> Largest company: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
> Revenue: $71.9 billion
> Headquarters: New Brunswick, NJ
> Industry: Consumer products

Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest pharmaceutical and consumer products companies in the United States. It owns brands such as Band-Aid, Tylenol, Listerine, Aveeno, and Neutrogena. Since J&J was founded in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1886, a handful of major pharmaceutical companies have also moved to the state. Today, 14 of the world’s 20 largest biopharmaceutical companies have operations in New Jersey, and the health care industry is the largest sector in the state.

Source: Thinkstock

31. New Mexico
> Largest company: PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM)
> Revenue: $1.4 billion
> Headquarters: Albuquerque, NM
> Industry: Utilities

Public holding company PNM Resources provides electricity to over three-quarters of a million homes in New Mexico and Texas through its subsidiaries. The company was originally founded in Albuquerque in 1917, only five years after New Mexico was granted statehood.

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Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/147458924@N04/

32. New York
> Largest company: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)
> Revenue: $126.0 billion
> Headquarters: New York, NY
> Industry: Telecommunications

Verizon Communications Inc. was founded in New York City in 2000 as a result of the merger between Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. — companies with long histories in the telephone industry. Verizon, which is currently the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers, has recently expanded into the media technology business with the June 2015 acquisition of AOL and June 2017 acquisition of Yahoo. The company reported $126.0 billion in revenue in 2016, the most of any company in New York and among the most in the world.

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Source: jbarreiros / Wikimedia Commons

33. North Carolina
> Largest company: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC)
> Revenue: $83.7 billion
> Headquarters: Charlotte, NC
> Industry: Banking

Bank of America is the largest company in North Carolina by total revenue and the second largest bank in the United States by total assets. The company has the equivalent of over 200,000 full-time workers worldwide.

Source: Thinkstock

34. North Dakota
> Largest company: MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE: MDU)
> Revenue: $4.1 billion
> Headquarters: Bismarck, ND
> Industry: Construction

With reported revenue of $4.1 billion in fiscal 2016, Bismarck-based MDU Resources is the largest company in North Dakota. Founded in 1924, MDU builds transportation infrastructure as well as, notably, energy harvesting infrastructure. North Dakota has been one of the fastest growing states in the last decade as the result of the development of its oil resources.

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Source: Thinkstock

35. Ohio
> Largest company: Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH)
> Revenue: $121.5 billion
> Headquarters: Dublin, OH
> Industry: Health care

Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health is one of the largest medical logistics and supply chain companies in the country, with annual revenue of $121.5 billion. Cardinal supplies hospitals as well as pharmacies such as CVS. The company employs more than 40,000 workers worldwide and manufactures or sources 2.5 billion health care products each year.

Source: Thinkstock

36. Oklahoma
> Largest company: Enterprise Crude Oil LLC
> Revenue: $20.9 billion
> Headquarters: Oklahoma City, OK
> Industry: Energy

Since Enterprise Crude Oil LLC’s founding in 2007, the amount of crude oil in Oklahoma’s reported proved reserves has more than doubled. A resource rich state, much of Oklahoma is covered in gas fields and oil wells — and Enterprise profits from offering oil and natural gas transporting and storing services.

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Source: pexels.com

37. Oregon
> Largest company: Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE)
> Revenue: $32.4 billion
> Headquarters: Beaverton, OR
> Industry: Apparel

Footwear and apparel manufacturer Nike was founded in 1964 by University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and university student Phil Knight. Partially through clever marketing — the company is widely recognized by its Swoosh logo — as well as original product design and major endorsement deals, the company grew rapidly. Nike reported $32.4 billion in revenue in 2016. Its headquarters are in Beaverton, about two hours north of the University of Oregon.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

38. Pennsylvania
> Largest company: AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC)
> Revenue: $146.8 billion
> Headquarters: Chesterbrook, PA
> Industry: Pharmaceutical distribution

AmeriSourceBergen, a health care supply company, is one of the largest of its kind in the United States — and the largest company of any kind in Pennsylvania. The company employs about 19,000 people and owns 30 distribution centers around the country.

Source: Thinkstock

39. Rhode Island
> Largest company: CVS Health Corporation (NYSE: CVS)
> Revenue: $177.5 billion
> Headquarters: Woonsocket, RI
> Industry: Retailer

CVS Health is a retail pharmacy and health care company headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Though the company’s retail business comprises a significant share of total revenue, a majority revenue comes its pharmacy segment. CVS was founded in 1963 with a small store in Lowell, Massachusetts and has since grown to nearly 9,700 stores and 90 million customers in its pharmacy benefit management plan.

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Source: Thinkstock

40. South Carolina
> Largest company: BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Inc.
> Revenue: $7.2 billion
> Headquarters: Columbia, SC
> Industry: Insurance

Columbia-based insurance provider BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Inc. is not only the largest company in the state by revenue, but also one of the largest employers. With $7.2 billion in annual revenue and some 11,000 employees, BlueCross BlueShield covers nearly a million people in South Carolina.

Source: Thinkstock

41. South Dakota
> Largest company: POET, Inc.
> Revenue: $4.4 billion
> Headquarters: Sioux Falls, SD
> Industry: Energy

POET, Inc., is South Dakota’s largest company, with an estimated $4.4 billion in annual revenue. Some might be misled by its name, but rather than selling creative uses of the written word, POET is primarily a biofuel company, which primarily produces ethanol. Each plant built by the company processes about 21 million bushels of corn each year and produces 60 million gallons of the fuel.

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Source: Thomas R Machnitzki / Wikimedia Commons

42. Tennessee
> Largest company: FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX)
> Revenue: $50.4 billion
> Headquarters: Memphis, TN
> Industry: Shipping

Founded in Little Rock, Arkansas, FedEx began its shipping operations in April 1973. The company today has a fleet of more than 650 aircraft and 150,000 motor vehicles and ships an average of 50 million packages daily — more than twice the daily delivery volume of UPS. The company moved to Memphis for its central location and good weather, which enables to keep the airport open nearly year-round.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

43. Texas
> Largest company: Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM)
> Revenue: $226.1 billion
> Headquarters: Irving, TX
> Industry: Energy

For several decades, Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil was intermittently the largest U.S. company by revenue, often switching places with Wal-Mart. 2001 was the last year Exxon claimed the title, ceding the top position to Wal-Mart the following year for good. The company’s revenue began declining when oil prices took a nose dive in late 2014 never to recover much since. Exxon reported $226.1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2016, down by about 16% from the previous year. Today Exxon among the top 5 U.S. companies by revenue.

Source: asahirefining.com

44. Utah
> Largest company: Asahi Refining USA Inc.
> Revenue: $21.0 billion
> Headquarters: Salt Lake City, UT
> Industry: Metal refining

Asahi Refining USA Inc. is a precious metal refining service company with locations in Canada and Japan and headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Asahi Refining produces the largest amount of gold and silver of any company in the United States and with $21.0 billion in revenue, it is the largest company in Utah.

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Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/

45. Vermont
> Largest company: Keurig Green Mountain
> Revenue: $4.5 billion
> Headquarters: Waterbury, VT
> Industry: Coffeemaker

The K-Cup phenomenon has partially taken over the retail coffee business in America. Last year, nearly $4 billion worth of single-serve coffee was sold in the United States. Keurig introduced the original K-Cup, called the K-Pod, in 1998. In 2006, Waterbury, Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee purchased Keurig for $104 million. The resulting company, which reported annual revenue 43 times the Keurig purchase price in fiscal 2016, is the largest company in Vermont.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mamchenkov/

46. Virginia
> Largest company: Mars, Incorporated
> Revenue: $35.0 billion
> Headquarters: McLean, VA
> Industry: Candy

McLean, Virginia based Mars, Inc. is one of the largest candy and sweets manufacturers in the world. The company is best known for its candy brands, including M&M’s, Skittles, Snickers, and Milky Way, but the company also produces petcare brands such as Pedigree, as well as other food brands.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

47. Washington
> Largest company: Amazon.com, Inc. (NasdaqGS: AMZN)
> Revenue: $136.0 billion
> Headquarters: Seattle, WA
> Industry: E-commerce

One of the most disruptive and successful companies in recent memory, Amazon.com reported $136 billion in revenue last year. The online retail giant was launched in 1995 by CEO Jeff Bezos and has been reshaping the retail industry since. In the beginning, Amazon.com only sold books. Today, consumers can find almost anything on the e-commerce site, short of fresh groceries. Though, that may soon change, as the company is making a bid for high-end grocery chain Whole Foods.

Source: Thinkstock

48. West Virginia
> Largest company: Monongahela Power Company
> Revenue: $1.6 billion
> Headquarters: Fairmont, WV
> Industry: Utilities

Monongahela Power Company, also known as Mon Power, is a power utility company operating primarily in West Virginia. Monongahela is a subsidiary of Ohio-based FirstEnergy, which owns a number of utilities companies.

Source: johnsoncontrols.com

49. Wisconsin
> Largest company: Johnson Controls, Inc.
> Revenue: $36.9 billion
> Headquarters: Milwaukee, WI
> Industry: Manufacturing

Johnson Controls is a multinational corporation that produces various automobile parts such as batteries and electronics, as well as air conditioning equipment for buildings. The company, the result of a 2016 merger between the U.S. company Johnson Controls and Irish-based Tyco International, is the largest in Wisconsin. While the company’s global headquarters are located in Ireland for tax reasons, the company’s North American headquarters are located in Milwaukee.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

50. Wyoming
> Largest company: Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (NYSE: CLD)
> Revenue: $771.8 million
> Headquarters: Gillette, WY
> Industry: Mining

Cloud Peak Energy is one of the smallest companies to make this list. There are hundreds of companies with greater annual revenue than the Wyoming-based coal mining company. However, Wyoming is one of the most sparsely-populated states in the country, and only Vermont has a smaller GDP. The company, which only employs about 1,300 people, operates coal mines in Wyoming and Montana.

Detailed Findings and Methodology

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, but also in their size. Apple, the largest company in California, reported revenue of $215.6 billion in 2016. That is roughly 280 times the revenue of Cloud Peak Energy, Wyoming’s largest company.

Still, 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 worldwide, Wal-Mart’s workforce is nearly 60 times the population of its home town.

Almost all large companies choose to go public because of the benefits it confers, mainly raising capital for further expansion and growth opportunities. 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 roughly two-thirds of 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 Sprint Corporation, the largest public company in the state. The $33.3 billion in annual revenue Sprint reported in its fiscal 2017 is just one-third of Koch’s estimated revenue of $100 billion.

A number of companies on this list are either health insurance or utility companies. Health care and electricity are needs shared by both urban and rural Americans, and regional networks can have hundreds of thousands — and sometimes millions — of customers. For this reason, the largest companies in smaller states like New Mexico and West Virginia are power companies, while in Indiana, Kentucky, and South Carolina, the biggest company is a health insurance provider.

A state’s biggest company is often tied to the state’s largest industries. In Nevada, where the gaming industry generates a substantial share of state GDP, the largest company is casino and resort operator Las Vegas Sands. Similarly, automobile manufacturing is a large part of Michigan’s economy, and Detroit-based General Motors is the state’s largest company. Texas has over a third of the nation’s crude oil reserves. Unsurprisingly, the state’s largest company, Exxon Mobil, is an oil company.