Special Report

Largest Employer in Every State

Michael B. Sauter, Grant Suneson

Published: June 3, 2019 8:39 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 4:08 am

Walmart is by far the largest employers in the United States, employing about 1.5 million Americans. Other companies, however, are beginning to close in on Walmart’s headcount.

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Amazon, thanks to rampant growth and the acquisition of businesses such as Whole Foods, is now the nation’s second largest employer, although it has far to go to catch up to Walmart. The company now employs about 400,000 people in the United States.

State governments tend to be the largest employers in each state. There are over 5 million state government employees nationwide. When excluding public administrative bodies, Walmart is the largest employer in 22 states, but a number of other public organizations operating as companies — often a state university or hospital network — also emerge as the biggest employers on the state level.

The size of these companies and institutions varies considerably. In Alaska, the largest employer, the Providence Health & Services network of hospitals, employs around 4,000 people. In Washington state, Boeing employs nearly 80,000 people. In Texas, Walmart employs over 164,000 workers.

Based on the most recent available full- and part-time employee counts, these are the largest employers in each of the 50 states.

To determine the largest employer in each state, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed employment figures for nonprofits and private and publicly held companies from company press releases, government data, business journals, local media reports, as well as statements from company representatives. For the purposes of our analysis, we treated some state government employers like public universities as independent organizations, in keeping with how states frequently identify and compare company headcounts. Military bases were excluded from the list. In some cases, the employment count of a hospital network primarily located in a state included a small portion of out-of-state employees. If the network was determined to be mostly in-state, we kept the total employment figure when a state-specific employment count could not be determined. In those cases and some others, the values included are listed as estimates.

Correction: A previous version of this piece listed the largest employer in New Hampshire as Walmart. In fact, the largest employer is the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System. 

Source: walmartcorporate / Flickr

1. Alabama
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 37,989
> Industry: Retail

Source: Wikimedia Commons

2. Alaska
> Largest employer: Providence Health & Services
> Employee headcount: ~4,000
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Jen Meacham

3. Arizona
> Largest employer: Banner Health
> Employee headcount: 43,102
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

4. Arkansas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 49,165
> Industry: Retail

Source: Bev Sykes-Wikimedia Commons

5. California
> Largest employer: University of California
> Employee headcount: 227,786
> Industry: Public universities

Source: beklaus / Getty Images

6. Colorado
> Largest employer: University of Colorado
> Employee headcount: ~36,000
> Industry: Public universities

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Source: healthcare-informatics.com

7. Connecticut
> Largest employer: Yale New Haven Health System
> Employee headcount: 25,199
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Courtesy of Christiana Care Health System

8. Delaware
> Largest employer: Christiana Care
> Employee headcount: 11,856
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Wikimedia Commons

9. Florida
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 105,888
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Mike Kalasnik / Wikimedia Commons

10. Georgia
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 59,922
> Industry: Retail

Source: Image courtesy of Altres Staffing Aiea via Yelp

11. Hawaii
> Largest employer: Altres Industrial
> Employee headcount: ~10,000
> Industry: Staffing

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Source: St. Luke's Health System / Facebook

12. Idaho
> Largest employer: St. Luke’s Health System
> Employee headcount: ~14,000
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Benchapple / Wikimedia Commons

13. Illinois
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 52,603
> Industry: Retail

Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

14. Indiana
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 40,385
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Andrei Stanescu / Getty Images

15. Iowa
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 17,218
> Industry: Retail

Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

16. Kansas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 20,330
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Stu pendousmat / Wikimedia Commons

17. Kentucky
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 28,862
> Industry: Retail

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Source: MikeMozartJeepersMedia / Wikimedia Commons

18. Louisiana
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 34,830
> Industry: Retail

Source: MaineHealth Careers / Facebook

19. Maine
> Largest employer: MaineHealth
> Employee headcount: ~15,000
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: DelmasLehman / iStock

20. Maryland
> Largest employer: Johns Hopkins University
> Employee headcount: 31,320
> Industry: Universities

Source: Partners HealthCare / Facebook

21. Massachusetts
> Largest employer: Partners Healthcare
> Employee headcount: 60,300
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: Scruggelgreen / Shutterstock.com

22. Michigan
> Largest employer: General Motors
> Employee headcount: 52,113
> Industry: Public universities

Source: Jonathunder / Wikimedia Commons

23. Minnesota
> Largest employer: Mayo Clinic
> Employee headcount: 41,691
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Maryland Pride / Wikimedia Commons

24. Mississippi
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 23,605
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Aneekr / Wikimedia Commons

25. Missouri
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 41,399
> Industry: Retail

Source: Famartin / Wikimedia Commons

26. Montana
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 4,622
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Beatmastermatt / Wikimedia Commons

27. Nebraska
> Largest employer: University of Nebraska
> Employee headcount: ~14,000
> Industry: Public universities

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

28. Nevada
> Largest employer: MGM Resorts International
> Employee headcount: 51,000
> Industry: Casinos & hotels

Source: Ken Gallager / Wikimedia Commons

29. New Hampshire
> Largest employer: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system
> Employee headcount: 12,860
> Industry: Health care

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Source: Thinkstock

30. New Jersey
> Largest employer: Wakefern Food Corporation
> Employee headcount: 40,000
> Industry: Supermarkets

Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

31. New Mexico
> Largest employer: University of New Mexico
> Employee headcount: 27,000+
> Industry: Public universities

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Source: crz4mets2 / Wikimedia Commons

32. New York
> Largest employer: State University of New York system
> Employee headcount: 91,182
> Industry: Public universities

Source: bgwalker / Getty Images

33. North Carolina
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 57,431
> Industry: Retail

Source: NanoStockk / Getty Images

34. North Dakota
> Largest employer: Sanford Health
> Employee headcount: 14,487
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: Michael Rivera / Wikimedia Commons

35. Ohio
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 49,330
> Industry: Retail

Source: Abras2010 / Wikimedia Commons

36. Oklahoma
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 31,845
> Industry: Retail

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Source: M.O. Stevens / Wikimedia Commons

37. Oregon
> Largest employer: Providence Health & Services
> Employee headcount: 22,340
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: Crazypaco / Wikimedia Commons

38. Pennsylvania
> Largest employer: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
> Employee headcount: 87,000
> Industry: Hospitals

Source: hasbrochildrenshospital.org

39. Rhode Island
> Largest employer: Lifespan System of Hospitals
> Employee headcount: ~14,000
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: walmartcorporate / Flickr

40. South Carolina
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 33,298
> Industry: Retail

Source: Sdgjake / Wikimedia Commons

41. South Dakota
> Largest employer: Sanford Health Network
> Employee headcount: 13,196
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine / Wikimedia Commons

42. Tennessee
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 40,274
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Ben Schumin / Wikimedia Commons

43. Texas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 164,611
> Industry: Retail

Source: An Errant Knight / Wikimedia Commons

44. Utah
> Largest employer: Intermountain Healthcare
> Employee headcount: ~37,000
> Industry: Hospitals

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Source: Gopats92 / Wikimedia Commons

45. Vermont
> Largest employer: The University of Vermont Medical Center
> Employee headcount: ~7,500
> Industry: Public universities

Source: MikeMozartJeepersMedia / Wikimedia Commons

46. Virginia
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 43,323
> Industry: Retail

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Source: Thinkstock

47. Washington
> Largest employer: Boeing
> Employee headcount: 69,830
> Industry: Manufacturing

Source: Courtesy of West Virginia University

48. West Virginia
> Largest employer: WVU Health
> Employee headcount: 18,492
> Industry: Retail

Source: James Steakley / Wikimedia Commons

49. Wisconsin
> Largest employer: University of Wisconsin
> Employee headcount: 39,000
> Industry: Public universities

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Source: Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA / Wikimedia Commons

50. Wyoming
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 4,438
> Industry: Retail