The Largest Employer in Every State
While millions of Americans lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest U.S. corporations and organizations continued to employ tens of thousands of workers. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most recent employment figures for nonprofits and private and publicly…
While millions of Americans lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest U.S. corporations and organizations continued to employ tens of thousands of workers.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most recent employment figures for nonprofits and private and publicly held companies using company press releases, government data, business journals, local media reports, as well as statements from company representatives to determine the largest employer in each state.
Federal and state governments tend to employ more Americans in a given state than any private company. Government employees may work directly for government departments or for other organizations, such as public universities. We therefore considered such public employees separately. For instance, a number of public university systems rank as the top employers in their state.
While large schools and health care companies employed many thousands of people, roughly 2.5 million Americans worked for either Walmart or Amazon. In most states, Walmart employed at least 20,000 people, and in half of all states, Amazon employed more than 10,000 people. Many of the jobs these companies offer have little or no prior work or educational requirements. While this makes them accessible to nearly anyone in the workforce, these jobs do not tend to pay high wages. These are the lowest paying jobs in America.
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Click here to see our detailed methodology
Alabama
> Largest employer: University of Alabama System
> Employees: 45,000
> Industry: Education
Alaska
> Largest employer: University of Alaska System
> Employees: 7,147
> Industry: Education
Arizona
> Largest employer: Banner Health
> Employees: 43,000
> Industry: Health care
Arkansas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 49,242
> Industry: Retail
California
> Largest employer: University of California System
> Employees: 216,200
> Industry: Education
Colorado
> Largest employer: University of Colorado System
> Employees: 37,000
> Industry: Education
Connecticut
> Largest employer: Yale New Haven Health
> Employees: 26,028
> Industry: Health care
Delaware
> Largest employer: ChristianaCare
> Employees: 12,181
> Industry: Health care
Florida
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 103,550
> Industry: Retail
Georgia
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 58,155
> Industry: Retail
Hawaii
> Largest employer: Hawaii Department of Education
> Employees: 25,000
> Industry: Education
Idaho
> Largest employer: St. Luke’s Health System
> Employees: 14,652
> Industry: Health care
Illinois
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 52,313
> Industry: Retail
Indiana
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 39,676
> Industry: Retail
Iowa
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 16,126
> Industry: Retail
Kansas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 19,157
> Industry: Retail
Kentucky
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 27,677
> Industry: Retail
Louisiana
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 32,319
> Industry: Retail
Maine
> Largest employer: MaineHealth
> Employees: 18,000
> Industry: Health care
Maryland
> Largest employer: Johns Hopkins Medicine
> Employees: 39,000
> Industry: Health care
Massachusetts
> Largest employer: Mass General Brigham
> Employees: 74,013
> Industry: Health care
Michigan
> Largest employer: University of Michigan System
> Employees: 51,669
> Industry: Education
Minnesota
> Largest employer: Mayo Clinic Hospital
> Employees: 51,750
> Industry: Health care
Mississippi
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 22,869
> Industry: Retail
Missouri
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 39,442
> Industry: Retail
Montana
> Largest employer: University of Montana System
> Employees: 8,689
> Industry: Education
Nebraska
> Largest employer: University of Nebraska
> Employees: 13,709
> Industry: Education
Nevada
> Largest employer: MGM Resorts International
> Employees: 42,000
> Industry: Leisure and hospitality
New Hampshire
> Largest employer: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Center
> Employees: 12,000
> Industry: Health care
New Jersey
> Largest employer: Amazon
> Employees: 49,000
> Industry: Retail
New Mexico
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 13,055
> Industry: Retail
New York
> Largest employer: New York City Department of Education
> Employees: 135,000
> Industry: Education
North Carolina
> Largest employer: Atrium Health
> Employees: 62,400
> Industry: Health care
North Dakota
> Largest employer: North Dakota University System
> Employees: 10,375
> Industry: Education
Ohio
> Largest employer: Ohio University System
> Employees: 106,459
> Industry: Education
Oklahoma
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 29,937
> Industry: Retail
Oregon
> Largest employer: Providence Health & Services
> Employees: 20,597
> Industry: Health care
Pennsylvania
> Largest employer: UPMC Presbyterian
> Employees: 65,000
> Industry: Health care
Rhode Island
> Largest employer: Lifespan System of Hospitals
> Employees: 16,094
> Industry: Health care
South Carolina
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 31,613
> Industry: Retail
South Dakota
> Largest employer: Sanford Health Network
> Employees: 28,000
> Industry: Health care
Tennessee
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 38,250
> Industry: Retail
Texas
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 158,361
> Industry: Retail
Utah
> Largest employer: Intermountain Healthcare
> Employees: 37,467
> Industry: Health care
Vermont
> Largest employer: Vermont State Colleges
> Employees: 8,800
> Industry: Education
Virginia
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 41,339
> Industry: Retail
Washington
> Largest employer: Amazon
> Employees: 80,000
> Industry: Retail
West Virginia
> Largest employer: WVU Health System
> Employees: 20,000
> Industry: Health care
Wisconsin
> Largest employer: University of Wisconsin System
> Employees: 40,000
> Industry: Education
Wyoming
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employees: 4,560
> Industry: Retail
Methodology
To determine the largest employer in each state, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most recent employment figures for nonprofits and private and publicly held companies using 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 employees of public universities as independent organizations separately, 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. It should be noted that many employers do not publish employment counts, the companies listed are our best estimates based on research and publicly-available information.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Grant Suneson is a senior editor at 24/7 Wall St. He was previously a digital content creator at Newsy and a reporter at NPR member station KBIA, where he contributed to their Edward R. Murrow Award-winning coverage. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism.
Grant’s work has been published and referenced in many major outlets such as MSN, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, Detroit Free Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Austin American-Statesman, The Tennessean, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Indianapolis Star, The Clarion-Ledger, WSB-TV, Des Moines Register, Asbury Park Press, KMGH-TV, and many others.
