Special Report

The 20 Largest Companies Headquartered in Texas Today: 5 Fled From California

Eric Bleeker

Published: October 26, 2023 3:57 pm

While some look at the growth of Texas and say “flee the state” before the masses move in, businesses are doing the opposite. In recent years massive corporations from Tesla to Oracle have moved in and diversified the state’s economy away from the oil & gas industries.

Let’s take a look at the 20 largest companies headquartered in Texas today when sorted by market capitalization. From companies you’d expect like Exxon to other titans that have fled to the state in recent years, the strength of Texas’ economy will surprise you.

20. CrowdStrike

Source: Courtesy of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.

• Headquarters: Austin, Texas
• Market Cap: $42 billion
• Employees: 7,586
• Revenues: $2.6 billion

Crowdstrike (Nasdaq:CRWD) moved its headquarters to Austin in December 2021 after previously being based in Silicon Valley. The cybersecurity leader has been adding office space across Texas, with a particular emphasis in the San Antonio area.

19. Energy Transfer LP

Source: Thinkstock

• Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
• Market Cap: $43 billion
• Employees: 12,565
• Revenues: $80.8 billion

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) is a bit more of an “old school” Texas company. They own and operate about 11,600 miles of natural gas transportation pipelines and associated natural gas storage in Texas alone. Then they have even an even larger collection of interstate natural gas pipelines. The company was founded in 1996.

18. Valero Energy Corporation

Source: Sundry Photography / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: San Antonio, Texas
• Market Cap: $45 billion
• Employees: 9,716
• Revenues: $152 billion

Valero (NYSE: VLO) is a name that’s long been known throughout Texas. The company was founded in 1980 and sponsors several events such as the Valero Alamo Bowl. The company’s main business is refining, although they do have ethanol and renewable diesel divisions as well.

17. Dell Technologies

Michael Dell (CC BY 2.0) by Oracle PR

• Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas
• Market Cap: $48 billion
• Employees: 133,000
• Revenues: $94 billion

Dell (NYSE: DELL) was founded in 1984 and established its headquarters in Round Rock, which is a suburb of Austin. Today, the city can largely thank its status as a technology hub thanks to the presence of Dell. While its no longer the largest technology company in the city, its presence convinced many companies to establish offices in the area that have grown in recent decades.

16. Phillips 66

Source: StockPhotoAstur / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $49 billion
• Employees: 13,000
• Revenues: $155 billion

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is the first entry on this list from the Houston area. The company was traces its roots all the way back 1875. Today, its business is split up into Midstream, Refining, and a Marketing & Specialties division. Its revenue is nearly identical to Valero, another company on this list with a large refining business.

15. Occidental Petroleum Corporation

Source: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $56 billion
• Employees: 11,973
• Revenues: $31.5 billion

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) is another oil & gas company that has deep roots in Texas. The company was founded in 1920 and is focused on exploration and development of oil and natural gas not only in the United States, but also on a global scale. The bulk of Occidental’s revenue comes from oil and gas, but they do have midstream and marketing as well as chemical divisions as well.

14. Pioneer Natural Resources

Source: GoodLifeStudio / E+ via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Irving, Texas
• Market Cap: $57 billion
• Employees: 2,076
• Revenues: $20.4 billion

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) is worth $57 billion, but employs a relatively low employee count of just 2,000. While they’re based in Irving, the company’s focus is on the Midland Basin in West Texas, where they explore and develop oil, natural gas liquids, and gas.

13. Enterprise Product Partners

Source: SSSCCC / iStock via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $60 billion
• Employees: N/A
• Revenues: $52.2 billion

Enterprise Product Partners (NYSE: EPD) is a midstream services company that operates in natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, and refined products. Its footprint is fairly expansive across the U.S. with natural gas processing facilities in Wyoming, Texas, New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Colorado. The company was founded in 1968.

12. McKesson Corporation

Source: David Tran / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Irving, Texas
• Market Cap: $61 billion
• Employees: 48,000
• Revenues: $284 billion

McKesson (NYSE: MCK) is another company that relocated to Texas from the San Francisco area, but it’s not a technology company. Rather, McKesson is a healthcare powerhouse that sells an astounding $284 billion in products every single year. The bulk of their business is pharmaceutical, but they offer other solutions like surgical tools. The company relocated from San Francisco to Texas in 2019. At the time of their move, McKesson was the sixth-largest company in the United States when measured by revenue.

11. Waste Management

Source: kozmoat98 / Getty Images

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $66 billion
• Employees: 49,500
• Revenues: $20.1 billion

Waste Management (NYSE: WM) is one of the few entries on this list that considered moving their headquarters outside Texas. In 2018 the company weighed moving to cities like Chicago, Denver, or Nashville before it ultimately decided to take a large lease in Houston. The company handles waste and recyclable materials from homes and businesses as well as operating landfill stations.

10. EOG Resources

Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $76 billion
• Employees: 2,850
• Revenues: $25.2 billion

EOG (NYSE: EOG) rebranded their name for a good reason, they were formerly known as “Enron Oil & Gas Company.” First founded in 1985, the company has become one of the largest domestic exploration & development companies in crude oil & natural gas. They primarily operate in Texas & New Mexico, but have explored internationally as well.

9. Schlumberger

Source: Wikimedia Commons

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $81 billion
• Employees: 99,000
• Revenues: $32.0 billion

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) is another titan of the oil and gas industry. The company is diversifed across a number of business units that facilitate the exploration and development of resources like oil and gas. There’s their Digital & Integration business, Well Construction, Reservoir Performance, and Production Systems. The company has a massive work force of 99,000 employees. Schlumberger relocated its U.S. headquarters from New York to Houston in 2005. However, it should be noted the company’s founding traces back to Paris, and they have significant office space still in France and a large campus in Sugar Land.

8. Charles Schwab

Source: jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Westlake, Texas
• Market Cap: $90 billion
• Employees: 36,600
• Revenues: $19.9 billion

Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) marks the third company on this list that recently fled from California. Schwab was founded in San Francisco and maintained its headquarters there until 2021, when it officially moved to Westlake, Texas. The company provides a variety of services including wealth management and brokerage services. The company’s North Texas headquarters was built to eventually house up to 5,000 employees.

7. AT&T

Source: jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
• Market Cap: $109 billion
• Employees: 152,740
• Revenues: $121.7 billion

AT&T’s (NYSE: T) name has been used in many iterations, and today its a wireless company that until 2005 was known as SBC Communications. While AT&T employs 152,740 in total, they have about 5,900 employees in their downtown Dallas corporate offices.

6. Caterpillar

Source: shaunl / Getty Images

• Headquarters: Irving, Texas
• Market Cap: $125 billion
• Employees: 109,100
• Revenues: $64.7 billion

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) moved to Texas from a state that’s not California! The company had long been headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, but surprised the city in 2017 when they announced a move to Chicago’s suburbs. However, the company wasn’t done moving and in 2022 announced a larger move to Irving, Texas. The company manufactures construction and mining equipment in addition to other large machinery.

5. Texas Instruments

Source: Texas Instruments / Wikimedia Commons

• Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
• Market Cap: $129 billion
• Employees: 33,000
• Revenues: $18.1 billion

Texas Instruments (TXN) is one of the the states’ most iconic companies. They were founded in 1930, and have long been a bellwether in the increasingly competitive semiconductor space. The company has more than 45,000 patents and focuses on analog and embedded semiconductors.

4. ConocoPhillips

Source: JHVEPhoto / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Houston, Texas
• Market Cap: $144 billion
• Employees: 9,700
• Revenues: $68.8 billion

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has an expansive portfolio that includes LNG developments, oil sand ins Canada, global exploration, as well as conventional assets spanning from North America to Australia. Today, about 78% of its revenue comes from the United States and the United Kingdom is its second largest market.

3. Oracle

Source: Sundry Photography / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Austin, Texas
• Market Cap: $278 billion
• Employees: 164,000
• Revenues: $50.9 billion

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) is another massive company that recently moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin. The company was founded in 1977 and continues to be a leader in database software. While the company employs 166,000 people across the world, Austin only currently houses about 2,500 in Austin. However, its founder Larry Elison has stated the office could grow to 10,000 employees.

2. Exxon Mobil

Source: zodebala / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

• Headquarters: Spring, Texas
• Market Cap: $430 billion
• Employees: 62,000
• Revenues: $368 billion

In some ways, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is still the largest company in Texas. The company boasts $368 billion in sales across the past year and produced $51.7 billion in profits. Both those numbers are the largest in the state. However, in market capitalization it has been passed by a company that is about as different from Exxon Mobile as you can imagine…

1. Tesla

Source: Tesla Inc.

• Headquarters: Austin, Texas
• Market Cap: $675 billion
• Employees: 127,885
• Revenues: $95.9 billion

On December 1, 2021, Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) officially moved its headquarters to Austin. Filing from Tesla show that at the end of 2022 they had 12,277 employees in Travis County. The company’s Gigafactory in Austin is the second-largest building in the world by volume. Tesla has said that their Austin operations could one day employee up to 60,000 people.