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The Biggest Employer in Each US State

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The federal and state government is the top employers in almost every U.S. State. One unique exception is in the Big Apple, where the city’s massive municipal government is the largest employer in the entire state.

8 U.S. states have more active military personnel than any single private employer.

If excluding direct government and military employers and instead look at the private sector, health care and education are top employers in many cases. It’s worth noting that even in places where a university is at the top of the list, a significant employee base component often comes from affiliated health care facilities.

The industry of each state’s biggest employer
Map of each US States Biggest Employer

A few U.S. states bucked this trend to highlight regional industries. For example, General Motors is the top employer in Michigan. In Nevada, MGM Resorts employs over 55,000 people, but perhaps the most evident trend in this map is the dominance of a specific company Walmart.

The biggest non-government employer in each U.S. state.
Map of the biggest employer in Each State
Reddit user: sendherhome22

Walmart is the largest private employer on the planet with over 1.5 million employees in the United States alone, that’s equivalent to 1% of America’s total private-sector workforce.

Today Walmart is the largest private employer in 22 U.S. states and has over 5,300 stores across the nation.

Walmart’s employers by state

Texas –  171,531
Florida –  108,321
Georgia –  59,371
Illinois –  54,698
Arkansas –  53,310
Ohio –  50,481
Virginia –  44,621
Missouri –  43,203
Tennessee –  41,487
Indiana –  39,667
Alabama –  38,041
Louisiana –  36,992
Oklahoma –  34,014
Arizona –  33,910
South Carolina –  32,267
Kentucky –  30,181
Mississippi –  24,898
Kansas –  20,938
West Virginia –  12,321
New Hampshire –  8,284
Montana –  4,776
Wyoming –  4,699

When you look at Walmart’s expansion over the past 50 years, it’s easy to see how the company came to dominate employment in the southern states. Walmart’s growth went hand-in-hand with a population boom across the south, and by the 90s blue big-box stores were popping up across the nations.

The company’s home state of Arkansas is still heavily influenced by the retail giant. By far, the State has the most Walmart locations per capita, and the company employs 4% of the State’s total workforce (1/3 of the State’s retail employees work for Walmart).

Walmart’s expansion over the past 50 years


Even though the retail sector is undergoing significant changes, Walmart is still the world’s biggest company by revenue.

The map below shows countries with a GDP higher than Walmart’s annual revenue ($482.13 billion).

Nations with a GDP higher than Walmart’s annual revenue
Map of countries with a GDP higher than Walmars's annual revenue

Amazon is now the nation’s second-largest employer, but unless there are more. While Amazon’s growth s great reliance on contract workers and the continued automation of their supply chain will likely keep employee counts below Walmart in the near term.

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Zeeba Neighba
Zeeba Neighba
5 years ago

State universities ARE governmental employers. In Michigan, the UM Board of Regents is an elected body and the university itself has certain sovereign authorities. Not sure of all the details in other states, but those schools are still a creature of their state government.

gastorgrab
gastorgrab
7 years ago

Why are so many colleges listed here?????

If not for the US taxpayer dollars (The Student Loan Program), that entire industry would collapse.

Just think of how big Walmart would be if US taxpayers backed every purchase made ………… even the foolish ones.

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  gastorgrab

How it’s funded doesn’t matter how many employees they have…. common sense to figure that out. Colleges employ more than just professors, you do realize that…

Chaplin
Chaplin
7 years ago

Walmart is the king!

rosetta_stoned
rosetta_stoned
7 years ago
Reply to  Chaplin

Why do you hate poor people?

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

You’d have more direct leverage vs Walmart if you didn’t have the Govt programs buffering the negotiating position of the employees.

Chaplin
Chaplin
7 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Clark Askam III The employees at Walmart do not have a negotiating position since Walmart crushes Unions at every opportunity. Don’t tell me you really think that individual workers can go into the manager’s office and negotiate as if they were equals? Do you really think that someone who is trying to get enough food to eat has the same bargaining power as a corporation whose stake in that negotiation amount to tenths of a cent on their profits? Or that the corporation will bargain ‘fairly’ with someone who is totally dependent on the outcome for their continued existence?
Just look at how well that sort of bargaining works in concentration camps.
Oh, right, I looked at your page. Doubt if you have an ethical or empathetic bone in your body, just a whole hoard of narcissism and privilege.comment image

Chaplin
Chaplin
7 years ago

Don’t forget to add SNAP next to Walmart as an employer. That’s who pays the rest of their employees’ salaries.

brainy435
brainy435
7 years ago
Reply to  Chaplin

Bet the government corruption of all those liberal school systems FAR outstrips any government assistance given to WalMart employees..

Paola
Paola
7 years ago
Reply to  brainy435

no, it does not. How strange that the wealthiest states, where individuals do better, are also the ones with he University as a major employer… facts speak for themselves… you’d know this but you likely went to Walmart instead of school.

texlovera
texlovera
7 years ago
Reply to  Chaplin

You’re precious…

rosetta_stoned
rosetta_stoned
7 years ago
Reply to  Chaplin

Again, why do you hate poor people?

Dang
Dang
7 years ago

Looks like it takes a lot of employees to scam 18-24 year old kids into getting government loans to buy worthless paper “diplomas.” Good thing there are plenty of Walmarts ready to hire greeters with a degree in communications.

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

Walmart and Universities. amazing

Bro. Bill
Bro. Bill
7 years ago

In Texas, the grocery chain H.E.B. is the largest employer, not Wal*Mart!

redc1c4
redc1c4
7 years ago

“…biggest non-government employer…”

LOL… all those “University of *whatever*” ARE governmental entities.

it’s well past time to drain the education swamp.

Margaret Cloud
Margaret Cloud
7 years ago

So, IN D.C. the largest employer is fertilizer removers?

Jim Hague
Jim Hague
7 years ago

Actually in California here are the five top
– University of California, Davis (20,295 employees) …
– Disneyland (26,001) …
– University of California, Los Angeles (27,489) …
– UCLA Health System (35,543) …
– Naval Base San Diego (42,951)

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