Number of fortune 500 companies by state

Texas now leads the nation in the number of Fortune 500 companies that are headquartered in the state, it was revealed this week.

As many as 53 highly profitable businesses—from Exxon Mobil to AT&T to the recently relocated Tesla and Hewlett Packard Enterprise—choose to hang their hat in the Lone Star State, beating New York and California.

This is no accident. As I like to say, money flows where it’s respected most. If that’s true, then we should continue to see Texas, which has among the most business-friendly policies in the U.S., take additional market share of corporate headquarters away from other states.

That’s precisely what it’s been doing in recent years, of course. In 2021, some 62 companies relocated their HQs to Texas from 17 states and three countries, according to the just-released Relo Tracker Report. California was the origin state to 25 of those companies, more than any other state, with Tesla being the biggest and most noteworthy.

5. Almost Half of the Chinese Companies on the List Come from the Financial, Materials, and Energy Sectors


Like in 2020, companies from the financial, materials, and energy sectors made up almost half of the Chinese companies on the list (Figure 8), but the distribution of assets among them is very unequal. Companies in the financial sector account for almost 70% of all Chinese firms’ total assets (Figure 9).
 
Figure 8: Sectoral Distribution of Chinese Companies by Numbers (2022)

Number of fortune 500 companies by state


Figure 9: Sectoral Distribution of Chinese Companies by Assets (2022)

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

 

6. Beijing Still Has the Largest Number of Major Chinese Companies That Are on the Fortune Global 500 List


54 of the 136 Chinese companies on the Global 500 list have their headquarters in Beijing municipality (Figure 10). 48 of the 54 are SOEs, and 46 of them are “central SOEs,” meaning they are directly under the authority of the national government, either the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) or the Ministry of Finance. Together, the 54 companies in Beijing hold 69.1% of the total assets of all Chinese companies listed on the Fortune 500 List (Figure 11). It is worth noting while a company may be headquartered in Beijing, its primary operations can be located somewhere else in China. This is particularly true for central SOEs, who are directly under the authority of either the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) or the Ministry of Finance.
 
Figure 10: Regional Distribution of Chinese Companies by Numbers (2022)

Number of fortune 500 companies by state


Figure 11: Regional Distribution of Chinese Companies by Assets (2022)

Number of fortune 500 companies by state


Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of SOEs in achieving the party’s industrial policy and geo-strategic objectives. Absolute state control over those SOEs and the massive amount of assets they hold shows that Chinese SOEs are still behaving as “asset maximizers” rather than “profit maximizers.”

Related Trustee Chair Activity
 
Blog Post: The Trustee Chair Team, “China’s Two Sessions: Ready, Aim, Spend,” CSIS, March 9, 2022.
 
Blog Post: The Trustee Chair Team, “Two Years In, How Does the STAR Market Measure Up?”  CSIS, January 24, 2022.
 
Report: Scott Kennedy and Yilin Wang, “Cheap Talk: China’s Central Bank Still Struggles to Speak to Markets,” CSIS, February 8, 2021. 
 
Blog Post: Scott Kennedy, “The Biggest But Not the Strongest: China’s Place in the Fortune Global 500,” CSIS, August 18, 2020
 
Blog Post: Kevin Acker and Qiu Mingda, “STAR Performers: High-Tech, Coastal, um, State-Owned and Military-Focused?” CSIS, August 12, 2019. 


 

 

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

 

In total, the companies produced $16.1 trillion in revenue, equal to two-thirds of America’s GDP. To even make it on the list this year, companies had to produce at least $6.4 billion in revenue, a 19% increase from 2020.

That revenue comes from all kinds of industries, from tech to oil to automobiles. And Fortune 500 companies are scattered all across the U.S.

Here’s a visual breakdown of where those companies are headquartered by region, and what industries dominate which areas.

The Western Region

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

The Western Region is home to Silicon Valley and some of the biggest players in the tech industry.

Companies like Apple, Tesla, Salesforce, and Meta Platforms are all in San Jose, while Los Angeles is home to the Walt Disney Company, video game giant Activision Blizzard, and health insurer Molina. California alone has 50 Fortune 500 companies, which collectively earned over $401 billion in profits—a 75% increase from the previous year.

California-based Fortune 500 companies also boast the highest total market value, at a whopping $10.3 trillion dollars.

Amazon and Starbucks, meanwhile, are nestled in Seattle along with Fortune 500 newcomer Zillow.

The Midwest Region

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

The cities in the Midwest Region with the highest number of company headquarters are Chicago, Minneapolis, and Detroit. While Chicago has companies from a variety of sectors, including aerospace giant Boeing and utilities company Exelon, a majority of Chicago-based Fortune 500 companies are in the food industry. Prominent names include McDonald’s, food production giant Archer Daniels Midland and Molson Coors Beverage. Minneapolis hosts a diversified group of companies, includingTarget, which ranked 32 on the Fortune 500. Michigan is the automotive hub: Detroit is home to Ford, General Motors, and Lear, while companies like Autoliv and Penske are headquartered in neighboring cities.

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The Northeast Region

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

The state of New York ranks second in the country, behind Texas, for the most Fortune 500 company headquarters. The 51 companies there cumulatively brought in $1.6 trillion in revenue for the 2021 fiscal year. New York City’s Madison Avenue is dotted with financial companies like JPMorgan Chase and Blackrock.

Other big names in the midtown area include Verizon Communications, Macy’s, Footlocker, and Fox.

Notable insurance companies like MetLife, TIAA, and New York Life Insurance are also based in the city.

The Southern Region

Number of fortune 500 companies by state

The Southern Region has the most Fortune 500 companies, and a large number of them are based in Texas and belong to the oil and gas industry. Phillips 66, KBR, and ConocoPhillips are only a few of the many energy companies that are headquartered in Houston; Sysco, the food-service company, is also based in that city. The pandemic hit the energy sector hard in 2020 and bore $51 billion in losses that year. But then it rebounded in 2021, and Fortune 500 companies in that sector nationwide posted $128 billion in profits. The Fortune 500’s number-one ranked company, Walmart, is also in the region, based in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Which state has the most Fortune 500 companies?

In 2021, New York had a total of 53 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state. California, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio rounded out the top five of states with the most Fortune 500 companies. ... Number of U.S. companies listed in the Fortune 500 ranking in 2021, by state..

How many Fortune 500 companies are in the US?

The Fortune 500 is an annual ranking of the 500 largest US corporations based on total sales for the previous fiscal year.

How many Fortune 500 firms are there?

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.

What cities have most Fortune 500 companies?

New York New York's metropolitan area hosts the headquarters of more than 50 Fortune 500 companies (higher than any other global city), including American Express, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Pfizer, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner and Verizon Communications.