Fortune 500
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. The list includes publicly held companies, along with privately held companies for which revenues are publicly available. The concept of the Fortune 500 was created by Edgar P. Smith, a Fortune editor, and the first list was published in 1955.[1][2] The Fortune 500 is more commonly used than its subset Fortune 100 or superset Fortune 1000.[3]
History
[edit]The Fortune 500, created by Edgar P. Smith, was first published in January 1955.[1] The original top ten companies were General Motors, Jersey Standard, U.S. Steel, General Electric, Esmark, Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation, Armour, Gulf Oil, Chrysler, Mobil, and DuPont.[4]
Methodology
[edit]The original Fortune 500 was limited to companies whose revenues were derived from manufacturing, mining, and energy exploration.[5] At the same time, Fortune published companion "Fortune 50" lists of the 50 largest commercial banks (ranked by assets), utilities (ranked by assets), life insurance companies (ranked by assets), retailers (ranked by gross revenues) and transportation companies (ranked by revenues). Fortune magazine changed its methodology in 1994 to include service companies. With the change came 291 new entrants to the famous list including three in the Top 10.[6]
Influence
[edit]The companies on the 2026 Fortune 500 had combined revenue of $21 trillion and combined profits of $2.1 trillion.[7]
Overview
[edit]The following is the list of top 20 companies.[8]
| Rank | Company | State | Industry | Revenue in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon |  Washington |
Internet services and retailing | $716.9 billion |
| 2 | Walmart |  Arkansas |
General merchandisers | $713.2 billion |
| 3 | UnitedHealth Group |  Minnesota |
Health care: insurance and managed care | $447.6 billion |
| 4 | Apple |  California |
Computers, office equipment | $416.2 billion |
| 5 | McKesson Corporation |  Texas |
Wholesalers: health care | $403.4 billion |
| 6 | Alphabet Inc. | California |
Internet services and retailing | $402.8 billion |
| 7 | CVS Health |  Rhode Island |
Health care: pharmacy and other services | $402.1 billion |
| 8 | Berkshire Hathaway |  Nebraska |
Insurance: property and casualty (stock) | $371.4 billion |
| 9 | ExxonMobil | Texas |
Petroleum refining | $332.2 billion |
| 10 | Cencora |  Pennsylvania |
Wholesalers: health care | $321.3 billion |
| 11 | Microsoft | Washington |
Computer software | $281.7 billion |
| 12 | Costco | Washington |
General merchandisers | $275.2 billion |
| 13 | Cigna |  Connecticut |
Health care: pharmacy and other services | $274.9 billion |
| 14 | Cardinal Health |  Ohio |
Wholesalers: health care | $222.6 billion |
| 15 | Nvidia | California |
Semiconductors and Other Electronic Components | $215.9 billion |
| 16 | Meta | California |
Internet Services and Retailing | $201.0 billion |
| 17 | Elevance Health |  Indiana |
Health care: insurance and managed care | $199.1 billion |
| 18 | Centene |  Missouri |
Health care: insurance and managed care | $194.8 billion |
| 19 | Chevron Corporation | Texas |
Petroleum refining | $189.0 billion |
| 20 | Ford Motor Company |  Michigan |
Motor vehicles & parts | $187.3 billion |
Breakdown by state
[edit]This is the list of the states with ten or more companies within the Fortune 500 as of 2026.[8][9]
| Rank | State | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas |
57 |
| 2 | California |
56 |
| 3 |  New York |
53 |
| 4 |  Illinois |
29 |
| Ohio |
29 | |
| 6 |  Virginia |
24 |
| 7 |  Florida |
22 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania |
20 |
| 9 | Minnesota |
17 |
| 10 |  Georgia |
16 |
| 11 | Connecticut |
15 |
 Massachusetts |
15 | |
 New Jersey |
15 | |
| 14 | Michigan |
14 |
| 15 |  North Carolina |
12 |
| 16 |  Tennessee |
11 |
Breakdown by metropolitan area
[edit]This is the list of the top 10 metropolitan statistical areas with the most companies within the Fortune 500 as of 2026.[8][10]
| Rank | Metropolitan area | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  New York City |
49 |
| 2 |  Chicago |
30 |
| 3 |  Houston |
26 |
| 4 |  San Jose, California |
21 |
| 5 |  Washington, D.C.[a] |
20 |
| 6 |  Dallas |
19 |
| 7 |  Atlanta |
15 |
 Minneapolis |
15 | |
| 9 |  Boston |
14 |
 San Francisco |
14 |
- ↑ Amazon is co-headquartered between Seattle and Arlington, Virginia, the latter being located in the Washington metropolitan area.
See also
[edit]
- 40 Under 40
- Fortune Global 500
- Fortune India 500
- Fortune 1000
- List of largest companies in the United States by revenue
- List of largest companies by revenue
- List of Fortune 500 computer software and information companies
- List of S&P 500 companies
- List of women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies
- Forbes Global 2000
- Total Fortune 1000 companies by urban area list
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Edgar Smith, 69, Dies; Retired Time Executive". The New York Times. October 12, 1989. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ↑ "1955 Full list". Fortune. Archived from the original on April 7, 2006. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ↑ Williams, Sean (June 4, 2015). "Fortune 100: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About This Popular Annual Ranking". The Motley Fool. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ↑ Fry, Erika (June 2, 2014). "What happened to the first Fortune 500?". Fortune. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
- ↑ Semczuk, Nina (2024-03-13). "What Are Fortune 500 Companies?". Bankrate. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ↑ Groves, Martha (April 26, 1995). "Service Now Counts with Fortune 500". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
- ↑ "Fortune 500 – The largest companies in the U.S. by revenue". Fortune. Retrieved August 26, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Fortune 500 List of Companies 2026". Fortune. Retrieved October 16, 2026.
- ↑ Munis, Jacqueline (June 3, 2026). "Texas is the new capital of the Fortune 500—taking California's crown". Fortune. Retrieved October 17, 2026.
- ↑ "Markets with the Most Fortune 500 Headquarters in 2026". RealPage Blog. June 17, 2026. Retrieved October 17, 2026.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Full list of Fortune 500 companies: 1955–2005, 2006[dead link], 2007[dead link], 2008[dead link], 2009[dead link], 2010[dead link], 2011[dead link], 2012[dead link], 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
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