Business Visualizations
America’s Most Valuable Companies Ranked by Profit per Employee
Ever wonder how much money major corporations make per employee? Profit Per Employee (PPE) is determined by dividing the company’s profit by the company’s quantity of full-time employees. The most profitable companies may not necessarily be the most profitable by number of employees—and vice versa. Whenever the economy is uncertain, this formula is usually one of the metrics companies will monitor to determine the efficiency and productivity of their staff. Using data over profit and company size from 2023, our team at The Chartistry has ranked the top 50 companies with the highest profit per worker.
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With a profit of nearly $2 million for each of their 9,500 employees, ConocoPhillips ranks first for highest profit per employee by quite the large margin. ConocoPhillips, an American oil and gas producer, saw a total profit almost $18.7 billion in 2023. Since oil and gas are two of the most valuable energy commodities in the world, it is not uncommon for an energy company to rank high in terms of PPE since their net profit is typically quite expansive. Of the top 50 companies with the highest profit for every employee, six of them can be categorized under the energy sector.
Coming in second place, Prologis is an investment trust company that saw a total profit of $3.4 billion in 2023. This profit was divided by their 2,466 employees to end with a profit of $1.36 million per employee.
In third, there is the tobacco company Altria Group. Altria Group’s 2023 profit of $5.8 billion was divided by 6,300 employees to result in a profit per employee of $915 thousand. Tobacco is yet another commodity product, with only one other tobacco company making the top 50 ranking.
Exxon Mobil is another oil and gas company with high profit per employee, coming in fourth place. Out of their profit of $55.7 million in 2023, their 62,000 employees averaged a profit of $899 thousand each.
Rounding out the top 5 companies is Chevron, the third oil and gas energy company in the top companies by profit per employee. With a total profit of $35.3 million, their PPE comes out to $809 thousand for each of their 43,846 employees.
Some companies land rank in both the most profitable in the world overall as well as in profit per worker. Apple, for example, brought in a 2023 profit of nearly a $100 billion. The company itself is valued at a total of $2.1 trillion. They managed a PPE of $609 thousand for their 164,000 employees, making them seventh among all companies.
Why is Profit per Employee Important?
For every company with an impressive profit per employee, there are tens, hundreds, even thousands of people working at the front line and behind the scenes to keep operations running as smoothly and efficiently as possible. PPE, not to be confused with Revenue per Employee, is a way for the company to measure the performance and productivity of the average employee in any given workforce to judge their added value. In other words, a way to know if their investment in hiring, retaining, and training their employees returned desirable results. Of course, it isn’t and shouldn’t be the only method to judge the value of an employee. When used in combination with other metrics, however, it can be a helpful tool to see the what employees have brought to the company.
For the majority of situations, a healthy profit per employee will be a good indicator of the health of the company at large. It shows that the business is properly maximizing the streamlining of their operations and utilizing the talent of each employee. This performance can mean that an underwhelming PPE may lead to cost-cutting measures for the company. Oftentimes, this is in the form of employee layoffs in areas that may not be contributing to the overall profit.
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The Profit per Employee of the Largest Companies in the U.S. By Market Cap (The Full List)
Which corporations have the highest revenue per employee? Companies that are able to do more with less:
| Rank | Name | Type of Company | 2023 Profits (in Millions) | Number of Employees in 2023 | Profit per Employee in 2023 |
| 1 | ConocoPhillips | Energy | $18,680 | 9,500 | $1,966,316 |
| 2 | Prologis | Real Estate Investment Trust | $3,364.9 | 2,466 | $1,364,517 |
| 3 | Altria Group | Tobacco | $5,764 | 6,300 | $914,921 |
| 4 | Exxon Mobil | Energy | $55,740 | 62,000 | $899,032 |
| 5 | Chevron | Energy | $35,465 | 43,846 | $808,854 |
| 6 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $3,322 | 4,800 | $692,083 |
| 7 | Apple | Technology, Consumer Goods | $99,803 | 164,000 | $608,555 |
| 8 | Broadcom | Semiconductor | $11,495 | 20,000 | $574,750 |
| 9 | Visa | Financial | $14,957 | 26,500 | $564,415 |
| 10 | Pfizer | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $31,372 | 83,000 | $377,976 |
| 11 | Regeneron | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $4,338.4 | 11,851 | $366,079 |
| 12 | Netflix | Video Streaming Services | $4,491.9 | 12,800 | $350,930 |
| 13 | Mastercard | Financial | $9,930 | 29,900 | $332,107 |
| 14 | Microsoft | Technology | $72,738 | 221,000 | $329,131 |
| 15 | Alphabet | Technology | $59,972 | 190,234 | $315,254 |
| 16 | Airbnb | Travel | $1,893 | 6,811 | $277,933 |
| 17 | American Tower | Real Estate Investment Trust | $1,765.8 | 6,391 | $276,295 |
| 18 | NextEra Energy | Energy | $4,147 | 15,300 | $271,046 |
| 19 | Gilead Sciences | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $4,592 | 17,000 | $270,118 |
| 20 | Meta Platforms | Technology | $23,200 | 86,482 | $268,264 |
| 21 | Texas Instruments | Semiconductor | $8,749 | 33,000 | $265,121 |
| 22 | BlackRock | Financial | $5,178 | 19,800 | $261,515 |
| 23 | Amgen | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $6,552 | 25,200 | $260,000 |
| 24 | Qualcomm | Semiconductor | $12,936 | 51,000 | $253,647 |
| 25 | AbbVie | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $11,836 | 50,000 | $236,720 |
| 26 | Goldman Sachs Group | Financial | $11,261 | 48,500 | $232,186 |
| 27 | Merck | Health (Including Animals) | $14,519 | 68,000 | $213,515 |
| 28 | Union Pacific | Railroad | $6,998 | 33,179 | $210,917 |
| 29 | Charles Schwab | Financial | $7,183 | 35,300 | $203,484 |
| 30 | Applied Materials | Semiconductor | $6,525 | 33,000 | $197,727 |
| 31 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $6,327 | 34,300 | $184,461 |
| 32 | Verizon Communications | Telecommunications | $21,256 | 117,100 | $181,520 |
| 33 | Nvidia | Technology | $4,368 | 26,196 | $166,743 |
| 34 | Adobe | Technology | $4,756 | 29,239 | $162,659 |
| 35 | Eli Lilly | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $6,244.8 | 39,000 | $160,123 |
| 36 | Zoetis | Health (Including Animals) | $2,114 | 13,800 | $153,188 |
| 37 | Booking Holdings | Travel | $3,058 | 21,492 | $142,286 |
| 38 | Cisco Systems | Technology | $11,812 | 83,300 | $141,801 |
| 39 | Procter & Gamble | Consumer goods | $14,742 | 106,000 | $139,075 |
| 40 | Morgan Stanley | Financial | $11,029 | 82,427 | $133,803 |
| 41 | JPMorgan Chase | Financial | $37,676 | 293,723 | $128,271 |
| 42 | Southern Company | Energy | $3,524 | 27,562 | $127,857 |
| 43 | Bank of America | Financial | $27,528 | 216,823 | $126,961 |
| 44 | Johnson & Johnson | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $17,941 | 152,700 | $117,492 |
| 45 | Coca-Cola | Consumer Goods | $9,542 | 82,500 | $115,661 |
| 46 | Philip Morris International | Tobacco | $9,048 | 79,800 | $113,383 |
| 47 | Analog Devices | Semiconductor | $2,748.6 | 24,450 | $112,417 |
| 48 | Intuitive Surgical | Biopharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical, and/or Biotechnology | $1,322.3 | 12,120 | $109,101 |
| 49 | Tesla | Automotive, Energy | $12,556 | 127,855 | $98,205 |
| 50 | American Express | Financial | $7,514 | 77,300 | $97,206 |
Americans are known for being industrious and hard-working, but are all states created equal in the hours they devote to work? A new map from Qualtrics can give us the answer. The team calculated the percentage of time Americans spent working last year, then color-coded each state based on where it fell on the spectrum. The colorful map shows us that all states fell somewhere within the range of 16% and 27% of last year spent on labor. States on the high end of the spectrum have a green hue, and states on the low end have a pink hue, with average time in the center of the scale represented in shades of blue. The result is an easy-to-read chart showing which state residents worked the most and the least.
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While the range the map represents isn’t huge, workers certainly notice a difference between 16% and 27% of the year spent on the job. What can cause such a big discrepancy? The map helps us get some insights into work culture throughout the nation. For example, residents of Utah spent the most time at work out of all 50 states, and they also have some of the lowest unemployment levels in America. This suggests that plentiful work means lots of time spent laboring, or maybe it implies that Utah residents genuinely enjoy working.
We can also see the effects of low wages on hours spent at work. In states where wages are lowest, like Mississippi, Alabama, South Dakota, and West Virginia, residents worked longer hours, most likely to earn what they need to get by. We can also see this in states with high living costs, like Colorado. It’s an expensive state to live in, and workers there spent more time on the job. We can speculate that the need for more wages pushes employees to work more.
Industry can also play a part in work hours. We already know that Alabama and Mississippi workers are spending a lot of time in the workplace, but we also have to consider that there are a lot of manufacturing jobs in these states. These jobs often come with a high demand for long shifts that exceed 40 hours a week. On the other end of the spectrum, we can see that high availability of part-time work can lead to lower work hours. Connecticut residents worked the least amount of time last year, which is clearly because 29% of the workforce has a part-time job. Other states with the lowest work hours include Michigan, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Washington, and Texas.
This map is a fascinating insight into American work culture and how it varies across the nation. The best maps and studies give us statistics that can provide us with a bigger picture of an issue like labor, and this map certainly delivers.
The world of entrepreneurship loves the tale of a small business startup that grew into a billion-dollar business. The team at Ooma illustrated the biggest names in this world of billionaires with a timeline showing how long it took them to reach their status from a small business start-up to a billion-dollar milestone.
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The graphic features 28 billionaires who built up from a small business. All names were pulled from the Forbes 400 list. While the graphic is stuffed full of details, the most fascinating is the measure of how many years they needed to become billionaires.
The first person to achieve the “self-made” billionaire status was John D. Rockefeller in 1916. The oil tycoon rode the wave of the industrial era to billionaire status. Today, there are almost 3,000 billionaires worldwide. The U.S. is home to the highest number, at 813 billionaires. We can see an industry trend in this graphic, which is that tech dominates. This is no surprise. As Rockefeller benefited from the need for oil, how we worked and what we produced changed completely, and tech has changed every aspect of our lives, so it’s no surprise that these entrepreneurs have reaped the rewards.
Notable examples are Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who led the way in introducing the personal computer to the general public. Warren Buffett took a different approach. He grew wealth by investing wisely in assets. Elon Musk started his first business with Zip2 in the early days of the Internet.
The Billionaire Journeys
The chart shows us that it took different people vastly different amounts of time to reach their status. Bezos and Zuckerberg were the fastest, becoming billionaires in just four years. Others like Donald Bern and John Menard Jr. had a slow build that took 43 years. Many people land somewhere in between these extremes, emphasizing that successful entrepreneurship takes dedication and persistence. We also see on that chart that there is only one woman, Diane Hendricks. This suggests that entrepreneurship and business are still rife with bias.
The Journeys of the Top 10 Billionaires
This is how long the wealthiest billionaires took to hit their status:
- Jeff Bezos: 4 years
- Mark Zuckerberg: 4 years
- Jan Koum: 5 years
- Larry Page: 6 years
- Sergey Brin: 6 years
- Henry Samueli: 9 years
- Bill Gates: 12 years
- Michael Dell: 12 years
- Steve Cohen: 12 years
- David Tepper: 13 years
Many people on this list transformed their industries, showing that successful entrepreneurs are creative and innovative. They show us that entrepreneurs should look for emerging trends in their industry, leverage new technology, and make strong investments. While a lot depends on love, it’s clear that persistence is key. The list gives us an idea of what kind of industries people can generate billion-dollar businesses in and how long it might take to get there. This chart is a great introduction to these business pioneers, and many of these billionaires have published books and given out advice on how they made their businesses a success.
Every year, Fortune magazine publishes its much-anticipated Fortune 500 list. This list is meticulously analyzed by company owners, investors, and influential figures in the business world. So, what makes the Fortune 500 so significant? In this article, our team at The Chartistry provides an in-depth examination of the list, exploring why it attracts so much attention and what it takes for a company to be included.
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What is the Fortune 500?
The Fortune 500 is the finance magazine’s list of the 500 most profitable companies in the United States. The company ranked at the top of the list brings in the most revenue based on its financial documents from the most recent fiscal year. The Fortune 500 list for 2024 has Walmart ranked in the top spot with revenue of $648.125B. In fact, this giant retail store has been ranked number one for the last eleven years.
What Does It Take to Make It Onto the Fortune 500?
To become a Fortune 500 company, a business must be incorporated and conduct operations in the U.S. In addition, the company’s financial documents must be public for it to be considered by Fortune.
Why Do Companies Want to Be on This List?
Fortune magazine published its first list of the top 500 U.S. companies in 1955. Since then, the presence of reputable companies such as Exxon Mobil, Goldman Sachs Group, and General Mills has given the list an air of prestige. Plus, these 500 businesses bring in incredible amounts of revenue and contribute to the strength of our economy. Wouldn’t you want your company to appear on a list alongside Walmart, Amazon, and Berkshire Hathaway?
Have Any Companies Appeared on the Fortune 500 for Decades?
Yes, some companies have made repeated appearances. Some famous names have been on the list every year since 1955, including Kellogg, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil, to name a few.
Fortune 500 Companies by State
Walmart, the number one ranked company on the Fortune 500, is located in Arkansas, with its headquarters in Bentonville. Fortune’s number two company, Amazon, is the biggest in Washington, with its headquarters in Seattle. Exxon Mobil is the biggest Fortune 500 company in Texas, and it does business out of Houston.
An interesting thing to note about this list is that not all 50 states are home to a Fortune 500 company. The states without one include:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
The Largest Fortune 500 Company Headquartered in Each State
| State | Biggest Fortune 500 Company |
Location of Headquarters |
Fortune 500 Rank (2023) |
2023 Revenue (in millions) |
Percent Change in Revenue From 2022 |
| Alabama | Regions Financial | Birmingham, AL |
483 |
$7,531 |
14% |
| Alaska | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Arizona | Avnet | Phoenix, AZ |
163 |
$24,311 |
24.4% |
| Arkansas | Walmart | Bentonville, AR |
1 |
$611,289 |
6.7% |
| California | Apple | Cupertino, CA |
4 |
$394,328 |
7.8% |
| Colorado | Arrow Electronics | Centennial, CO |
109 |
$37,124 |
7.7% |
| Connecticut | Cigna Group | Bloomfield, CT |
15 |
$180,516 |
3.7% |
| Delaware | DuPont | Wilmington, DE |
250 |
$16,549 |
-3.6% |
| District of Columbia | Fannie Mae | Washington, D.C. |
28 |
$121,596 |
19.7% |
| Florida | World Kinect | Miami, FL |
70 |
$59,043 |
88.4% |
| Georgia | Home Depot | Atlanta, GA |
20 |
$157,403 |
4.1% |
| Hawaii | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Idaho | Albertsons | Boise, ID |
53 |
$71,887 |
3.2% |
| Illinois | Walgreens Boots Alliance | Deerfield, IL |
27 |
$132,703 |
-10.7% |
| Indiana | Elevance Health | Indianapolis, IN |
22 |
$156,595 |
13% |
| Iowa | Principal Financial | Des Moines, IA |
236 |
$17,492 |
22.6% |
| Kansas | Seaboard | Merriam, KS |
364 |
$11,243 |
21.8% |
| Kentucky | Humana | Louisville, KY |
42 |
$92,870 |
11.8% |
| Louisiana | Lumen Technologies | Monroe, LA |
237 |
$17,478 |
-11.2% |
| Maine | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Maryland | Lockheed Martin | Bethesda, MD |
60 |
$65,984 |
-1.6% |
| Massachusetts | General Electric | Boston, MA |
52 |
$76,555 |
3.2% |
| Michigan | Ford Motor | Dearborn, MI |
19 |
$158,057 |
15.9% |
| Minnesota | UnitedHealth Group | Minnetonka, MN |
5 |
$324,162 |
12.7% |
| Mississippi | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Missouri | Centene | St. Louis, MO |
25 |
$144,547 |
14.7% |
| Montana | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Nebraska | Berkshire Hathaway | Omaha, NE |
7 |
$302,089 |
9.4% |
| Nevada | MGM Resorts International | Las Vegas, NV |
315 |
$13,128 |
35.6% |
| New Hampshire | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| New Jersey | Johnson & Johnson | New Brunswick, NJ |
40 |
$94,943 |
1.2% |
| New Mexico | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| New York | JPMorgan Chase | New York, NY |
23 |
$154,792 |
21.7% |
| North Carolina | Bank of America | Charlotte, NC |
32 |
$115,053 |
22.6% |
| North Dakota | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Ohio | Cardinal Health | Dublin, OH |
14 |
$181,364 |
11.6% |
| Oklahoma | Oneok | Tulsa, OK |
173 |
$22,387 |
35.3% |
| Oregon | Nike | Beaverton, OR |
93 |
$46,710 |
4.9% |
| Pennsylvania | Cencora | Conshohocken, PA |
11 |
$238,587 |
11.5% |
| Rhode Island | CVS Health | Woonsocket, RI |
6 |
$322,467 |
10.4% |
| South Carolina | Sonoco Products | Hartsville, SC |
498 |
$7,251 |
29.7% |
| South Dakota | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Tennessee | FedEx | Memphis, TN |
41 |
$93,512 |
11.4% |
| Texas | Exxon Mobil | Houston, TX |
3 |
$413,680 |
44.8% |
| Utah | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Vermont | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Virginia | Freddie Mac | McLean, VA |
45 |
$86,717 |
31.6% |
| Washington | Amazon | Seattle, WA |
2 |
$513,983 |
9.4% |
| West Virginia | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Wisconsin | Northwestern Mutual | Milwaukee, WI |
111 |
$36,921 |
0.5% |
| Wyoming | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Do Some States Have More Than One Fortune 500 Company?
Yes, several states have multiple companies on the list. Texas leads with 55 companies on the Fortune 500, followed by California with 52 and New York with 50. These states all boast a large population and bustling metropolitan areas.
Do Some States Have Just One Fortune 500 Company?
Yes, some states on the list are home to just one. These states include Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, and South Carolina. In terms of total population, each of these states ranks in the lower half on the list of 50. Delaware has the lowest population, with 1,044,320 people in 2024.
Are Some Cities Home to More Than One Fortune 500 Company?
Absolutely! In fact, some cities serve as the home base for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Some notable examples include:
Chicago
Illinois has 33 Fortune 500 companies, including Walgreens, McDonald’s, and United Airlines, among others. Dozens of these companies are headquartered in the Chicago area.
Houston
Of the 55 Fortune 500 companies in Texas, Houston is home to 21. Exxon Mobil, Sysco, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) are just a few of the impressive companies in the collection.
Atlanta
According to our chart, the biggest Fortune 500 company in Georgia is Home Depot, ranked at number 20. But Home Depot is not alone. There are 18 Fortune 500 companies in Atlanta, including Aflac, Delta Air Lines Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, and others.
Make sure to explore our other lists and visuals, which provide insight into the world of big business. One list ranks companies by employee profits (which happens to be one of our original visualizations), while another categorizes the most profitable companies by industry. It’s no surprise that many Fortune 500 companies frequently appear on various lists throughout the year, highlighting their achievements.
The Number of Fortune 500 Companies in Each State
| State | State Abbreviation | Number of Fortune 500 Companies in Each State |
| Texas | TX |
55 |
| California | CA |
52 |
| New York | NY |
50 |
| Illinois | IL |
33 |
| Ohio | OH |
24 |
| Virginia | VA |
24 |
| Florida | FL |
23 |
| Pennsylvania | PA |
23 |
| Georgia | GA |
19 |
| Michigan | MI |
18 |
| Massachusetts | MA |
17 |
| Minnesota | MN |
15 |
| Connecticut | CT |
14 |
| New Jersey | NJ |
14 |
| North Carolina | NC |
13 |
| Washington | WA |
12 |
| Arizona | AZ |
10 |
| Colorado | CO |
10 |
| Tennessee | TN |
10 |
| Missouri | MO |
8 |
| Wisconsin | WI |
8 |
| Indiana | IN |
7 |
| Oklahoma | OK |
6 |
| Arkansas | AR |
4 |
| Nebraska | NE |
4 |
| Rhode Island | RI |
4 |
| Idaho | ID |
3 |
| Maryland | MD |
3 |
| Alabama | AL |
2 |
| District of Columbia | DC |
2 |
| Iowa | IA |
2 |
| Louisiana | LA |
2 |
| Nevada | NV |
2 |
| Oregon | OR |
2 |
| Delaware | DE |
1 |
| Kansas | KS |
1 |
| Kentucky | KY |
1 |
| South Carolina | SC |
1 |
| Alaska | AK |
0 |
| Hawaii | HI |
0 |
| Maine | ME |
0 |
| Mississippi | MS |
0 |
| Montana | MT |
0 |
| New Hampshire | NH |
0 |
| New Mexico | NM |
0 |
| North Dakota | ND |
0 |
| South Dakota | SD |
0 |
| Utah | UT |
0 |
| Vermont | VT |
0 |
| West Virginia | WV |
0 |
| Wyoming | WY |
0 |
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