TheFortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published byFortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largestUnited Statescorporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.[1] The list includespublicly held companies, along withprivately held companies for which revenues are publicly available. The concept of theFortune 500 was created by Edgar P. Smith, aFortune editor, and the first list was published in 1955.[2][3] TheFortune 500 is more commonly used than its subsetFortune 100 or supersetFortune 1000.[4]
TheFortune 500, created by Edgar P. Smith, was first published in January 1955.[2] The original top ten companies wereGeneral Motors,Jersey Standard,U.S. Steel,General Electric,Esmark,Chrysler,Armour,Gulf Oil,Mobil, andDuPont.[5]
The originalFortune 500 was limited to companies whose revenues were derived from manufacturing, mining, and energy exploration.[6] 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.[7]
As of 2020, theFortune 500 companies represent approximately two-thirds of theUnited States' gross domestic product with approximately $14.2 trillion in revenue, $1.2 trillion in profits, and $20.4 trillion in total market value. These revenue figures also account for approximately 18% of thegross world product. The companies collectively employ a total of 29.2 million people worldwide, or nearly 0.4% of theworld's total population.[8]
The following is the list of top 20 companies.[9]
| Rank | Company | State | Industry | Revenue in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walmart |  Arkansas | General merchandisers | $648.1 billion |
| 2 | Amazon |  Washington | Internet services and retailing | $574.8 billion |
| 3 | Apple |  California | Computers, office equipment | $383.3 billion |
| 4 | UnitedHealth Group |  Minnesota | Health care: insurance and managed care | $371.6 billion |
| 5 | Berkshire Hathaway |  Nebraska | Insurance: property and casualty (stock) | $364.5 billion |
| 6 | CVS Health |  Rhode Island | Health care: pharmacy and other services | $357.8 billion |
| 7 | ExxonMobil |  Texas | Petroleum refining | $344.6 billion |
| 8 | Alphabet Inc. | California | Internet services and retailing | $307.4 billion |
| 9 | McKesson Corporation | Texas | Wholesalers: health care | $276.7 billion |
| 10 | Cencora |  Pennsylvania | Wholesalers: health care | $262.2 billion |
| 11 | Costco | Washington | General merchandisers | $242.3 billion |
| 12 | JPMorgan Chase |  New York | Commercial banks | $239.4 billion |
| 13 | Microsoft | Washington | Computer software | $211.9 billion |
| 14 | Cardinal Health |  Ohio | Wholesalers: health care | $205.0 billion |
| 15 | Chevron Corporation | California | Petroleum refining | $200.9 billion |
| 16 | Cigna |  Connecticut | Health care: pharmacy and other services | $195.3 billion |
| 17 | Ford Motor Company |  Michigan | Motor vehicles & parts | $176.2 billion |
| 18 | Bank of America |  North Carolina | Commercial banks | $171.9 billion |
| 19 | General Motors | Michigan | Motor vehicles & parts | $171.8 billion |
| 20 | Elevance Health |  Indiana | Health care: insurance and managed care | $171.3 billion |
This is the list of the top 18 states with the most companies within the Fortune 500 as of 2024.[10]
| Rank | State | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 57 |
| 2 | New York | 52 |
| Texas | 52 | |
| 4 |  Illinois | 32 |
| 5 | Ohio | 27 |
| 6 |  Virginia | 24 |
| 7 |  Florida | 22 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | 20 |
| 9 |  Georgia | 18 |
| 10 | Minnesota | 17 |
| 11 |  Massachusetts | 16 |
| Michigan | 16 | |
| 13 | Connecticut | 15 |
| 14 |  New Jersey | 14 |
| 15 | North Carolina | 12 |
| Washington | 12 | |
| 17 |  Arizona | 10 |
 Tennessee | 10 |
This is the list of the top 10metropolitan statistical areas with the most companies within the Fortune 500 as of 2024.[11]
| Rank | Metropolitan area | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  New York City | 47 |
| 2 |  Chicago | 30 |
| 3 |  Houston | 23 |
| 4 |  Dallas | 20 |
 San Jose, California | 20 | |
 Washington, D.C.[a] | 20 | |
| 6 |  Atlanta | 16 |
| 7 |  Minneapolis | 15 |
| 8 |  Boston | 14 |
 San Francisco | 14 |
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