California falls behind Texas in Fortune 500 ranking

Texas has dethroned California arsenic the authorities with the astir Fortune 500 companies.

The Fortune 500 database ranks the largest U.S. companies by revenue. This year, 57 of the apical companies are headquartered successful Texas, compared with California’s 56. It’s a reversal from 2 years agone erstwhile the Golden State had the rod position.

The Lone Star State was speedy to assertion the victory.

“Texas is the undisputed office of headquarters,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said successful a quality merchandise responding to the ranking, which was announced Wednesday. “The world’s starring businesses put with assurance successful Texas due to the fact that of our welcoming concern climate, predictable regulatory environment, and skilled and increasing workforce. People and businesses are choosing Texas due to the fact that Texas works.”

California’s firm haters accidental they effort to debar the state’s precocious costs, income taxes and strict regulations, but the occidental authorities is inactive a apical wealth maker.

“California dominates connected astir each different measure: its Fortune 500 companies are the astir profitable ($647 billion), astir invaluable ($20 trillion), and employment much radical than immoderate different authorities (2.8 cardinal workers),” Fortune said successful a quality release.

Indeed, contempt the naysayers, Californian companies person been starring the satellite successful processing artificial quality exertion arsenic good arsenic the latest successful abstraction and defence tech.

The authorities is location to astir 400 “unicorns,” oregon billion-dollar startups — much than immoderate different state, according to CB Insights. It besides gobbled up astir two-thirds of U.S. task superior past year, with San Francisco Bay Area startups specified arsenic OpenAI starring the way, according to the concern accusation level Crunchbase.

Texas and California person been successful a tug-of-war for the crown. In 2024, aft a decade, California bagged the apical spot with 57 companies connected the list, portion Texas and New York tied successful 2nd with 52 companies each.

Healthcare elephantine McKesson, and lipid companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron, were the apical 3 Texas companies connected the list. Apple, Alphabet, and Nvidia took the apical positions successful California.

Tesla, which relocated to Austin from Palo Alto successful 2021, ranked 43rd connected the list. Other large Fortune 500 companies that near California included Oracle, Charles Schwab and Chevron.

California’s colonisation exodus has yet to afloat retrieve from the pandemic times successful 2020. The state’s precocious outgo of surviving and regulatory situation are often cited arsenic reasons for residents opting to move.

More recently, California’s connection for a one-time taxation connected billionaires prompted some, including Peter Thiel and Larry Page, to unfastened caller offices extracurricular the state.

Some smaller companies are besides leaving the state, but astir the aforesaid fig are being acceptable up. From 2011 to 2021, the authorities mislaid a nett 2% of its full of astir 47,000 headquarters, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

“There is immoderate denotation of an uptick successful office leaving California, but it is truly tiny successful examination to different steadfast trends,” said Sarah E. Bohn, vice president of the Public Policy Institute of California. “The complaint of leaving is somewhat higher among bigger firms.”

Bohn, successful a caller report, cautioned that focusing solely connected relocations overlooks the scope of affirmative and antagonistic forces driving office enactment and tin misrepresent businesses’ tendency and quality to run office successful California and the broader interaction connected jobs.

Behind Texas and California was New York, location to 53 Fortune 500 companies this year. The 4th spot was tied betwixt Illinois and Ohio, with 29 companies each.

Amazon was the apical institution connected the list, ending Walmart’s 13-year reign astatine the apical of the yearly Fortune 500 companies list. Amazon’s 2025 gross was $716.9 billion, compared with Walmart’s $713.2 billion.

Seattle-headquartered Amazon joined Exxon Mobil, General Motors, and Walmart arsenic the lone 4 companies to person ever held the apical presumption since Fortune began publishing the information successful 1955.

Together, the 500 companies connected the database roped successful $21 trillion successful gross and $2.1 trillion successful profits past year, employing 30.5 cardinal radical worldwide.