How many employees does Apple have? A deeper look at the tech giant's workforce

As Apple has grown its merchandise lines (like MacBooks and iPhones) and expanded the services it offers (like unreality retention and Apple TV) implicit caller years and decades, it has needed to employment much and much people.

From its 2 founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who started Apple retired of a store successful 1976, the institution has evolved into a planetary tech elephantine with offices and retail stores successful implicit 20 countries, employing tens of thousands worldwide.

Here’s however galore employees Apple has, however overmuch they make, wherever they work, and what the CEO wage spread looks like.

Apple had astir 166,000 full-time employees globally astatine its fiscal twelvemonth ending September 27, 2025, according to concern information aggregator Bullfincher. That’s much than treble the fig of radical it employed (about 60,400) successful fiscal twelvemonth 2011, erstwhile laminitis Steve Jobs served his past afloat twelvemonth arsenic CEO.

According to Apple's occupation instauration page, 80,000 employees — a small little than fractional of the company's workforce — are successful the U.S., with an further 450,000 moving for the company's suppliers.

Here's a look astatine the company's employment footprint implicit the past decade:

Related: Where is Apple’s headquarters? A spaceship-like bureau with thousands of trees

Apple posted $416 cardinal successful gross successful 2025. Based connected 166,000 full-time workers, the institution brought successful astir $2.5 cardinal per employee. By comparison, successful 2011, a twelvemonth earlier Tim Cook took implicit arsenic CEO, per-employee gross was lower, astatine $1.79 cardinal (based connected $108 cardinal successful revenues and astir 60,400 full-time employees).

By comparison, the gross per worker astatine Nvidia—the world’s biggest institution by marketplace value—was larger, astatine $5.1 cardinal successful its fiscal twelvemonth 2026, based connected astir 42,000 employees and $215.9 cardinal successful revenue.

Apple, similar different companies, uses a CEO wage ratio, which compares the CEO’s compensation to that of the median employee.

In 2025, CEO Tim Cook was the highest-paid worker astatine $3 million. His yearly wage hadn’t changed since 2016. But his full compensation was $74.29 million, compared to the median worker compensation of $139,483. That CEO wage ratio was 533 to 1. This ratio is based connected Apple’s annualized basal salaries for imperishable full-time and part-time employees who didn’t enactment the afloat year.

By comparison, Nvidia’s ratio was smaller, astatine 166 to 1, owed to employing less workers than Apple and paying a higher median salary. CEO Jensen Huang's full compensation successful Nvidia’s fiscal twelvemonth 2025 was $49.86 million, versus $301,233 for the median employee.

Apple doesn’t supply this accusation publicly. According to Unify GTM, which compiles information utilizing artificial intelligence, the bulk of Apple’s workforce is successful engineering.

Based connected 120,485 Apple employees (which would beryllium equivalent to astir its headcount of astir 123,000 full-time employees successful 2017), 41% were successful engineering, followed by concern absorption (15%), income and enactment (9%), selling and merchandise (7%), operations (7%), concern and medication (6%), accusation exertion (4%), consulting (3%), different (5%), and a remaining 3% that Unify didn’t identify.

By comparison, successful 2026, Nvidia had 42,000 employees crossed 38 countries, of which 31,000 were progressive successful probe and improvement and 11,000 successful sales, marketing, operations, and administrative positions.

More connected Apple:

• Tim Cook's nett worth: The Apple CEO's banal & wealthiness successful 2025

• Steve Wozniak’s nett worth: The Apple cofounder’s wealthiness successful 2025

• Steve Jobs' nett worth: How affluent Apple's laminitis could person been

Apple’s workforce dynamics are apt to alteration successful the years to come. In 2025, the tech elephantine announced plans to put $600 cardinal successful the U.S. implicit a four-year period, aiming to bring immoderate of its proviso concatenation and precocious manufacturing backmost location done an inaugural dubbed the American Manufacturing Program (AMP).

Apple said that successful 4 years, it planned to straight prosecute 20,000 radical successful the U.S. — of which the bulk would beryllium focused connected probe and development, silicon engineering, bundle development, and AI and instrumentality learning.

Apple’s largest attraction of workers is astatine its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California, which houses much than 12,000 employees crossed galore of the company's divisions, including probe and development. Still, Apple has much than 500 retail stores globally, which collectively employment thousands of workers.

This communicative was primitively published by TheStreet connected Mar 11, 2026, wherever it archetypal appeared successful the Technology section. Add TheStreet arsenic a Preferred Source by clicking here.