Everyone knows the name. You hear it in movies, read it in news tickers, and see it on LinkedIn profiles of people trying to look important. But honestly, most folks don't actually get what being a Fortune 500 company in usa really means. They think it's a list of the "best" companies. Or the most "successful."
It isn't. Not exactly.
It is a list of the biggest. Specifically, it’s a ranking based on top-line revenue. If you sell a trillion dollars' worth of stuff but lose two trillion doing it, you could still—technically—be at the top of the list. That’s the first thing you've got to wrap your head around. It is a measurement of sheer mass.
Size Doesn't Always Mean Stability
Let’s look at the heavyweights. Walmart has held the number one spot for 13 years straight. That is an absurd run. Think about it. Since 2012, through a pandemic, a massive shift to e-commerce, and God knows how many economic hiccups, they’ve stayed on top. In the 2025 rankings, they pulled in over $680 billion in revenue.
That is more than the GDP of many countries.
But then you have Amazon at number two. They are breathing down Walmart's neck with about $637 billion. The gap is closing. What’s wild is that people still think of these as just "stores." They aren't. They are logistics and data companies that happen to sell you socks and cloud storage.
The Profitability Gap
You've probably noticed that Apple usually sits around number four or five in revenue ($391 billion in the 2025 list). But if we ranked this list by profit? Apple would absolutely crush it. They banked nearly **$97 billion** in net income. Compare that to Walmart’s $15 billion.
One is a massive machine moving mountains of goods for a tiny slice of profit. The other is a luxury tech powerhouse with margins that make Wall Street weep. It shows that being a Fortune 500 company in usa is a diverse club. You’ve got the high-volume retailers and the high-margin tech giants sitting at the same table.
The New Faces of the 500
The list isn't static. It’s kinda like a living organism. In 2025, we saw 14 new companies join the ranks.
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Some are spinoffs you might recognize, like GE Vernova (energy) or Kenvue (the consumer health side of Johnson & Johnson). But the real story is Nvidia. If you haven't been living under a rock, you know they are the ones fueling the AI boom. They jumped 34 spots in a single year to hit No. 31. That kind of vertical movement in the top 50 is almost unheard of. It usually takes decades to climb that high.
Where These Giants Live
Geography is shifting too. For a long time, it was all about New York and Chicago. While NYC still leads with 43 companies, Texas and California are in a constant slugfest for the state title.
- California: 58 companies.
- Texas: 54 companies.
- New York: 53 companies.
Texas is winning the "relocation" game because of the tax climate, but California keeps churning out tech behemoths that eventually grow into the 500. It's a fascinating look at where the money is actually flowing in the country.
Why the $7.4 Billion Floor Matters
To even get your foot in the door in 2025, you needed $7.4 billion in revenue. That’s the "entry fee." It went up 4% from the year before. Basically, the club is getting harder to join.
Together, these 500 companies represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP. We are talking $19.9 trillion in total revenue. They employ 31 million people worldwide. When people talk about "the economy," they are mostly talking about these firms. If the Fortune 500 sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold.
What People Miss About Immigrant Founders
Here is a stat that usually surprises people: almost half of the Fortune 500 companies in usa were founded by immigrants or their children.
We’re talking about 231 companies. This isn't just a feel-good story; it’s a massive economic engine. These "New American" companies generated $8.6 trillion in revenue last year. Without that specific entrepreneurial drive, the list—and the U.S. economy—would look significantly smaller.
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The Gender Gap is Shrinking (Slowly)
We hit a record in 2025. There are now 55 female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. That’s 11%. Is it great? It’s better than the 0% it was for decades, but it's still a long way from parity. You have leaders like Mary Barra at GM and Jane Fraser at Citigroup proving that the "boys club" image of the 500 is starting to crack, even if the pace is glacial.
Is the Fortune 500 the same as the S&P 500?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: People use them interchangeably, but they shouldn't. The S&P 500 is an investable index of 500 public companies selected by a committee. The Fortune 500 includes private companies too, as long as they file financial statements with a government agency.
You can buy an S&P 500 index fund. You can't really "buy" the Fortune 500 because some of those companies aren't for sale to the public.
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Actionable Insights for 2026
If you’re looking at these companies from an investment or career perspective, stop looking at the rank. The rank is just ego. Look at the revenue per employee or the net profit margin.
Next Steps for You:
- Check the Industry Shifts: Notice how healthcare and tech are swallowing the top 25. If you're looking for stability, look at the insurers like UnitedHealth Group (No. 3).
- Watch the AI Spend: Giants like Microsoft and Google are projected to spend over $300 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. This will change who stays on the list five years from now.
- Follow the Spinoffs: Often, the "new" companies on the list (like Kenvue) are parts of older giants that were trimmed for efficiency. These often perform better than the parent companies in the short term.
- Diversify Your View: Don't just watch the Top 10. The real growth and "disruption" usually happen in the 400-500 range, where companies like Palo Alto Networks (No. 470) are just starting their climb.
The Fortune 500 isn't just a list of winners. It's a map of where the power sits today. But as the 2025 data shows, that map is being redrawn faster than ever.