Economy
Walmart Nation: Mapping the Largest Employers in the U.S.
Walmart Nation: Mapping the Largest Employers in the U.S.
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.
In an era where Amazon steals most of the headlines, it’s easy to forget about brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart.
But, even though the market values the Bezos e-commerce juggernaut at about twice the sum of Walmart, the blue big-box store is very formidable in other ways. For example, revenue and earnings are two areas where Walmart still reigns supreme, and the stock just hit all-time highs yesterday on an earnings beat.
That’s not all, though. As today’s map shows, Walmart is dominant in one other notable way: the company is the biggest private employer in America in a whopping 22 states.
Wally World
Using data from 24/7 Wall Street, we mapped out the largest employer (excluding public administrative bodies, such as state governments) in each state.
Here are the states where Walmart took the title:
State | Company | # of employees |
---|---|---|
Alabama | Walmart | 38,041 |
Arizona | Walmart | 33,910 |
Arkansas | Walmart | 53,310 |
Florida | Walmart | 108,321 |
Georgia | Walmart | 59,371 |
Illinois | Walmart | 54,698 |
Indiana | Walmart | 39,667 |
Kansas | Walmart | 20,938 |
Kentucky | Walmart | 30,181 |
Louisiana | Walmart | 36,992 |
Mississippi | Walmart | 24,898 |
Missouri | Walmart | 43,203 |
Montana | Walmart | 4,776 |
New Hampshire | Walmart | 8,284 |
Ohio | Walmart | 50,481 |
Oklahoma | Walmart | 34,014 |
South Carolina | Walmart | 32,267 |
Tennessee | Walmart | 41,487 |
Texas | Walmart | 171,531 |
Virginia | Walmart | 44,621 |
West Virginia | Walmart | 12,321 |
Wyoming | Walmart | 4,699 |
The company has 1.5 million employees in the U.S. – and about 950,000 of them are in the states above.
A Southern Institution
In Walmart’s home state of Arkansas, the company employees 53,310 people, or about 4% of the non-farm work force. That includes about 18,600 jobs at the HQ in Bentonville, AR.
Despite the company’s obvious influence in the state where it was founded, Walmart is also the largest employer across the South in general. Whether it is Texas (171,531 employees) or Virginia (44,621), there are Walmarts aplenty in the states surrounding Arkansas.
One notable exception to this rule? North Carolina, where the University of North Carolina University system employs 74,079 people. However, that doesn’t mean that Walmart has zero presence in the Tar Heel State – it actually has 218 retail stores and 58,525 employees in North Carolina, according to its website.
Your Turn, Amazon
In case you may be wondering, Amazon is not the largest employer in any state – even in the company’s home state of Washington, where it still lags behind Boeing.
However, Amazon’s epic ramp-up is quickly taking over Seattle, and the company now has as much office space there as the city’s next 40 biggest employers combined.
And who knows, with over 238 bids for Amazon’s new HQ2, it’s possible that the company could be adding up to 50,000 new jobs in another state very soon.
Maps
Mapped: Renewable Energy and Battery Installations in the U.S. in 2023
This graphic describes new U.S. renewable energy installations by state along with nameplate capacity, planned to come online in 2023.

Renewable and Battery Installations in the U.S. in 2023
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Renewable energy, in particular solar power, is set to shine in 2023. This year, the U.S. plans to get over 80% of its new energy installations from sources like battery, solar, and wind.
The above map uses data from EIA to highlight planned U.S. renewable energy and battery storage installations by state for 2023.
Texas and California Leading in Renewable Energy
Nearly every state in the U.S. has plans to produce new clean energy in 2023, but it’s not a surprise to see the two most populous states in the lead of the pack.
Even though the majority of its power comes from natural gas, Texas currently leads the U.S. in planned renewable energy installations. The state also has plans to power nearly 900,000 homes using new wind energy.
California is second, which could be partially attributable to the passing of Title 24, an energy code that makes it compulsory for new buildings to have the equipment necessary to allow the easy installation of solar panels, battery storage, and EV charging.
New solar power in the U.S. isn’t just coming from places like Texas and California. In 2023, Ohio will add 1,917 MW of new nameplate solar capacity, with Nevada and Colorado not far behind.
Top 10 States | Battery (MW) | Solar (MW) | Wind (MW) | Total (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Texas | 1,981 | 6,462 | 1,941 | 10,385 |
California | 4,555 | 4,293 | 123 | 8,970 |
Nevada | 678 | 1,596 | 0 | 2,274 |
Ohio | 12 | 1,917 | 5 | 1,934 |
Colorado | 230 | 1,187 | 200 | 1,617 |
New York | 58 | 509 | 559 | 1,125 |
Wisconsin | 4 | 939 | 92 | 1,034 |
Florida | 3 | 978 | 0 | 980 |
Kansas | 0 | 0 | 843 | 843 |
Illinois | 0 | 363 | 477 | 840 |
The state of New York is also looking to become one of the nation’s leading renewable energy providers. The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) is making real strides towards this objective with 11% of the nation’s new wind power projects expected to come online in 2023.
According to the data, New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. that has no new utility-scale renewable energy installations planned for 2023. However, the state does have plans for a massive hydroelectric plant that should come online in 2024.
Decarbonizing Energy
Renewable energy is considered essential to reduce global warming and CO2 emissions.
In line with the efforts by each state to build new renewable installations, the Biden administration has set a goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.
The EIA forecasts the share of U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources rising from 22% in 2022 to 23% in 2023 and to 26% in 2024.
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