Jon Campbell | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Buzz60

ALBANY - You can tell a lot about a state or a region based on where people work.

New York is home to more than 500,000 private-sector employers, according to the state Department of Labor.

But which companies are employing the most New Yorkers?

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Think retail. Think groceries. Think health care.

As many workers across the state take Monday off for Labor Day, here's a look at the top 10 private-sector employers in New York and each region of the state, as compiled by researchers at the state Department of Labor.

The state's analysis, which is based off data from 2016, isn't exact: Private employers aren't required to say how many employees they have, and the state doesn't publish its estimates of how many people work at each employer.

But the top 10 lists — which lists the employers alphabetically — do provide a window into where New Yorkers are working and what industries are popular in each region.

Statewide

Home Depot

JPMorgan Chase Bank

Macy's Retail Holdings, Inc.

McDonald's

Mount Sinai Health System

New York-Presbyterian University Hospital

Northwell Health, Inc.

Stop & Shop Supermarkets

Walmart

Wegmans Food Markets

{{props.notification}} {{props.tag}} {{props.expression}} {{props.linkSubscribe.text}} {{#modules.acquisition.inline}}{{/modules.acquisition.inline}} ... Our reporting. Your stories. Get unlimited digital access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

When it comes to the top private-sector employers statewide, health care and retail rule the day.

It's not surprising that many of New York's top private-sector employers are chains that control dozens or hundreds of locations in the state.

Walmart, for example, says it has 37,267 employees at its 111 locations throughout New York, which make it a top 10 employer in all but two of the state's 10 labor market regions, according to the Labor Department.

Macy's has about 19,900 employees at its 76 stores in the state, which also include Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury stores.

And Home Depot says it has 20,300 employees at its 100 New York stores.

Andrew Burton, Getty Images

Ted Potrikus, president and CEO of the Retail Council of New York State, which represents retailers, said the industry is important not only for the number of people it employs but the sales tax it generates for the state and counties.

"Retail is the economy at street level," Potrikus said. "You could probably go to 10 people on the street and seven of them would say their first job was in retail or they worked at some point in retail."

McDonald's and JPMorgan Chase Bank also get on the list by pure volume: The fast-food chain has 630 locations throughout the state, while the bank has 702 branches and its global headquarters in Manhattan.

Wegmans, the Rochester-based supermarket chain, and Stop & Shop, which has a big presence downstate, are the state's two largest grocery chains and make the top 10.

The rest of the top 10 — which, again, is the Labor Department's most-recent estimate and based on 2016 data — are all giants in the health care field downstate, representing major networks in New York City and its suburbs.

"It's something we've known for a long time: Health care is a tremendously important part of the state's economy," said Helen Schaub, New York director of policy and legislation for 1199SEIU, which represents 300,000 health care workers across the state.

"In New York and nationally, it's been part of a big shift from manufacturing and other types of jobs to what are broadly termed service sector but would include health care."

Finger Lakes

Counties: Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates

Carestream Health, Inc.

Rochester General Hospital

Rochester Institute of Technology

Sutherland Global Services

Tops Friendly Markets

Unity Hospital of Rochester

University of Rochester/URMC

Walmart

Wegmans Food Markets

Xerox

The Finger Lakes region, as defined by the Department of Labor, is centered on the city of Rochester and Monroe County.

Unsurprisingly, the top private-sector employers include the higher-education institutes and hospitals that anchor the region and Wegmans, the supermarket chain that calls it home.

Tops Friendly Markets, meanwhile, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and announced recently it would close 10 stores, including five in the Rochester area.

Hudson Valley

Counties: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester

Crystal Run Healthcare

Home Depot

IBM Corp.

Nyack Hospital

Orange Regional Medical Center

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ShopRite Supermarkets

Stop & Shop Supermarkets

Walmart

Westchester Medical Center

Health care, retail and groceries — sensing the trend?

All of those industries are represented well in the Hudson Valley's top 10 list, along with Regeneron — the major biotech company headquartered in Tarrytown — and IBM, which is headquartered in Armonk.

Southern Tier

Counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins

Amphenol Aerospace

Arnot Ogden Medical Center

BAE Systems Inc.

Cornell University

Ithaca College

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Lourdes Hospital

United Health Services

Walmart

Wegmans Food Markets

Ithaca's two major colleges — Cornell University and Ithaca College — anchor the northern part of this region, driving the economy there.

Amphenol, BAE and Lockheed are major players in the national security industry and have a significant presence in the southern portion of the region.

One mysterious omission? Corning Inc., the multinational materials science company based in Steuben County. There was no immediate comment from the Labor Department on why the company wasn't included on the list.

Capital Region

Counties: Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington

Albany Medical Center

Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp.

Center For Disability Services

Ellis Hospital

General Electric Co.

GlobalFoundries

Hannaford Supermarkets

Price Chopper

St. Peter's Hospital

Walmart

Hospitals and groceries dominate the list in the Albany region, which is home to Golub Corp., Price Chopper's parent company.

The region is, of course, home to many public-sector employees as capital of New York; this list is limited to the private sector.

Central New York

Counties: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego

Crouse Hospital

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Loretto Health and Rehabilitation Center

National Grid

Price Chopper

St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center

Syracuse University

Tops Friendly Markets

Walmart

Wegmans Food Markets

Along with the array of health care providers and chain stores, Syracuse University is a major employer in its home city.

Long Island

Counties: Nassau and Suffolk

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center.

Hofstra University

Home Depot

King Kullen

Northwell Health, Inc.

Prestige Employee Administrators

ProHEALTH Care, Inc.

Stop & Shop Supermarkets

Winthrop-University Hospital

New York City

American Airlines

Columbia University

JPMorgan Chase

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Mount Sinai Hospital

New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Nielsen Company

Northwell Health, Inc.

Verizon

New York City, of course, is home to some of the largest companies and health care systems in the world, and it's reflected in its top 10 list.

Long Island and New York City are also notable for what's not on their list: Walmart.

They're the only two labor market regions in the state that do not count the big-box retailer among their top 10 employers, with New York City home to zero Walmart stores.

Western New York

Counties: Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York

Computer Task Group, Inc.

General Motors

Kaleida Health

M&T Bank Corp.

Mercy Hospital of Buffalo

People Inc.

Tops Friendly Markets

Walmart

Wegmans Food Markets

M&T Bank is headquartered in Buffalo, where it has a major downtown presence as it expands in the state and beyond.

Mohawk Valley

Counties: Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie

A.O. Fox Hospital

Bassett Healthcare Network

Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare

Hannaford Supermarket

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Price Chopper

St. Elizabeth Medical Center

St. Mary's Hospital

Utica National Insurance Group

Walmart

No surprises here: Lots of retail, health care and two insurance companies.

North Country

Counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence

Canton-Potsdam Hospital

Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center

Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center

International Paper Co.

Kinney Drugs

McDonald's

Price Chopper

Samaritan Medical Center

St. Lawrence University

Walmart

The North Country is the expansive area including the Adirondack Park and the state's northernmost points.

The International Paper Co. owns a mill in Ticonderoga, where it makes high-end paper products and is one of the region's biggest employers.

JCampbell1@Gannett.com

Jon Campbell is a correspondent with USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.