Wal-Mart Is Largest Employer in 20 States

Source: courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

With 1.3 million employees, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the largest private employer in the United States. The company operates more than 4,500 Wal-Mart stores and nearly 650 Sam’s Club stores in the 50 states, and it is the largest employer in 20 of them. In 2014, Wal-Mart’s U.S. net sales totaled $279.4 billion.

An institution of that size, breadth and economic power cannot help but wield an outsized influence, both economically and socially. When, for example, the nation’s largest retailer raises wages, as Wal-Mart announced in February that it would do, other retailers are virtually forced into raising wages in order to recruit and retain their own workers.

In the states where it is the largest employer, Wal-Mart’s action cannot help but act as a rising tide to lift all boats. Here is a list of the 20 states where Wal-Mart is the largest employer, along with the number of workers employed in each state. It comes from our report on the largest employer in each state.

Alabama: 34,000

Arizona: 32,373

Arkansas: 50,000

Florida: about 95,000

Georgia: about 51,000

Illinois: 51,137

Kentucky: about 28,000

Louisiana: 34,633

Mississippi: 23,430

Missouri: more than 40,000

Montana: 4,533

North Carolina: more than 49,000

Ohio: about 47,000

Oklahoma: 31,096

South Carolina: 26,829

Tennessee: 38,569

Texas: 156,195

Virginia – about 40,000

West Virginia: 10,855

Wyoming: more than 4,000

Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the smallest state by population (Wyoming) and in the second-largest state (Texas). In six of the 10 most populous states — Texas, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina — Wal-Mart is the largest employer, while it is the largest employer in just two of the least populous states — Wyoming and Montana.

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