Where the jobs are: A look at the top employers in Southwest Florida
Lee County, FL population, top employers, student enrollment, size, income
Lee County is one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. Here’s some fast facts according to the clerk of courts’ annual Sand Dollar publication.
In Southwest Florida, top employers run the gamut from hospitals to home improvement stores.
Here’s a by-the-numbers look, based on employee count:
Top 10 employers in SWFL
- Lee Health System: 13,558
- Lee County Public Schools: 11,174
- Lee County government: 9,377
- Publix Super Markets: 9,362
- Collier County Public Schools: 5,810
- Collier County government: 5,045
- Arthrex: 3,983
- Chicos FAS: 3,903
- Walmart: 3,689
- NCH Healthcare System: 3,288
More top employers
Here are more of the five-county region’s top employers, rounding out the Top 20:
- Charlotte County government: 2,655
- Herc Rentals: 2,400
- Charlotte County Public Schools: 2,333
- Amazon: 2,200
- Gartner: 2,100
- Gargiulo: 2,082
- McDonald’s: 2,065
- Florida Gulf Coast University: 1,778
- Home Depot: 1,770
- Walgreens: 1,440
The information is courtesy of Florida Gulf Coast University’s Regional Economic Research Institute, which updates its Top 100 list annually. (The 2024 list wasn’t out before the deadline for this story).
The numbers for the list come from DatabaseUSA, provided through Lightcast.
DatabaseUSA gathers business data from more than 6,000 sources and adds roughly 300,000 new businesses to their listings each quarter from all over the country.
According to most recent data, the top five employers in the U.S. are Walmart, followed by Amazon, UPS, Target and Home Depot.
| Rank | Company Name | Employees in the U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walmart Inc. | 1,600,000 |
| 2 | Amazon.com, Inc. | 1,100,000 |
| 3 | United Parcel Service, Inc. | 443,000 |
| 4 | Target Corporation | 427,346 |
| 5 | The Home Depot, Inc. | 418,900 |
A report by the Florida Department of Commerce ranks these as the Top 5 employers in the state:
- Publix: 156,067
- Walmart: 117,753
- Walt Disney Parks & Resorts: 62,165
- Amazon: 46,250
- U.S. Postal Service: 36,676
The largest companies in Florida are generally continuing to grow, along with its population.
Florida TaxWatch has projected the state’s population to increase by about 1.45 million people from 2023 to 2028 (reaching more than 24 million).
However, the number of people moving to the state every day has moderated.
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