10 States with the Most Fortune 500 Headquarters

Just as America’s largest publicly held companies—represented by a ranking of their revenues on the annual Fortune 500 list—have yielded a lot of economic dynamism to small and mid-sized companies these days, so have the cities where they’re concentrated come to misrepresent the economic environments where they call home.

Three of the top five states for Fortune 500 headquarters in the magazine’s latest list, from 2015—No. 1 New York, No. 3 California and No. 4 Illinois—remain the three worst places for business in Chief Executive magazine’s “2016 Best & Worst States for Business” rankings.

Only the rankings of Texas and Ohio echoed stellar performances in the latest Best & Worst States for Business list.

Texas, No. 2 this year in Fortune 500 company headquarters, placed No. 1 once again in the Chief Executive rankings, for the 12th consecutive year. And Ohio, which enjoys the No. 5 ranking in Fortune 500 headquarters, leaped 12 places from last year on the Chief Executive list, by far the most of any state, to rank No. 10.

Here are the top 10 states for Fortune 500 headquarters from 2015 and their ranking in the 2016 Best & Worst States for Business list.



Over time, of course, the balance of large corporate headquarters changes; for instance, with General Electric deciding to move its home operations to Boston from Connecticut. But with large companies, such shifts typically take place over many years. So even though some of the best-ranking states for Fortune 500 headquarters are some of the worst states for doing business, they’re likely to stay that way.

Review the entire 2016 Best & Worst States for Business survey, including individual state rankings, CEO comments, methodology and more at https://chiefexecutive.net/2016-best-and-worst-states-for-business

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Dale Buss

Dale Buss is a long-time contributor to Chief Executive, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and other business publications. He lives in Michigan.

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