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  1. Business
  2. Company Culture

The 6 Biggest Employers in the U.S. Right Now

By:
Jennifer Calfas
2 min read
A Wal-Mart greeter waits to welcome new customers to the new 2,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter store, on May 17, 2006 in Bowling Green, Ohio. - J.D. Pooley—Getty Images
A Wal-Mart greeter waits to welcome new customers to the new 2,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter store, on May 17, 2006 in Bowling Green, Ohio. J.D. Pooley—Getty Images

Chances are you know someone who works at Walmart.

The discount retail store employs the most people of all publicly traded, American businesses with a staggering 2.3 million workers on its payroll. It's also the second-largest online retailer behind Amazon and employs several times more people than its closest competition.

Kroger, a Midwestern-based grocery store chain, comes in second, with 443,000 employees, and Home Depot comes in third with 406,000 employees.

Responsible for inventing the ATM and hard drive, IBM employs 380,300 people. And, rounding out the top five is fast-food giant McDonald’s, employing 375,000 people.

But, of course, these workers from these top businesses don’t make up a fraction those who work for the U.S.’s top employer: the government. A staggering 22.3 million people work for the U.S. government — but that’s not just politicians or their staffs. It includes public school teachers, police officers, post office workers and those working at your local DMV, among other government agencies.