Largest employer by state...

Alabama

Wal-Mart employed nearly 34,000 Alabama residents as of February 2015, more than any other company in the state. Of the 138 retail stores Wal-Mart operates in Alabama, 99 are supercenters. According to the company, the average wage for full-time hourly associates was $12.57 an hour.

Florida

There were nearly 95,000 Wal-Mart employees at 343 retail locations in Florida as of February, by far the highest headcount of any company in the state. Full-time Wal-Mart employees were paid an average hourly wage of just over $13.00 at the end of last year. Florida’s minimum wage is $8.05 an hour. While Wal-Mart wages tend to be quite low, the company recently announced it would invest $1 billion this year to raise wages.

Georgia

With nearly 51,000 employees, Wal-Mart is the largest employer in Georgia. The company operated more than 200 stores in the state, 150 of which are supercenters.

Louisiana

The largest employer in Louisiana is Wal-Mart, which employed 34,633 people at 127 locations across Louisiana as of the end of last year. The nation’s largest retailer announced earlier this year it would invest $1 billion to raise wages for its associates. The investment will likely help raise the current average wage of $12.73 an hour of Louisiana Wal-Mart workers. While the economic effects of the wage increase remain to be seen, Louisiana lawmakers have argued that increasing the minimum wage would have a detrimental impact on business.

Texas

The nation’s largest employer — Wal-Mart — is also the largest employer in Texas, with a headcount of 156,195 across its 563 Texas locations. The company’s Texas workforce accounted for 12% of its national headcount, and no state had more Wal-Mart employees than Texas. As a result, the recently announced wage hike for Wal-Mart associates will have a disproportionately large impact on the state’s workforce.

Kentucky

Wal-Mart employed nearly 28,000 Kentucky residents, more than any other employer in the state. The retailer had more than 100 locations across Kentucky as of February.

Mississippi

Wal-Mart employed 23,430 people in Mississippi, more than any other company in the state. As the largest employer in the state, the company’s recently announced wage increase may have a substantial impact on Mississippi’s economy. In its coverage of the announcement, Mississippi Public Broadcasting claimed the increase would improve personal incomes for thousands of state residents.

While in the north...

Vermont

As in many other states, the largest employer in Vermont is a large university. Together with its affiliated medical center, previously known as Fletcher Allen Health Care, the University of Vermont employed roughly 11,800 people, more than any other employer in the state. The institution is located in Burlington, the state’s largest city.

Massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts, with more than 28,000 employees, is the largest employer in the Bay State. UMass has campuses in Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell and a medical school in Worcester. It has more than 54,000 undergraduate and 17,000 graduate students.

Minnesota

With more than 33,000 employees, the Mayo Clinic is the largest employer in Minnesota. In addition to three campuses in Minnesota, it also operates clinics and hospitals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Georgia.

New York

The State University of New York, spread over 64 campuses, employs 89,871 residents and is New York’s largest employer. SUNY has 459,550 students, including 418,917 undergraduates and 40,633 graduate students. Among the undergraduates are 239,791 students enrolled at community colleges, also part of the SUNY system.

The Full List