The North Carolina Department of Commerce publishes the top public and private sector employers in each of the state’s 100 counties. The rankings come out quarterly and are based on average employment numbers from the Employment and Wages program files.
Here we’re looking at data for the first quarter of 2025. The data for the second quarter of the year is not yet available in the state’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
When you remember that the Tar Heel state has about 2,500 traditional public schools, it should come as no surprise that education took the top rank in 52 counties and appeared somewhere on the county-by-county top five lists 119 times, often appearing more than once in a single county’s ranking. Public administration was the next most common field, occurring 102 times, followed by health care and social assistance (86 times), manufacturing (81 times) and retail trade (52 times).
| Field | Appearances among top 5 employers in NC’s 100 counties |
| Educational Services | 119 |
| Public Administration | 102 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 86 |
| Manufacturing | 81 |
| Retail Trade | 52 |
Yet, while education was the most common field in the top five rankings, Wal-Mart Associates Inc. was the state’s top employer and appeared the most often, 29 times, across the 100 counties’ top five lists.
Duke University, Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority (better known as Atrium Health), Food Lion and Wells Fargo round out the top five for the state as a whole.
| Rank | North Carolina’s Top 5 Employers |
| 1 | Wal-mart Associates Inc. |
| 2 | Duke University |
| 3 | Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority |
| 4 | Food Lion |
| 5 | Wells Fargo |
The N.C. Department of Adult Corrections, Food Lion, Ingles Markets and, tied, Atrium Health and Pitt County Memorial Hospital round out the top most common companies on the county-by-county rankings.
| Employer | Appearances among top 5 employers in NC’s 100 counties |
| Wal-Mart Associates Inc. | 29 |
| NC Department of Adult Corrections | 11 |
| Food Lion | 9 |
| Ingles Markets, Inc | 9 |
| Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority | 6 |
| Pitt County Memorial Hospital | 6 |
Take a look at this interactive map to see which employers are the largest in your county.
Everybody’s trying to get in on Cosmic Orange. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge…
Mobile World Congress 2026 is still in full swing in Barcelona, Spain, with announcements continuing…
Let me let you in on a little secret: Amazon’s kid-friendly e-readers are a better…
In boardrooms and security operations centers alike, one metric has risen from a niche KPI…
In boardrooms and security operations centers alike, one metric has risen from a niche KPI…
A new malvertising campaign is actively targeting macOS users worldwide, delivering a new variant of…
This website uses cookies.