Major Employers in Houston

By the headcounts on their profiles, the largest employers in this directory are the Texas Medical Center institutions: Houston Methodist (35,000+), Memorial Hermann (34,000+) and MD Anderson (24,000+). These are each system's own headcount on its profile and include sites outside the TMC campus, so they do not add up to the medical center's own count of about 106,000 employees (TMC). Energy majors follow: ExxonMobil (10,000+), Shell (9,000+), Chevron (6,000-7,000) and BP (4,000-6,000). NASA Johnson Space Center employs about 12,000 civil servants and contractors (NASA.gov center profile, 2026). Houston is home to 27 Fortune 500 headquarters (Fortune 500, 2026 list).

By count, the industries with the most profiled employers in this directory are Energy/Oil & Gas (5), Healthcare (3), Aerospace/Defense (1). That is a count of employers we profile, not a growth measure; we do not publish sector growth rates we cannot source, so treat the industry filter above as a map of who hires here rather than a forecast.

Start with the campus address on the employer's card above, then use the commute calculator to test drive times from the neighborhoods you are considering and the neighborhoods directory to compare rent and schools. None of the 20 employers listed here has a dedicated page; every profile lives on its card. Check the flood zone for any Houston neighborhood before you commit; our flood zones guide explains the risk classes.

Deep in three sectors, with a cost base to match. Houston holds 27 Fortune 500 headquarters (Fortune 500, 2026 list), its composite cost-of-living index is 94, 6% below the U.S. average (C2ER, BLS and BEA regional price parities, 2024-2025), and Texas adds no state income tax on top. The 20 employers profiled here span 14 industries. The anchors are the Texas Medical Center institutions, the energy majors and NASA Johnson Space Center. Whether it is a good market for you depends on your field, so use the industry filter above to see who hires in it.