More than two out of five of America’s top-earning companies were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, according to a new report by the American Immigration Council. The report, titled “New American Fortune 500 in 2023: The Largest American Companies and Their Immigrant Roots,” found that 44.8% of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children.
Since 2011, the American Immigration Council has kept track of how immigrant founders and their descendants impact American business. The D.C.-based nonprofit uses Fortune Magazine’s list of the 500 biggest U.S. companies, ranked by how much money they make, to see how many were started by immigrants.
The 224 immigrant-founded companies made a whopping $8.1 trillion in revenue in 2022, more than the economies of many countries. They also employed over 14.8 million people, pointing to how important they are for creating jobs and economic growth.
“This report underscores the pivotal role that immigrants and their descendants play in shaping the nation’s economic landscape,” said Steven Hubbard, a senior data scientist at the American Immigration Council. “Their innovative contributions and dedication to entrepreneurship have contributed significantly to the United States’ standing as a global economic powerhouse as evident in this report.”
The report also looked at which states were home to the most immigrant-founded Fortune 500 companies. New York came out on top with 30, followed by California with 24. These companies are a big part of local economies, sometimes making up a large part of the state’s income.
Read the full report here!