Businesses in Jacksonville: 44,152 locations, the local headquarters and how to check one

This page is for anyone looking for businesses in Jacksonville: residents and companies looking for a contractor or supplier, job seekers, researchers, and B2B sellers sizing the market. It covers how many businesses there are and what they do, the companies headquartered in Northeast Florida, how to find and check a local business, and how to prospect them.

How many businesses are in Jacksonville

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) counts business locations with paid employees. For the Jacksonville, FL Metro Area (CBSA 27260), which covers Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and Baker counties, in 2023:

That's 38,144 locations with 1 to 19 employees, 4,972 with 20 to 99 and 1,036 with 100 or more.

Duval County, consolidated with the City of Jacksonville, is the employment center, with three-quarters of the metro's jobs. St. Johns County has a fifth of the metro's businesses, but they're small on average (9.3 employees each).

CBP counts establishments, not companies, and leaves out the self-employed, businesses with no payroll and government. Employment is for the pay period including March 12, 2023. Leaving out government matters here: with two large Navy bases, a large part of Jacksonville's workforce doesn't show up in business counts at all.

What Jacksonville businesses do

Average pay is our calculation: payroll divided by employees. Jacksonville's signature is finance: 2,347 finance and insurance locations, 11 of them with 1,000 or more employees, paying $97,436 on average. JAXUSA's employer list shows why: Bank of America, Florida Blue, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank all run large operations here. Transportation and warehousing has seven sites over 1,000, and CSX, Landstar and Crowley are all headquartered in the city. For deeper cuts, see the reports on Jacksonville construction companies and Jacksonville trucking companies.

Companies headquartered in Jacksonville

Public companies. The ten largest SEC-registered public companies whose latest annual report on Form 10-K gives a Northeast Florida headquarters, ranked by revenue in that filing:

The full ranking with headcounts is on our page on the biggest companies in Jacksonville.

Headquarters of all kinds. JAXUSA Partnership, the region's economic development organization, publishes a list of Northeast Florida headquarters (September 2025) that includes private, nonprofit and divisional offices, with estimated local employees. Its largest corporate headquarters by local headcount are Baptist Health (12,000), GATE Petroleum (3,720), Brooks Rehabilitation (2,800), CSX (2,530), Haskell (2,270), One Call Medical (1,970), Fanatics (1,700) and VyStar Credit Union (1,690). Florida Blue's state headquarters (5,700) and AT&T's regional headquarters (2,600) are also on the list. JAXUSA says the region has four Fortune 500 headquarters (no other Florida city claims more) and more than 150 national, regional and divisional headquarters.

For the region's biggest employers, led by Baptist Health, the Navy and the school districts, see the largest employers in Jacksonville.

How to find and check a Jacksonville business

To vet a local contractor, check three things: the company's Sunbiz record (active status and who the officers are), the license in the DBPR search for any regulated trade, and proof of insurance. For a supplier to a business, add references from a customer your size.

Prospecting Jacksonville businesses

Size decides who buys. At the 38,144 locations with fewer than 20 employees, the owner does. At the 4,972 with 20 to 99, an office or operations manager handles most purchases. The back offices and headquarters at the top often take decisions in another city, so find out where the budget sits before you pitch.

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are fictional, to show the method.

First Coast Builders Insurance (firstcoastbuilders.example) is an agency that places general liability, workers' compensation and equipment coverage for contractors.

• Jacksonville construction businesses with 10 to 99 employees: 430 + 300 + 92 = 822.
• It assumes a third renew their policies in any four-month window, so about 270 are worth contacting each season.
• At an average commission of $12,000 per account, winning 3% of the 822 a year (25 accounts) adds $300,000.
• It times calls to 60 to 90 days before renewal, when owners are willing to compare quotes.

Knowing which contractors are growing (new licenses, new permits, new hires) is the slow part; Bebop can search for "Duval and St. Johns County contractors with 10 to 99 employees that are hiring project managers" and explain why each fits.

Subject: Your insurance before [Company]'s next big job

Hi [first name],

Congratulations on the [project name] work in [neighborhood]. When a contractor adds crews this fast, the workers' comp audit at renewal is usually where the surprise is.

We insure 60 Northeast Florida contractors between 10 and 100 people, and we review payroll classes before the audit, not after. Would a 20-minute look at your current program be useful before renewal?

[Your name], First Coast Builders Insurance

Next step: turn these counts into a target list with how to build a prospect list.