Companies in Minneapolis: Fortune-size headquarters on top of 99,443 businesses

This page is for anyone working out which companies matter in Minneapolis and the wider Twin Cities: people looking for an employer, buyers vetting a local vendor, analysts and B2B sellers building a territory. It starts with the headquarters, then who employs the most people in the city, then the full business count from federal data, and ends with how to check a company and how to approach the market.

Top companies headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul

These are the ten largest SEC-registered public companies whose latest annual report names a principal executive office in the 15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area, ranked by the revenue in that filing.

The full top 30, with headcounts and counties, is on our largest companies in Minneapolis page. Of those 30, 13 give a Minneapolis address on their 10-K cover and three give St. Paul; the rest are in suburbs from Medina to Inver Grove Heights. Medtronic, Travelers and Pentair, which run large Twin Cities operations, name principal executive offices in Ireland, New York and London, so they aren't counted. Sun Country Airlines stopped filing after Allegiant Travel Company acquired it on 13 May 2026.

The biggest employers in Minneapolis

The City of Minneapolis publishes its principal employers in its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The 2025 report's top five:

The counts aren't measured the same way: the university's is Twin Cities-wide, Allina's is Minneapolis-wide, and most of the rest are downtown Minneapolis counts from the Minneapolis Downtown Council. The full city list, the Downtown Council's top 15 and how to read both are on our largest employers in Minneapolis page.

Across the metro, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 1,944,335 jobs covered by unemployment insurance in 2025, 1,700,278 of them (87.4%) in the private sector. Local government had 158,974, state government 61,845 and the federal government 20,268; Pierce County, Wisconsin's state and local government figures aren't disclosed.

How many businesses are in Minneapolis

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) counts business locations with paid employees. For the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area (CBSA 33460) in 2023:

That's 82,867 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 13,558 with 20 to 99 and 3,018 with 100 or more.

These are the eight largest of the metro's 15 counties. CBP counts locations, not companies, so a chain with 50 stores counts 50 times; it leaves out self-employed owners and businesses with no payroll, and it counts employment in the pay period including March 12.

What kinds of companies the Twin Cities have

Average pay is our calculation: annual payroll divided by employees. Two sectors explain the headquarters effect. Finance and insurance, and management of companies (corporate, subsidiary and regional head offices), together employ 256,783 people and pay 23.1% of the metro's private payroll. Manufacturing establishments average 48 employees each, so plants are fewer but bigger than the rest of the market. For two of the largest clusters, see medical device companies in Minneapolis and construction companies in Minneapolis.

Checking a Minneapolis company

Before signing with a supplier, confirm the legal name on the Secretary of State's site matches the contract, check any trade license with DLI, and ask whether a city license applies to the work.

Prospecting Twin Cities companies

Size sets the buying process. At the 82,867 establishments under 20 employees, the owner decides, often in a single conversation. From 20 to 99, an operations or office manager runs most purchases. At the 3,018 sites with 100 or more, and especially at the 868 head offices, decisions are made centrally and often for sites in other states, so the person you need may sit in Eden Prairie even when the plant is in Iowa.

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

Rum River Air (rumriverair.example), a compressed-air and HVAC maintenance firm in Blaine, wants manufacturing plants north and east of Minneapolis.

• CBP counts 154 manufacturing establishments with 20 to 249 employees in Anoka County and 165 in Ramsey County: 319 plants.
• It assumes 40% already have a maintenance contract they won't break this year, leaving about 190 prospects.
• At 30 site visits a month and one contract per 12 visits, it adds two or three plants a month at about $18,000 a year each.

The slow part is learning which of the 319 run compressed air and who the plant or maintenance manager is. Bebop can search for "manufacturers in Anoka and Ramsey counties with 20 to 249 employees hiring maintenance technicians" and explain why each one fits.

Subject: Compressed air at [Company]'s [city] plant

Hi [first name],

Compressed-air leaks rarely get noticed until a compressor fails in the middle of January.

We maintain compressors and HVAC for 40 plants in Anoka and Ramsey counties, with a technician within 30 minutes of your door. Could we run a free leak survey on one shift and send you the numbers?

[Your name], Rum River Air

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