Businesses in New Jersey: 237,968 locations, the headquarters belt and how to check a company

This page is for anyone who needs to find, check or count businesses in New Jersey: buyers vetting a contractor or supplier, job seekers, researchers, and B2B sellers sizing a territory. It covers the counts, the headquarters, what the state's own labor department says about its biggest employers, how to check a business, and how to prospect them.

How many businesses are in New Jersey

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) counts business locations with paid employees. For New Jersey in 2023:

That's 204,709 locations with 1 to 19 employees, 27,454 with 20 to 99 and 5,805 with 100 or more. New Jersey skews small: 56.5% of its business locations have fewer than five employees.

CBP counts establishments, not companies, so a pharmacy chain counts once per store. It leaves out the self-employed, businesses without payroll and government, and its employment is for the pay period including March 12, 2023. Counting every covered job, government included, the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages found 4,282,851 jobs in New Jersey in 2025, of which 578,055 (13.5%) were in local, state or federal government.

The headquarters belt

These are the 15 largest companies whose latest annual report on Form 10-K gives a New Jersey headquarters, ranked by revenue in that filing.

Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Becton Dickinson, Kenvue and Zoetis together reported $254 billion. Two drug and consumer health companies may not stay independent: Kenvue's shareholders were asked to approve its acquisition by Kimberly-Clark in a December 2025 proxy, and Organon's June 2026 proxy (Jersey City, $6.22 billion in revenue) asks shareholders to approve its acquisition by a Sun Pharmaceutical subsidiary. Anywhere Real Estate, based in Madison, delisted in January 2026 after its acquisition, and Honeywell's filings now give a Charlotte, North Carolina address. Private companies and nonprofit hospital systems don't file 10-Ks, so they can't be ranked this way.

How much the big companies employ in New Jersey

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the state's labor market information office, studied Fortune 500 companies' New Jersey operations using its unemployment insurance records. Its findings, for the first quarter of 2024:

• Fortune 500 companies' New Jersey establishments employed 11% of the state's 3.6 million private-sector workers, up from 10% in 2019.
• They paid 18% of the $83.5 billion in private wages that quarter, up from 16%.
• Three counties held 29% of the Fortune 500 workforce.

That includes national companies headquartered elsewhere, such as retailers and logistics firms with New Jersey sites. The gap between their 11% share of jobs and 18% share of wages is the headquarters effect: corporate, research and finance roles that pay well above the state average.

What New Jersey businesses do

Average pay is our calculation: payroll divided by employees. Three patterns stand out. Wholesale trade pays $116,115 on average, well above the all-business average of $74,045. Transportation and warehousing has 25 sites with 1,000 or more workers, a sign of the state's very large distribution centers. And the 1,366 corporate management offices employ 122,744 people. For sector detail, see the reports on New Jersey pharmaceutical companies and New Jersey tech companies.

How to check a New Jersey business

One New Jersey detail catches people out: some licenses are issued to the business rather than a person. The Division of Consumer Affairs lists home improvement contractors, electrical contractor businesses, accountancy firms and architecture and engineering firms among the business licensees, so when you vet a contractor, search the company's name as well as the individual's.

Prospecting New Jersey businesses

Size sets the buyer. At the 204,709 locations with fewer than 20 employees, the owner decides. At the 27,454 with 20 to 99, an office or operations manager runs most purchases. Above that, the 1,366 management offices often buy for sites in many states, so a New Jersey headquarters can be a national account.

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

Turnpike Yard Systems (turnpikeyard.example) sells software that schedules trailers and dock doors at distribution centers.

1. Count the sites. New Jersey has 399 transportation and warehousing establishments with 100 or more employees and 495 wholesale establishments of that size: 894 in all.
2. Narrow to fit. It assumes half run their own docks and yard: about 447.
3. Price it. At $30,000 a site per year, winning 2% a year (9 sites) adds $270,000 in annual revenue.
4. Find the buyer. The distribution center's general manager feels the problem; corporate supply chain approves anything over budget.

Its checklist for each account before the first email:

• Which New Jersey sites does the company run, and how many dock doors?
• Has it opened, expanded or consolidated a facility in the last year?
• Is the company headquartered in New Jersey (decisions local) or elsewhere (decisions at corporate)?
• Who manages the site, and who runs supply chain technology at the parent?

Answering those four questions for 447 sites is the slow part; Bebop can search for "New Jersey distribution centers with 100 or more employees that expanded in the last year" and research each account.

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