Companies in Rochester, NY: the largest employers, 9 public headquarters and 23,916 businesses

This page covers Rochester, New York, and its five-county metro (Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Livingston and Orleans counties). It's for job seekers, suppliers, researchers and B2B sellers: the largest employers first, then the public companies headquartered here, the Census count of every business by county, size and sector, the precision manufacturers, and the records for checking a company. If you meant Rochester, Minnesota, see companies in Minnesota.

Rochester's largest private employers

Monroe County's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for 2025 lists the region's principal private employers by full-time employees, from the Rochester Business Journal's 2026 Book of Lists. The counts cover Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans and Wayne counties:

The ten have 67,774 full-time employees, 12.98% of local employment, down from 74,950 in 2016. The county notes that the ranking uses full-time and part-time staff combined but shows only full-time counts, and that layoffs or hiring since may not be reflected. The change since 2016 is the story: Xerox (6,396 then), Sutherland Global Services and Frontier Communications have left the top ten, and every new entrant is a health or human services provider. Six of the ten are hospitals, health systems, a health insurer or universities.

Public companies headquartered in Rochester

Nine SEC-registered companies with more than $150 million of revenue give a principal executive office in the metro on the cover of their latest 10-K:

Revenue is as reported. Constellation's is net sales after $616.5 million of excise taxes ($9.76 billion before them). Together the nine reported $22.82 billion. Paychex's 10-K describes its acquisition of Paycor, and Ultralife's 8-K of 27 October 2026 describes a merger agreement under which EnerSys will buy its shares in a tender offer at $16.00 each. Seneca Foods' latest 10-K gives Fairport as its head office. Jerash Holdings, which still has a Rochester address in the SEC's company record, gives Fairfield, New Jersey on its latest 10-K, so it isn't listed.

How many businesses are in Rochester

In bands: 20,147 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 3,150 with 20 to 99 and 619 with 100 or more. The metro paid $24,667,150,000 in 2023, an average of $56,481 a year and 18.3 employees per establishment, and holds 0.29% of the 8,361,342 US establishments. Health care employs 83,997 people, 19.2% of the total; educational services' employee total is not reported here because the Census Bureau flags it as high-noise (noise added for confidentiality changed it by 5% or more). County Business Patterns (CBP) counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and excludes the self-employed.

Optics, instruments and precision manufacturing

Average pay is our calculation from CBP payroll; machinery, electronics and food carry the Census Bureau's moderate-noise flag. Monroe County's report describes the region's manufacturing base as high-tech precision work, with more than 1,500 manufacturers led by machinery, computer and electronic products, printing equipment and transportation equipment, and names Eastman Kodak, L3Harris and Xerox as the leading manufacturing employers. Manufacturing averages 44.5 employees per establishment, and 117 plants have 50 to 99.

Checking a Rochester company

The Department of State's search didn't respond to our checks, so it isn't linked here; search for it by name. For contractors on public jobs, confirm their registration with the Department of Labor as well.

Prospecting Rochester companies

Rochester's large buyers are concentrated: two health systems, two universities and a handful of headquarters account for most of the big budgets, and they buy through formal procurement. Below them, about 1,200 manufacturing and 2,300 professional services establishments make most decisions locally, often through an operations or facilities manager.

Illustrative example. The company, prices and results are fictional; the counts are from the Census data above.

Flower City Facility Services (flowercityfacilities.example) cleans and maintains offices, labs and light production floors.

• Manufacturing establishments with 50 to 249 employees: 117 + 67 = 184.
• Professional, scientific and technical services establishments of the same size: 69 + 35 = 104.
• Of the 288, it assumes a third contract cleaning out and review the contract each year: about 96 live opportunities.
• Winning 10 at an average of $60,000 a year would be $600,000 of recurring revenue.

It targets facilities and operations managers, and times outreach to the 90 days before a contract's renewal, usually at the start of the fiscal year. Finding which of 288 sites have a facilities lead, and when their contract renews, takes research on each one; Bebop does it and drafts the outreach.

Subject: Cleaning and upkeep at [Company]'s [site]

Hi [first name],

At plants your size, the cleaning contract usually covers the offices well and the production floor and labs not at all, so your own staff pick up the rest.

We clean offices, labs and light production areas under one contract, with a supervisor on site, and we work with manufacturers in Monroe and Ontario counties. Could I walk your site and send you a quote before your current contract comes up?

[Your name], Flower City Facility Services

Next step: see how the region's building trades are organized in construction companies in Rochester.