Walmart and Amazon dominate: The two companies rank as the most-searched employer for careers in 46 of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
Hometown companies can still win: H-E-B tops Texas, while Nike, Target, and Alaska Airlines lead in their home states, according to the rankings.
Searches don't equal job applicants: The study measured Google searches for "[Company] Careers," meaning the numbers don't show how many individual people actually applied for jobs.
If you're looking for a new job, there's a good chance Walmart or Amazon is somewhere on your radar.
New Google search data show just how thoroughly the two corporate giants dominate Americans' searches for potential employers.
Researchers at Hirocom analyzed average monthly Google searches for "[Company] Careers" for 187 major U.S. employers from September 2025 through August 2026.
Walmart ranked No. 1 for career-related searches in 33 states, while Amazon took the top spot in 13 states.
Combined, the two companies finished first in 46 of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C. — roughly nine out of 10.
In Alabama, for example, "Walmart Careers" averaged 27,100 monthly searches compared with 18,100 for Amazon. In New York, the positions were reversed, with Amazon averaging 33,100 searches compared with Walmart's 27,100.
But the states where neither company finished first might be the most interesting.
Hometown favorites beat the giants
In Texas, H-E-B blew past both Walmart and Amazon. "H-E-B Careers" averaged 246,000 monthly searches, compared with 165,000 for Walmart and 135,000 for Amazon. FedEx and Target rounded out the state's top five.
The only other states where an employer different than Walmart or Amazon ranked first were:
Alaska: Alaska Airlines, with 880 average monthly searches, although Walmart also recorded 880.
Minnesota: Hometown favorite Target took the top spot.
Oregon: Nike, with 5,400 monthly searches, tied in search volume with Walmart.
Washington: Google and Microsoft recorded the highest search volume.
The results show that major regional and hometown employers can still compete with retail giants like Walmart and Amazon.
Other regional names also cracked the top five without taking the No. 1 spot. Fidelity Investments was second in New Hampshire, Duke Energy ranked fourth in North Carolina, and Delta Air Lines was fifth in New York.
What the numbers don't tell us
There's an important catch with the rankings. The researchers used Google Keyword Planner to measure average monthly searches for the phrase "[Company] Careers."
That doesn’t mean 246,000 different Texans searched for H-E-B jobs. The same person could search multiple times, and someone searching from one state could be interested in a job located somewhere else.
So the results shouldn't be interpreted as a ranking of where Americans most want to work or how many people actually applied for jobs at each company.
Instead, they're a snapshot of which major employers are generating the most career-related Google search activity. And on that measure, Walmart and Amazon are difficult to escape.