Texas home to most Fortune 500 companies

Texas passed New York as home to the most big companies in the latest list compiled by Fortune magazine. Texas now boasts 58 headquarters, three more than New York, the previous No. 1, and California, with 52. Business experts say it's a matter of simple economics - Texas attracts companies with its low taxes, affordable land and large labor force. "Cost is overwhelmingly the No. 1 driver," said Albert W. Niemi Jr., dean of the business school at Southern Methodist University, who wrote his doctoral thesis about companies leaving the Northeast for the Sun Belt 30 years ago. Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. remained the biggest company with headquarters in Texas by 2007 revenue, and No. 2 nationally, behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Exxon Mobil, however, was more profitable, earning $40.6 billion. Four of the largest six corporations in Texas last year were oil companies, but the state's economy is more diverse than it was a generation ago. Other Texas companies on the magazine's list include technology, such as Dell Inc., three of the nation's biggest airlines, two of the biggest home builders, an insurer, a hospital company and the largest garbage hauler around. Texas cities with most Fortune 500 companies include: Houston, 25; Dallas, 12; San Antonio, 5; Fort Worth, 4; Irving, 4; Austin/Round Rock, 2; Plano, 2; El Paso, 1; Grapevine, 1; Pittsburg, 1; The Woodlands, 1.

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