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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Abbott stated on March 4, 2019 in a press conference: \"On a per capita basis, Irving-Las Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies than any city in the United States of America.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-true/4ac7c61540eff5211f6a04d98a6bc93a.jpg.\\") ![\\"mostly- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * Economy * Texas * Greg Abbott ![\\"Texas](\\" Texas Gov. Greg Abbott receives the Governor\'s Cup from Site Selection Magazine in Austin in March.(AP Photo/Eric Gay) ![\\"Madlin](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg March 9, 2019 # Which city has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita? Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pointed to the city of Irving and its master-planned suburb of Las Colinas as evidence of the state’s economic prowess during remarks he shared Monday at a news conference in Austin after accepting the \"Governor’s Cup\" award from Site Selection magazine. \"We’re all working together to ensure prosperity from economic development,\" Abbott said at the news conference. \"As a result, the local economic development entities play a very profound role in making sure we win this cup. \"You need to know this, and that is that on a per-capita basis, Irving-Las Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies than any city in the United States of America.\" Texas is home to many Fortune 500 (and Fortune 1000) companies, with Houston and Dallas boasting the most of any Texas cities. But is it possible that Irving has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita? Fortune 500 vs. Fortune 1000 When asked, Abbott spokesman John Wittman said Abbott misspoke and meant to say Irving-Las Colinas is home to the most Fortune 1000 companies per capita. We consulted the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce website to see if they kept track of this information and found a statement that describes the city as the \"Headquarters of Headquarters, with more Fortune 1000 Headquarters per capita than any other city in the United States.\" Erica Mulder, vice president of governmental affairs and communication for the chamber, said officials there had come to that conclusion by calculating their own per capita rate and then looking at the rate for other cities. Mulder did not return multiple requests for comment seeking more detailed information about how this comparison was conducted. On Friday morning, after PolitiFact Texas exchanged emails with officials at the Chamber, the claim was no longer visible on the webpage. Diving into the numbers Abbott’s original claim said Irving has more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any other city in the country. So, we looked at a list of Fortune 500 companies and their headquarters provided by Fortune magazine and the latest population estimates available for each city from the Census Bureau. Irving is home to seven companies on the Fortune 500 list, and the latest estimate from the Census Bureau shows it has a population of 240,373. This means there are about three Fortune 500 companies per 100,000 people in Irving. Here is where things get complicated. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on August 25, 2024 in an interview on NBC\'s \"Meet the Press\" “Anything that you lose on the tariff from the perspective of the consumer, you gain in higher wages, so you\'re ultimately much better off.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Louis Jacobson • August 29, 2024 Looking cumulatively at the list of places with at least one Fortune 500 company, there are dozens of cities and towns that have a higher company-to- population ratio than Irving, according to our analysis. Among them are places like Mayfield Village, Ohio, and Bloomfield Hills, Mich., both of which have just one Fortune 500 company headquarters but small populations (3,408 and 3,990, respectively). This means Mayfield Village has a per capita value of 29 per 100,000 people and Bloomfield Hills has a per capita value of 25 per 100,000 people. However, to get a better understanding of how the number of companies per capita in Irving compares to other cities, it makes more sense to measure Irving against cities of a similar size. Looking at a list of cities with a population of over 100,000 and with at least one Fortune 500 company, Irving does have the most headquarters per capita. But the claim from the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce and Abbott’s spokesman that the city has the most Fortune 1000 companies per capita of any city in the United States is inaccurate no matter how you look at it. With all headquarters locations in the mix, Irving does not come close to having the most Fortune 1000 companies per capita. When you compare it to cities of a similar size, those with more than 100,000 people, there are two cities with more Fortune 1000 companies per capita than Irving: Santa Clara, Calif., and Stamford, Conn. So what? Abbott said that Irving has more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any city in the country during a speech praising economic development efforts happening statewide and locally in Texas. Nathan Jensen, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies economic development strategies, said looking at the number of Fortune 500 companies in a particular city \"isn’t a metric that most academics would consider as particularly valuable.\" Jensen said a better measurement of the economic success or vitality of a city or region would be to look at factors like unemployment and wage growth. \"There is a lot of criticism in the academic literature in focusing on the number of \'deals\' that are made, as opposed to thinking hard about how policies and business activity affect a community,\" Jensen said in an email. Our ruling At a press conference celebrating the state’s economic success, Abbott said that, \"on a per capita basis, Irving-Las Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies than any city in the United States of America.\" We did the math and his claim is wrong if you look at every single place with at least one Fortune 500 company. But when you do a more reasonable comparison with cities of a similar size (populations over 100,000), Irving does have the most Fortune 500 companies per capita. We rate this claim Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Share the Facts 2019-03-09 14:27:47 UTC PolitiFact ![\\"PolitiFact\\"](\\" 5 1 7 ![\\"PolitiFact](\\" mostlytrue.jpg\\") PolitiFact Rating: Mostly True \"On a per capita basis, Irving-Las Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies than any city in the United States of America.\" Greg Abbott Texas Governor ![](\\" A press conference Monday, March 4, 2019 2019-03-04 Read More info #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Dallas Morning News, Irving, Las Colinas lauded by Gov. Greg Abbott as Texas wins award for business, March 4, 2019 Site Selection, Texas, Nebraska Repeat as Winners of Site Selection Magazine\'s Governor\'s Cup Awards, March 4, 2019 U.S. Census Bureau, City and Town Population Totals: 2010-2017, accessed March 4, 2019 Spreadsheet provided by Fortune, \"2018 Fortune 1000 City Breakdown for PolitiFact Texas,\" accessed March 6, 2019 Spreadsheet created by PolitiFact Texas calculating the number of Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 companies per capita, created March 6, 2019 Phone interview with John Wittman, spokesman for Gov. Greg Abbott, March 6, 2019 Email Interview with Erica Mulder, vice president of governmental affairs and communications for the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, March 6-7, 2019 Business Facilities, \"The Headquarters of Headquarters,\" Aug. 2018 Phone Interview with Jack Rogers, Editor in Chief of Business Facilities, March 6, 2019 Email Interview with Nathan Jensen, government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, March 7, 2019 Email Interview with Beth Bowman, president and chief executive officer of the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, March 8, 2019 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Madlin Mekelburg ![](\\" ![](\\" Michael Burgess stated on September 19, 2020 in a tweet: “In the last 10 years less than half of adults in the U.S. received a flu shot.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • September 25, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Abbott stated on August 18, 2020 in a press conference: Says crime is on the rise in Austin and a new study showed that it “is the No. 1 city in America in the year-to-year percentage increase in murders, with a percentage increase of more than 64% for the first half of this year.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • August 31, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" George P. Bush stated on August 13, 2020 in a tweet: Says a video shared to his social media shows vehicles with broken windows in a parking garage used by state agencies in Texas on “the same night the City of Austin voted to cut $150 million” from the police department.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • August 24, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Gene Wu stated on August 7, 2020 in an interview: Says in Texas the “average age of the Republican voter is like 20 years older than the average Democrat.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • August 14, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" M.J. Hegar stated on July 22, 2020 in a speech: Says 1 in 5 Texans did not have health insurance coverage before the pandemic, and now “nearly 1 in 3 Texans under the age of 65 don’t have access to health care insurance.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • July 30, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" John Cornyn stated on July 9, 2020 in an interview: Says “no one under the age of 20 has died of the coronavirus. We still don’t know whether children can get it and transmit it to others.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • July 10, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Lloyd Doggett stated on June 22, 2020 in a tweet: Hays County in Central Texas has seen an “incredible 845% increase in (COVID-19) cases since June 7.” ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • June 26, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Dan Patrick stated on May 24, 2020 in an interview: Says a new law adopted in Texas means property tax bills “are no longer really dependent on your values, it is on (local government) revenue growth.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • June 8, 2020 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on May 31, 2020 in a tweet: Says police officers in Austin, Texas, have been “authorized to use LIVE ROUNDS, and lethal force” against protesters. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • June 5, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Chip Roy stated on May 6, 2020 in an interview: Says Wisconsin has not had a spike in coronavirus cases that was “statistically significant related to the fact that they had voting.” ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • May 18, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Abbott stated on May 3, 2020 in a tweet: “Texas ranks 3rd highest among states for the number of people who have recovered from” the coronavirus. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • May 8, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Veronica Escobar stated on April 22, 2020 in an interview: Says Texas “either is near the bottom or at the very bottom when it comes to testing per capita.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • April 24, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Louie Gohmert stated on April 7, 2020 in an interview: Says a powder has been developed that, when mixed with water, “is being used in Germany as a mist. Health care workers go through a misting tent going into the hospital and it kills the coronavirus completely dead not only right then, but any time in the next 14 days that the virus touches anything that’s been sprayed, it is killed.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • April 9, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" Dan Patrick stated on March 31, 2020 in a briefing: Says for the coronavirus, “the death rate in Texas, per capita of 29 million people, we\'re one of the lowest in the country.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Madlin Mekelburg • April 3, 2020 ![](\\" ![](\\" John Cornyn stated on March 18, 2020 in a press conference: “China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people and that\'s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine Flu and now the coronavirus.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madlin Mekelburg • March 26, 2020 ### Which city has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita? * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 13, 2024 in a post: Vice President Kamala Harris’ college professors disparaged her as their “worst student.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 17, 2024 in a post: Photo shows Kamala Harris posing beside Sean “Diddy” Combs. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 18, 2024 in Instagram posts: “BREAKING: Police found ‘explosives’ in car near former President Donald Trump’s rally site on Long Island.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Dave McCormick stated on September 13, 2024 in an X post: Charleroi, Pennsylvania, “has grown by 2,000% due to an influx in migrants.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 13, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook: \"El gran respaldo de Taylor Swift\" a Kamala Harris \"le cuesta $125 millones en acuerdos de marca\". ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Maria Briceño • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Threads posts stated on September 16, 2024 in an Instagram post: Taylor Swift “lost 17 million followers by endorsing Kamala.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kari Lake stated on September 13, 2024 in a post on X: Rep. Ruben Gallego’s “first act in Congress was to propose legislation to BAN the use of the term ‘illegal alien.’” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Mia Osmonbekov • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Sherrod Brown stated on September 4, 2024 in a TV interview: Of Bernie Moreno, “Now, he’s arguing for a national abortion ban, no exceptions.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 19, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 16, 2024 in a Facebook post: “Country Music Television (CMT) has announced a permanent boycott of Taylor Swift.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 18, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 11, 2024 in a Facebook post: “Disney World officially moving to Nashville.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 18, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! 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On a per capita basis IrvingLas Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies than any city in the United States of America