Fortune magazine has been tracking the nation’s top 500 companies since 19-55. The annual list has become a globally-recognized symbol of business success. While making the list is a boon for companies, the STATES where those companies set up shop also stand to benefit. Corporate headquarters usually bring good jobs to town. And where there are lots of workers, there’s demand for restaurants and retailers. Local suppliers of everything from copy paper to toilet paper benefit too.

One in five pounds of chicken, beef, and pork in the U-S is produced by number 80 on the Fortune 500. With its well-known brands like Jimmy Dean and Hillshire farms, Tyson Foods brought in 40 billion in revenue last year. Tyson is no spring chicken--- it’s been around since the Depression. John Tyson was selling fruits and vegetables out of his truck in Springdale, Arkansas and looking for other business ventures. The small-time entrepreneur decided to give the poultry business a go.

If someone says you’ve got your head in the clouds – that’s usually a bad thing. But not necessarily for number two-forty on the Fortune 500. Salesforce-dot-com has turned cloud-based thinking into a booming business. The company is the world’s leading provider of cloud-based software that helps clients manage customers. Salesforce tools let companies streamline operations by bringing marketing, sales, service and I-T teams together on one platform.

If you’ve vaccinated your cat, or treated your dog for fleas, chances are you’re familiar with one of the newcomers to this year’s Fortune 500. Coming in at number 400-87, Zoetis (zoh-EH-tis) is a global leader in the animal-health sector. Its drugs and vaccines are used by both veterinarians and farmers. Zoetis has only been a stand-alone company since 20-13. It was spun off from pharma giant Pfizer in an I-P-O that raised two-point-two billion.

Macys is the oldest general merchandising retailer on the Fortune 500. It’s been around for 189 years. But the C-E-O of the company - Jeffrey Gennette - told Fortune last year that Macy’s is focused on changing with the times. 00:53 “Wherever I’m going, my head is up, I’m looking at pop culture. What is the consumer digesting? What web sites should i be going to. I have a reverse mentor that is helping me learn about what the Gen Z customer is doing.

Seven companies on this year’s Fortune 500 jumped more than 100 spots up the list. And three of those seven are energy companies, based in Texas. You know what they say - Don’t Mess With Texas. Or, apparently, its energy industry. Pioneer Natural Resources jumped 100-64 spots to land at 3-33. Vistra Energy jumped 100-62 spots, up to 3-37. And Cheniere Energy was up 100-and-6 spots to 3-83. The upshot: all of those energy companies saw major revenue gains.

Plenty of brick and mortar companies have been left in the wake of Amazon’s massive wave of success. But number seventy-four on the Fortune 500 is NOT one of them. Electronics retailer Best Buy has managed to transform itself and stay relevant in a world dominated by e-commerce. Company earnings jumped forty-six-percent in 20-18, and revenues topped out at nearly forty-three billion.

It’s been ten years since the global financial crisis rocked the U-S economy and put the nation’s largest banks in the doghouse. The Bank of America Corporation – number twenty-five on the Fortune 500 – paid billions in fines for mishandled mortgage lending during that crisis. But there’s no doubt Bank of America is back on its feet.

Americans love their cars. There’s about two-hundred-and-eighty-million of them on our nation’s roads. But few drivers may know the Fortune 500 company that helps provide a nice, smooth ride or controls the nasty pollution from exhaust pipes. Tenneco Incorporated is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of auto parts - including shock absorbers, mufflers and emission-control devices.

If you like to keep tabs on the stock market, you likely rely on number four-seventy on the Fortune 500. S-and-P Global is widely considered to be the benchmark for measuring the state of the economy. Its divisions like S-and-P Global Ratings and the Dow Jones Indices collect and analyze market data, and then sell it to clients around the world.