Major Employers in Jacksonville, Florida

Naval Air Station Jacksonville is the largest employer in Jacksonville with 14,390 employees, ahead of Baptist Health, Duval County Public Schools, Naval Station Mayport and UF Health Jacksonville (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

The ranking comes from the Principal Employers schedule in the City of Jacksonville annual financial report for the year ended September 30, 2024. The schedule lists eleven Jacksonville employers, and together they employed 102,699 people, or 18.21 percent of total city employment (ACFR principal employers).

The Jacksonville list is concentrated: the transmittal letter of the same report says more than 92 percent of the people working for these employers fall in five segments, medical at 35 percent, military at 24 percent, retail at 13 percent, public education at 12 percent and banking and financial services at 8 percent (ACFR transmittal letter).

The schedule credits JaxUSA Partnership, a division of the JAX Chamber, for the employer counts, the City Annual Budget Document for the City of Jacksonville figure, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for total employment (ACFR schedule notes).

The biggest Jacksonville change since 2015 is NAS Jacksonville falling from 25,240 to 14,390 employees while health care grew: Baptist Health went from 8,270 to 12,000 employees and Mayo Clinic from 4,970 to 8,450 (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

In 2015 NAS Jacksonville alone held 25,240 jobs, 5.75 percent of city employment, 10,760 more than the next Jacksonville employer, Duval County Public Schools at 14,480 (ACFR 2015 schedule). Three names on the 2024 list, UF Health Jacksonville, Amazon and Southeastern Grocers, were not on the 2015 list, while United Parcel Service and Citi dropped off.

The listed employers also hold a smaller slice of the Jacksonville job base than they did: 20.89 percent of city employment in 2015 against 18.21 percent in 2024, even though their combined headcount rose from 91,670 to 102,699 (ACFR principal employers).

The two Jacksonville Navy installations together employed 24,990 people in 2024, with 14,390 at NAS Jacksonville and 10,600 at Naval Station Mayport (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

NAS Jacksonville hosts seven active P-8A and P-3C squadrons, three reserve squadrons and five helicopter squadrons (Navy Region Southeast). Its major tenants include Commander, Navy Region Southeast, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast and Fleet Logistics Center Jacksonville, and 120-plus other tenant activities share the station. The Navy puts the NAS Jacksonville economic impact in excess of $2 billion annually (NAS Jacksonville).

Naval Station Mayport was commissioned in December 1942 and is described by the Navy as the third largest fleet concentration area in the United States (NS Mayport). Mayport has a harbor that can hold 34 ships, an 8,000-foot runway and more than 80 supported commands, including 20 naval ships and three helicopter squadrons, on 3,409 acres (Navy Region Southeast).

Of the two Navy installations on the schedule, only Mayport grew between the two ACFR snapshots, from 9,000 in 2015 to 10,600 in 2024, while NAS Jacksonville fell by 10,850 (ACFR principal employers).

Health care supplies three of the six largest Jacksonville employers: Baptist Health with 12,000, UF Health Jacksonville with 9,951 and Mayo Clinic with 8,450 employees in 2024 (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

Baptist Health says it was founded in 1955 and runs six hospitals and ten emergency centers plus more than 200 points of outpatient care, including Wolfson Children's Hospital (Baptist Health). Its listed address is 800 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207, phone 904.202.2000 (Baptist Health contact).

UF Health Jacksonville says its work began in 1870 and three small buildings (UF Health Jacksonville). It includes two hospitals, UF Health Jacksonville on its downtown campus and UF Health North in north Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville campus of the University of Florida Academic Health Center holds colleges of medicine, nursing and pharmacy (UF Health about page).

The ACFR describes Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville as a multi-specialty medical center and counts 8,450 employees there in 2024, against 4,970 in 2015 (ACFR principal employers).

The school district and city government account for about 20,000 of the listed Jacksonville jobs: Duval County Public Schools with 12,000 and the City of Jacksonville with 7,908 in the 2024 schedule (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

Duval County Public Schools publishes its own staff count of 11,560 employees, 10,500 full time and 1,060 part time, across 197 schools serving 126,596 students (Duval County Public Schools). The rounded 12,000 in the city report is therefore slightly higher than the district's own Duval figure, and both are lower than the 14,480 the school district had in 2015 (ACFR 2015 schedule).

The City of Jacksonville figure of 7,908 comes from the City Annual Budget Document rather than JaxUSA Partnership, the only line on the schedule with a separate source (ACFR schedule notes). The city count rose from 7,110 in 2015.

Trade, transportation and utilities is the largest Jacksonville metro industry group, with 170.0 thousand jobs in August 2026 (preliminary), ahead of education and health services at 139.8 thousand (BLS Economy at a Glance).

The Jacksonville metro had 803.8 thousand nonfarm jobs in August 2026, a preliminary figure, and an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent that month, also preliminary and not seasonally adjusted (BLS). The ACFR demographic and economic statistics schedule shows a 2024 unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, sourced to BLS, while the same report's transmittal letter shows 3.4 percent for the metro area in 2024 (ACFR demographic and economic statistics).

The Jacksonville principal employer counts on this page come from the fiscal 2024 schedule, so they describe the year ended September 30, 2024, not today (City of Jacksonville ACFR).

Two signals since then are worth watching in Jacksonville. Financial activities employment in the metro was down 6.1 percent over the 12 months to August 2026 (preliminary), the second steepest drop after information at minus 8.2 percent (BLS Economy at a Glance). Education and health services was up 3.3 percent over the same period (preliminary).

For a single employer's current Jacksonville headcount, the employer's own published figure is the better check: Duval County Public Schools, for example, posts 11,560 employees on its district page (DCPS at a glance). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.