Immigrant Founders of the 2017 Fortune 500

Since 1955, Fortune Magazine has annually ranked the top 500 publically listed and private companies in the U.S. by revenue. In 2011, 40 percent of the "Fortune 500" companies had at least one founder who was a first generation immigrant or child of an immigrant. By 2017, according to this study from the Center for American Entrepreneurship, the number of firms founded or co-founded by first or second generation immigrants had increased to 43 percent. The analysis also found that 52 percent of the top 25 firms and 57 percent of the top 35 firms were founded or co-founded by first or second-generation immigrants. Interactive infographics provide details about the Fortune 500 companies including headquarter locations, comparisons of U.S. born to immigrant founded or cofounded companies by industry, and brief profiles of well-known immigrant entrepreneurs. The authors suggest that policymakers should consider the job-creating potential of immigrant entrepreneurs in crafting immigration policies for the 21st century. (Immigrant Learning Center's Public Education Institute)

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