By Brian French | OrlandoBusinessNews.com | September 10, 2026
Quick Answer: Walt Disney World Resort is the largest employer in the Orlando metro with roughly 80,000 employees, followed by AdventHealth (40,000), Universal Orlando Resort (32,084), Orlando Health (28,806), Lockheed Martin (14,000) and the University of Central Florida (13,645), according to the Orlando Economic Partnership’s employer list updated November 2025. Four sectors dominate: theme parks and hospitality, healthcare, defense and simulation, and education. Including public agencies, Orange County Public Schools (24,000+) would rank third.
Top 10 Private-Sector Employers, Orlando MSA
| Rank | Employer | Industry | Local Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walt Disney World Resort | Leisure & Hospitality | 80,000 |
| 2 | AdventHealth | Healthcare | 40,000 |
| 3 | Universal Orlando Resort | Leisure & Hospitality | 32,084 |
| 4 | Orlando Health | Healthcare | 28,806 |
| 5 | Lockheed Martin | Aerospace/Defense | 14,000 |
| 6 | University of Central Florida | Education | 13,645 |
| 7 | Hilton Grand Vacations | Leisure & Hospitality | 5,800 |
| 8 | SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment | Leisure & Hospitality | 5,192 |
| 9 | Darden Restaurants | Restaurants (HQ) | 5,127 |
| 10 | HCA Healthcare | Healthcare | 4,831 |
Source: Orlando Economic Partnership, Top 50 Employers, Orlando MSA (Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake), updated November 2025. Excludes local government and retail operations.
Employers 11 Through 20
| Rank | Employer | Industry | Local Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Marriott Vacations Worldwide | Leisure & Hospitality | 4,523 |
| 12 | Valencia College | Education | 4,179 |
| 13 | Rosen Hotels & Resorts | Leisure & Hospitality | 4,023 |
| 14 | Westgate Resorts | Leisure & Hospitality | 4,000 |
| 15 | Siemens Energy | Advanced Manufacturing | 3,141 |
| 16 | Nemours Children’s Hospital | Healthcare | 3,132 |
| 17 | Southwest Airlines | Transportation | 2,938 |
| 18 | JetBlue Airways | Transportation | 2,661 |
| 19 | Full Sail University | Education | 2,655 |
| 20 | Truist | Financial Services | 2,610 |
The Public-Sector Employers the List Leaves Out
The OEP list deliberately excludes government and retail, which removes several of the region’s biggest payrolls. Orange County Public Schools, the eighth-largest school district in the nation, employs more than 24,000 people. Orange County government, the City of Orlando, Seminole and Osceola county school districts, and the U.S. military simulation commands at Central Florida Research Park (Team Orlando, including the Army’s PEO STRI and the Navy’s NAWCTSD) each employ thousands more. On the retail side, Publix and Walmart operate enough Central Florida stores to rank among the top employers if counted. A full accounting of Orlando’s workforce is therefore heavier on public and retail jobs than the private-sector list suggests.
What the Numbers Say About Orlando’s Economy
Tourism is still the base. Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott Vacations, Rosen and Westgate combine for more than 135,000 jobs in the top 20 alone. Universal’s count reflects the May 2025 opening of Epic Universe, which pushed its headcount past 32,000.
Healthcare is the second engine, and it’s growing fastest. AdventHealth, Orlando Health, HCA and Nemours account for roughly 77,000 jobs. Orlando Health and AdventHealth added the most employees of any Central Florida organizations between 2019 and 2024, per Orlando Business Journal’s tracking, and both continue to expand hospital campuses across the four-county metro.
Defense and simulation are the highest-wage cluster. Lockheed Martin’s 14,000 local employees are concentrated in Missiles and Fire Control and simulation operations near Research Park and Lake Nona. Combined with Leidos, Siemens Energy, Mitsubishi Power and the military commands, the region’s engineering employment base is larger than most outsiders realize.
Education anchors talent. UCF (13,645 employees, 70,000+ students), Valencia College, Full Sail, Seminole State and Rollins together employ more than 22,000 and feed the pipeline every other sector draws from.
Employment by Sector, Top 50 Employers
| Sector | Employers in Top 50 | Approx. Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Leisure & Hospitality | 10 | 141,000 |
| Healthcare | 6 | 79,000 |
| Education | 5 | 22,500 |
| Aerospace/Defense/Engineering | 2 | 14,700 |
| Financial Services | 5 | 7,900 |
| Business Services & IT | 7 | 10,900 |
FAN calculation from OEP Top 50 list. Figures rounded.
Where the Jobs Are Located
Orange County dominates, hosting Disney (Lake Buena Vista), Universal, Orlando Health, Lockheed Martin, UCF, SeaWorld and Darden. Seminole County’s Lake Mary and Heathrow corridor is the metro’s corporate back-office hub, with Deloitte, Concentrix, Liberty Mutual, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Verizon, Mitsubishi Power, BNY Mellin Pershing and AAA. Osceola County’s employment is led by HCA Healthcare in Kissimmee, Buena Vista Construction, McLane distribution and the NeoCity semiconductor campus. Lake County’s largest listed employer is Kroger’s Groveland distribution center.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the single largest employer in Orlando?
Walt Disney World Resort, with approximately 80,000 employees. It is the largest single-site employer in the United States.
How many people does Universal Orlando employ?
About 32,084 in the Orlando metro, following the 2025 opening of Epic Universe.
What is the largest healthcare employer in Orlando?
AdventHealth, with roughly 40,000 employees across its Central Florida campuses. Orlando Health is second at 28,806.
How many employees does Lockheed Martin have in Orlando?
Approximately 14,000, making it the largest defense and aerospace employer in Central Florida and the region’s fifth-largest private employer.
Is Orange County Public Schools one of Orlando’s biggest employers?
Yes. With more than 24,000 employees, OCPS would rank third if government employers were included, but the Orlando Economic Partnership’s list excludes public agencies.
Which Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Orlando?
Darden Restaurants (5,127 local employees) is the region’s only Fortune 500 headquarters. Travel + Leisure Co., Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Hilton Grand Vacations, Westgate Resorts and AAA are also headquartered in the metro.
Brian’s Take
The headline number is Disney’s 80,000, but the story is healthcare. Two hospital systems now employ nearly 69,000 people, and they are the only organizations on this list whose headcount grows through a recession. Tourism payrolls move with consumer confidence; hospital payrolls move with population, and Central Florida’s population only goes one direction.
The number I watch is the gap between Lockheed’s 14,000 and everyone else in engineering. Orlando’s high-wage economy rests on one company’s decision to keep building missiles and simulators here. Siemens Energy, Leidos and the military commands are meaningful, but no second defense employer is within a mile of Lockheed’s scale. Until that changes, Orlando’s income profile will keep looking like a theme-park town with a hospital attached.
Sources and Further Reading
- Orlando Economic Partnership – Top 50 Employers, Orlando MSA (updated Nov. 2025): https://business.orlando.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/07/Top-50-Employers.pdf
- Orlando Economic Partnership – Major Employers in Orlando: https://news.orlando.org/projects/major-employers/
- Orlando Economic Partnership – Unbelievably Real Orlando (headquarters and regional operations): https://business.orlando.org/l/unbelievably-real-orlando/
- Orlando Business Journal via WFTV – These Are the Largest Employers in Central Florida: https://www.wftv.com/news/local/these-are-largest-employers-central-florida/ZQEKE4LYENDURGX4Q5AMDJOJP4/
- Orlando Chamber of Commerce – Orlando Metrics: https://orlandochamberofcommerce.com/metrics.php
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Orlando, FL Area Economic Summary: https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/summary/blssummary_orlando.pdf
- Orlando Economic Partnership – Closing the Gap: Orlando Talent Report (Dec. 2025): https://news.orlando.org/blog/closing-the-gap-orlando-talent-report/
- Jared Jones Team – Orlando Job Growth 2026, citing OEP midyear analysis: https://jaredjones.com/2026/08/17/orlando-q3-2026-market-insights-job-growth/
- Wikipedia – Orlando Health (employee and system data): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Health
Verify before posting: (1) OCPS’s “24,000+” employee figure is from older secondary sources; confirm against the district’s current fact sheet. (2) The OEP PDF is dated November 2025 — check whether a 2026 update has been posted at orlando.org before publishing. (3) “BNY Mellon | Pershing” appears in the OEP list; I’ve referenced it in the Seminole County paragraph — fix the typo (“Mellin”) if you keep that sentence.
