Who are Williamson County's biggest employers? (DRAFT – not published)

In short

• Dell was the biggest employer in 2025, with about 10,000 workers. Apple and H-E-B each had about 7,000.¹
• Six of the top ten are public employers. They are four school districts, the county and the City of Round Rock.¹
• The top ten together had about 44,000 workers. That is about 19 of every 100 jobs in the county.¹²
• The report seems to show jobs falling since 2016. They did not. Its 2016 total counts a different thing. A federal count shows jobs in the county grew about 52%.²³

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

How it works

• Each year the county publishes an audited financial report. Near the back is a list of the ten biggest employers now and nine years ago.¹
• The worker counts come from the employers or from the cities they are in. The county does not check those numbers.¹
• The share of all jobs uses a federal job count. It is the average number of jobs in the county in the first three months of the year.¹

What the numbers show

Employer	Workers, 2025	Workers, 2016
Dell	10,000	14,000
Apple	7,000	not in top ten
H-E-B	7,000	995
Round Rock ISD	6,236	5,800
Leander ISD	5,649	4,823
Williamson County	2,023	1,646
Georgetown ISD	2,000	1,543
Kalahari Resorts	1,830	not in top ten
Hutto ISD	1,474	not in top ten
City of Round Rock	1,130	890

Source: Williamson County 2025 annual financial report, Table 14.¹

• Dell has fewer workers on the list than in 2016. It went from about 14,000 to about 10,000.¹
• Leander ISD grew by about 830 workers (our math).³
• The county government has about 2,000 workers. See county workforce for its ten-year record.

The other side

• The report’s two job totals measure different things. The 2025 total, about 235,000, matches a federal count of jobs located in the county. The 2016 total, about 261,000, matches a different federal count: county residents who had a job, wherever they worked.²
• So jobs did not fall. Using the same federal job count for both years, jobs in the county grew from about 155,000 to about 236,000. That is up about 52% (our math).²³
• The top ten’s share did not grow, either. On the same count, the top ten held about 21 of every 100 jobs in 2016 and about 19 in 2025 (our math).²³
• Some counts are round numbers. Dell, Apple and H-E-B gave counts like 7,000 or 10,000. These are likely estimates.
• A company’s workers may not all work in the county. Or they may live somewhere else. The list does not say.
• The H-E-B jump may be partly how it was counted. The 2016 count was under 1,000. The report does not explain the change.

Questions to ask

• Does the county track wages paid by its largest employers?
• Where can the public find job counts for each city in the county?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
• Nov. 1, 2026: We first said the report’s job totals “look odd” and might use different sources. We checked federal data. The 2016 total counts working residents, and the 2025 total counts jobs in the county. We now explain this and give a like-for-like count.

What you can do or watch next

• See county population growth for how fast the county is growing.
• See property by school district for where business property is.

What we still don’t know

• Wages paid by these employers.
• How many jobs are in each city in the county.

Footnotes

1. Williamson County, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal 2025, Table 14, “Principal Employers, Current Year and Nine Years Ago”: 2025 Dell Computer 10,000 (4.25%); Apple 7,000; H-E-B 7,000 (2016: 995); Round Rock ISD 6,236 (2016: 5,800); Leander ISD 5,649 (2016: 4,823); Williamson County 2,023 (2016: 1,646); Georgetown ISD 2,000 (2016: 1,543); Kalahari Resorts & Conventions 1,830; Hutto ISD 1,474; City of Round Rock 1,130 (2016: 890). Dell 2016: 14,000. Top-ten total 44,342 (18.84%); 2016 32,977 (12.64%). Total average employees, first quarter: 2025 235,489; 2016 260,818. Sources: employers and cities provided counts; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (jobs located in the county, all ownerships, all industries), Williamson County, Texas, first quarter: 2016 monthly 153,777 / 154,828 / 155,472; 2025 monthly 234,788 / 235,545 / 236,287 (data.bls.gov/cew). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, employed residents, Williamson County, March 2016: 260,805 (series LAUCN484910000000005, api.bls.gov). The report’s 2016 figure (260,818) is within 13 of the LAUS number; its 2025 figure (235,489) is within about 50 of the QCEW average (figures are revised over time). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Our math. 5,649 − 4,823 = 826. 727,480 ÷ 528,718 = 1.38. Jobs in county, first-quarter average: 2016 (153,777 + 154,828 + 155,472) ÷ 3 = 154,692; 2025 (234,788 + 235,545 + 236,287) ÷ 3 = 235,540; 235,540 ÷ 154,692 = 1.52. Top-ten share: 32,977 ÷ 154,692 = 21.3%; 44,342 ÷ 235,540 = 18.8%. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴