8 Houston companies earn spots on Fortune's most innovative list for 2025
top honor
Eight Houston companies have been named to Fortune’s third annual list of America’s Most Innovative Companies, joining another 16 from the state of Texas.
The group of 300 companies nationwide was rated based on production innovation, process innovation, and innovation culture, according to Fortune. In partnership with Statista, the magazine considered IP portfolios, employee, expert and customer opinions; and many other factors.
While many of the top-rated companies fell into the tech sector, Fortune reports that health care companies made up the largest portion of the 2025 list. Sixty-three honorees fell into the health care category, including Houston’s top-rated company, Houston Methodist.
Here’s what Houston companies made the list and where they ranked:
- No. 35 Houston Methodist
- No. 54. ExxonMobil
- No. 137 NRG Energy
- No. 158 Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
- No. 169 BMC Software
- No. 175 Texas Children’s Hospital
- No. 227 Sysco
- No. 268 Chevron
“This award is a true credit to the culture we have created around innovation and the incredible work of Roberta Schwartz, our Chief Innovation Officer, and her team at the Center for Innovation,” Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist, said in a LinkedIn post. “They have really set the tone for how we can use innovation and technology to continue to deliver the highest quality care for our patients.”
Of the 16 companies from Texas, Houston was home to the second-most with eight hailing from the Bayou City. Dallas-Fort Worth claimed the largest number of Texas companies on the list, with 11 headquartered in the metroplex.
Austin is home to only four of the companies on the list, however, companies from the capital city ranked higher on average, with Oracle, Tesla and Dell Technologies claiming the top 3 spots for the state. Beloved Texas grocer H-E-B was the one company to represent San Antonio on the list.
Here's what other Texas companies made the list and where they ranked:
- No. 6 Oracle
- No. 11 Tesla
- No. 14 Dell Technologies
- No. 37 AT&T
- No. 59 Texas Instruments
- No. 89 Charles Schwab
- No. 91 McKesson
- No. 113 Jacobs Solutions
- No. 125 Baylor, Scott & White Health
- No. 165 Frontier Communications
- No. 201 H-E-B
- No. 210 CBRE Group
- No. 219 TTEC Holdings
- No. 223 GameStop
- No. 251 American Airlines Group
- No. 271 Caterpillar
California-based tech conglomerate Alphabet Inc. topped the list for the third year in a row, and California companies again represented the majority of companies on the list, according to Fortune. Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Salesforce made up the top five, of which three are headquartered in California.
The 2025 group had a median revenue of $22 billion over the last 12 months, according to Fortune. See the full report here.
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