The Best Private Companies In VA Ranked By Forbes

Mars is the best private company in Virginia, and is among five others from the state that were ranked nationally in Forbes’ recent list of America’s Top Private Companies.

McLean-based Mars is a food company that employs 150,000 people and had revenue of $55 billion in its most recent year, according to the ranking of 200 private companies released in mid-December. The company, founded in 1911, ranked 5th nationally.

To qualify for the list, companies had to have had estimated revenue of at least $3 billion in their most recent fiscal year, which was calendar year 2024 for 85 percent of the list members, Forbes said. Other companies had fiscal years that ended in October 2025.

Rounding out the top private companies in Virginia and their ranking nationally are:

• Bechtel, Reston (No. 11): Construction | $23 billion revenue | 50,000 employees
• Carahsoft, Reston (No. 20): IT software and services | $18.9 billion | 3,700 employees
• HITT Contracting, Falls Church (No. 57): Construction | $8.7 billion | 1,900 employees
• Estes Express Lines, Richmond (No. 107): Transportation | $5.8 billion | 24,000
• K-VA-T Food Stores, Abingdon (No. 184): Food markets | $3.2 billion | 16,000 employees

There were few surprises at the top of the ranking. Minneapolis-based agriculture giant Cargill, which maintained its top spot for the fifth consecutive year, has been No. 1 for 38 of the 39 years Forbes has published the ranking.

Among 43 other companies in the ranks throughout its history of the list are Pennsylvania-based convenience store Wawa (No. 21); Racine, Wisconsin-based cleaning products company SC Johnson (No. 38); Modesto, California-based E&J Gallo Winery (No. 125); and Jacksonville, Florida-based boat parts reseller Crowley Marine (No. 167). Additionally, nearly two-thirds of the companies currently in the ranks have been on the list for a decade, Forbes said.

The 12 newcomers on the list notably include Sam Alton’s OpenAI (No. 155), the San Francisco software company that had an estimated $3.7 billion in 2024 revenue.

» For the full ranking, go to Forbes.

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