Who are Long Island’s biggest employers?

Many of Long Island’s largest employers are healthcare systems, universities, government agencies, school districts, transportation providers, and research institutions. Major employers include Northwell Health, Catholic Health, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook University, Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Long Island Rail Road, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

There is no single definitive ranking that compares every Long Island employer using the same reporting year and geographic boundaries. Some organizations publish Long Island-specific employment totals, while others report employees across much larger systems that extend into New York City, Westchester County, Connecticut, or other regions. For that reason, workforce figures should be read together with the scope and date of each employer’s disclosure.

In Short

Northwell Health is one of the largest employers with a major Long Island presence, although its reported workforce includes employees outside the island. Catholic Health reports close to 18,000 employees across its Long Island healthcare system. Other major employers include Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook University, county governments, public school districts, the Long Island Rail Road, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NYU Langone Health, and numerous hospitals, colleges, municipalities, retailers, and private companies.

Who Are Long Island’s Biggest Employers?

The largest individual employers on Long Island are concentrated in healthcare, public education, higher education, government, transportation, and scientific research. Hospitals and healthcare systems employ physicians, nurses, technicians, administrators, maintenance workers, food service employees, security personnel, researchers, and thousands of other professionals. Government agencies and school districts employ teachers, police officers, public works employees, administrators, transportation workers, social service professionals, and other public employees.

For purposes of comparing employers, this page uses the common regional definition of Long Island as Nassau County and Suffolk County. Including Brooklyn and Queens would introduce the much larger employment base of New York City and significantly change the comparison.

Healthcare Systems

Healthcare is one of Long Island’s largest employment sectors, and its major health systems are among the region’s most important employers. Northwell Health operates hospitals, outpatient centers, physician practices, laboratories, urgent care locations, research programs, and other services across Long Island and the wider metropolitan region.

Northwell reports more than 104,000 employees across its full organization. That systemwide total includes employees outside Nassau and Suffolk counties, so it should not be interpreted as a Long Island-only workforce. Even with that limitation, Northwell’s concentration of hospitals and medical facilities on the island makes it one of Long Island’s dominant employers.

Catholic Health operates hospitals, physician practices, rehabilitation centers, imaging facilities, home health services, hospice programs, and other healthcare facilities across Long Island. The organization reports close to 18,000 employees, making it one of the largest employers whose reported workforce is closely tied to the island.

Stony Brook Medicine is another major healthcare employer, with operations that include Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Eastern Long Island Hospital, physician practices, outpatient facilities, and medical education programs. Because different Stony Brook entities may report employment separately, care should be taken when comparing its total workforce with other health systems.

NYU Langone Health has also expanded its Long Island presence through NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island in Mineola, NYU Langone Hospital – Suffolk in Patchogue, and a growing network of physician offices, outpatient centers, and specialty services. Publicly available workforce figures generally describe the entire NYU Langone system rather than its Nassau and Suffolk operations alone.

Higher Education and Medical Education

Stony Brook University is one of Long Island’s largest educational institutions and a major center for teaching, medicine, research, engineering, administration, and campus operations. Its workforce includes university employees as well as people working throughout Stony Brook Medicine, although those groups may be reported under different employment systems.

Other significant higher education employers include Hofstra University, Adelphi University, Molloy University, Long Island University, the New York Institute of Technology, Farmingdale State College, Nassau Community College, and Suffolk County Community College. Individually, most are smaller than the largest hospital systems, but together they support thousands of jobs in education, administration, facilities, research, athletics, technology, and student services.

County and Local Government

Nassau County and Suffolk County are among Long Island’s major public employers. Their workforces include police officers, corrections employees, health workers, social service employees, public works personnel, attorneys, clerks, park employees, emergency management staff, information technology workers, and administrators.

Long Island’s 13 towns, two incorporated cities, and numerous incorporated villages also employ municipal workers. These local governments oversee functions that may include planning, zoning, building departments, sanitation, roads, parks, beaches, public safety, recreation, code enforcement, and administrative services. For more information about the region’s governmental structure, see the guide to Long Island Municipalities, Villages & Hamlets.

Public School Districts

Public education is one of Long Island’s largest sources of employment. The island has more than 100 public school districts, each operating as a separate employer with its own teachers, administrators, custodians, aides, counselors, transportation employees, food service workers, technology staff, and other personnel.

No single school district approaches the size of the largest regional healthcare systems, but the public school sector collectively employs tens of thousands of Long Islanders. Because every district is legally and administratively separate, school employment is usually measured district by district rather than as one organization.

Transportation and Infrastructure

The Long Island Rail Road is one of the region’s largest transportation employers. Its workforce includes train crews, station employees, maintenance workers, engineers, signal specialists, electricians, mechanics, dispatchers, administrators, and other employees responsible for operating and maintaining the commuter railroad.

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority workforce report listed 7,308 Long Island Rail Road employees as of March 31, 2023. The number changes over time as hiring, retirements, staffing requirements, and major infrastructure projects affect the railroad’s workforce.

Additional transportation employment is provided by airport operators, bus systems, ferry companies, trucking businesses, logistics firms, highway contractors, utilities, and public works agencies throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Scientific Research

Brookhaven National Laboratory is one of Long Island’s most important scientific and technical employers. The U.S. Department of Energy laboratory employs approximately 3,000 staff members working in physics, engineering, energy research, computing, environmental science, facility operations, administration, and technical support.

The laboratory also attracts thousands of visiting scientists, researchers, facility users, contractors, students, and educators each year. Those visitors are not all employees, but their work contributes to the broader economic impact of the laboratory and Long Island’s research sector.

Aerospace, Defense, and Manufacturing

Long Island has a long and influential history in aerospace and defense. Grumman, Republic Aviation, Fairchild, Northrop Grumman, and other companies helped develop military aircraft, spacecraft, electronics, and advanced technologies that shaped the region’s economy for generations.

Northrop Grumman and other defense, electronics, and engineering companies continue to maintain operations on Long Island. However, the local aerospace workforce is smaller and more dispersed than it was during the height of Long Island’s aircraft manufacturing era. Current public figures do not necessarily support ranking Northrop Grumman alongside the island’s largest healthcare systems or government institutions by local employee count.

Retail, Hospitality, and Private Industry

Large retailers, supermarkets, hotel groups, restaurants, home improvement chains, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, construction firms, and social service organizations collectively employ a substantial share of Long Island’s workforce. Some national companies may employ thousands of people across many separate locations without publishing a Long Island-specific total.

This makes private-sector comparisons difficult. A company with hundreds of stores or service locations may have a large regional workforce, but its employees may be distributed across separate subsidiaries, franchises, contractors, or independently operated locations.

Why Exact Rankings Are Difficult

Employer rankings can vary significantly depending on how the workforce is counted. A healthcare system may report employees across several states, while a hospital may publish only its own facility count. A county may count full-time and part-time employees differently, and a university may separate hospital staff, faculty, researchers, and campus employees.

Published numbers may also come from different years. Mergers, expansions, layoffs, acquisitions, outsourcing, seasonal employment, retirements, and new facilities can quickly change workforce totals. For these reasons, the table below identifies the reporting scope rather than presenting the figures as a perfectly comparable ranking.

Continue Exploring

Learn more about Northwell Health, Catholic Health, Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Long Island Rail Road. Readers can also explore the guides to Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Long Island’s hospitals and colleges.

Major Long Island Employers and Reported Workforce Figures

Employer	Industry	Reported Workforce	Important Qualification
Northwell Health	Healthcare	More than 104,000 employees	Systemwide total covering New York and Connecticut, not a Long Island-only employee count.
Catholic Health	Healthcare	Close to 18,000 employees	Long Island healthcare system with hospitals, physician practices, rehabilitation, home health, hospice, and outpatient services.
Stony Brook Medicine and Stony Brook University	Healthcare, education, and research	Thousands of employees across multiple entities	University, hospital, medical, research, and state employment figures may be reported separately and should not be combined without a common reporting source.
NYU Langone Health	Healthcare	Long Island-specific total not regularly published	Major and growing Long Island presence, but organization-wide figures include employees outside Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Long Island Rail Road	Transportation	7,308 employees reported in March 2023	Railroad workforce figure from an MTA report and subject to change over time.
Brookhaven National Laboratory	Scientific research	Approximately 3,000 staff members	Laboratory employees only. Visiting researchers, facility users, contractors, and program participants are not necessarily employees.
Nassau County Government	Government	Thousands of public employees	Workforce totals vary by budget year and may distinguish full-time, part-time, seasonal, and public safety employees.
Suffolk County Government	Government	Thousands of public employees	Workforce totals vary by budget year and may distinguish full-time, part-time, seasonal, and public safety employees.
Long Island Public School Districts	Education	Tens of thousands collectively	More than 100 separate school districts rather than one employer.
Northrop Grumman and Other Aerospace Employers	Aerospace, defense, and engineering	Current Long Island-specific totals vary	Historically important sector, but available figures do not establish a current ranking alongside the largest healthcare and public employers.

Long Island’s largest employers reflect the region’s transformation from a center of aircraft manufacturing into an economy led by healthcare, education, government, research, transportation, and professional services. Northwell Health, Catholic Health, Stony Brook Medicine, public agencies, school districts, the Long Island Rail Road, and Brookhaven National Laboratory are among the organizations with the most significant regional workforces. Because reporting methods and geographic boundaries differ, the most responsible comparison is to identify each employer’s published scope rather than present unlike figures as a precise ranking.