Odds are you, or someone at your dinner table, works for one of these 10. Together they employ more than 65,000 people. That's more than the entire population of Phenix City. One of them is so big that it outnumbers the other nine put together, nearly twice over.

Behind the numbers are fighter-jet parts, a famous duck, a hospital that started with 17 nuns, and a payments company that touches cards all over North America.

Here's the countdown, using the head counts in the city's latest official financial report, and how each has changed since 2016.

### No. 10: Columbus State University 1,238 employees · 2016: 1,360

Columbus State started life in 1958 as Columbus College. Today it's part of the University System of Georgia, with about 7,700 students enrolled in fall 2025.

The university's payroll covers far more than professors: advisers, coaches, groundskeepers, police officers, IT staff and the people who run its arts programs. Its staff is about 120 people smaller than a decade ago.

Worth knowing: universities are steady employers. When the economy dips, enrollment often goes up as people go back to school.

### No. 9: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia 1,650 employees · 2016: 1,400

This is one of only three names on the list that's bigger than it was a decade ago. The health insurer added 250 jobs here, with operations based on Technology Parkway in north Columbus.

Worth knowing: insurance and claims work is a big part of why Columbus sometimes gets called a "back-office" city. Between Anthem, Aflac and TSYS, more than 7,000 people on this list work in insurance or payments.

### No. 8: St. Francis-Emory Healthcare 1,735 employees · 2016: 3,000

Columbus residents raised the seed money for a new faith-based hospital after World War II, and St. Francis admitted its first patient in April 1950. It opened with 154 beds, 17 sisters, 171 lay workers and 60 doctors. Today it's a 376-bed hospital.

In 2020 it became the first hospital in a new joint venture with Emory Healthcare, which is where today's name comes from.

Worth knowing: its count dropped by 1,265 people since 2016, the second-biggest drop on the list. The city's report doesn't give a reason.

### No. 7: Pratt & Whitney 1,850 employees · 2016: 1,000

This is the comeback story of the decade. Pratt & Whitney opened in Columbus in 1984, and its campus has two parts:

• The Columbus Engine Center maintains jet engines for the Airbus A320neo family, the Airbus A220 and Embraer E2 jets, plus engines for the Air Force's C-17 cargo plane and F-15 and F-16 fighters.
• The Columbus Forge makes compressor and turbine parts, including parts for the F135 engine that powers every version of the F-35 fighter jet.

A 2023 expansion added nearly 400 jobs. In February 2026, Gov. Brian Kemp announced another $200 million, and the company said it now employs 2,600 people in Georgia. By that count, it would be tied for No. 6.

Worth knowing: the 85% jump since 2016 is the fastest growth of any employer on the list.

### No. 6: TSYS 2,600 employees · 2016: 4,600

TSYS began as a part of Columbus Bank and Trust and grew into the largest company in North America that processes credit cards for banks, with about 40% of that market. If your bank card works, there's a fair chance TSYS technology is behind it.

Ten years ago it was Columbus's biggest private employer, with 4,600 people. The 2025 count is 2,600, the biggest drop on the list. In between, TSYS merged with Atlanta's Global Payments in 2019. Then in January 2026, its card-processing business was sold to FIS, a Florida-based financial technology company.

Worth knowing: you'll still see the TSYS name on the riverfront campus. The state's economic developers now list the employer as FIS.

### No. 5: Columbus Consolidated Government 2,894 employees · 2016: 2,879

These are the people who pick up your trash, patrol your streets, fight fires, run METRA buses and keep the parks open. Columbus and Muscogee County merged into one consolidated government in 1970, one of the first in Georgia, so there's no separate county payroll.

Worth knowing: the city's head count has barely moved in a decade, up just 15 people while the area grew around it.

### No. 4: Aflac 2,900 employees, by the city's count · 2016: 3,670

The Amos brothers started American Family Life Assurance Co. in Columbus in 1955. It grew into the largest supplemental insurance company in the United States, and says it protects more than 50 million people worldwide. Its home office tower on Wynnton Road, finished in 1975, is the tallest building in Georgia outside metro Atlanta.

About that number: the city's report lists 2,900 Aflac employees here. But during Aflac's employee appreciation week in May 2026, WTVM reported the company was celebrating "its 5,000 employees." The station didn't say whether that number covers only Columbus. If it does, Aflac would be No. 2.

### No. 3: Piedmont Columbus Regional 3,080 employees · 2016: 3,180

Columbus's biggest hospital system took the Piedmont name in March 2018, when Columbus Regional joined Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare. Its Midtown campus is a 583-bed hospital, the largest in west Georgia and east Alabama, and a regional trauma center. It serves patients from about 21 counties.

Worth knowing: between Piedmont and St. Francis-Emory, nearly 4,800 people on this list work at Columbus's two hospital systems.

### No. 2: Muscogee County School District 4,617 employees · 2016: 5,115

Teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, counselors, nurses and coaches serve about 29,000 students in more than 50 schools. That makes the school district Columbus's largest employer outside the Army.

Its staff is about 500 people smaller than in 2016.

Worth knowing: children who live on Fort Benning go to on-post Defense Department schools through eighth grade, so they aren't counted in the district's enrollment until high school, if their families choose it.

### No. 1: Fort Benning 42,487 people · 2016: 40,000

Nothing else comes close. Fort Benning accounts for about 1 in every 4 jobs in the Columbus area, more than the other nine employers combined, nearly twice over.

Founded in 1918 as Camp Benning, the post is home to the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence, where soldiers learn infantry and armor skills. It's also home to the Infantry and Armor schools, part of the 75th Ranger Regiment and other units. Counting soldiers, families, reservists, retirees and civilian workers, the post supports more than 120,000 people every day.

The post was called Fort Moore from 2023 to 2025. In 2025 the Army restored the name Fort Benning, this time honoring Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a World War I soldier who earned the Distinguished Service Cross.

What the list says about Columbus

• Government is the backbone. Four of the 10 are public employers: Fort Benning, the schools, the city and Columbus State. Together they account for about 51,000 of the 65,000 jobs on the list.
• Health care and insurance come next. Two hospital systems plus Aflac, Anthem and TSYS make up most of the private jobs.
• Manufacturing is the bright spot. Pratt & Whitney is the only employer on the list to nearly double since 2016. Just up the road in West Point, auto suppliers like Hyundai Transys are adding hundreds more jobs.
• The big private names got smaller. TSYS, Aflac (by the city's count) and St. Francis all employ fewer people than in 2016.

Want to work for one of them?

• Fort Benning civilian jobs are posted on USAJOBS.gov (search "Fort Benning").
• The school district, the city, Columbus State, Piedmont, St. Francis-Emory, Aflac, Pratt & Whitney, Anthem and FIS/TSYS all post openings on the careers pages of their websites.
• Looking at all your options? See our guide to the best careers in Columbus, Ga.

How we counted: All employee figures come from the "Principal Employers" table in the Columbus Consolidated Government's official financial report for the year ended June 30, 2025. The city compiles it from the Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber, the Georgia Department of Labor, the school district and its own records. The 2016 numbers come from the same table. Head counts change often, so treat these as the latest official snapshot.

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