Employer-Reported Sector Analysis: Texas
April 23, 2026
In the state of Texas (TX), per the most recent Form 5500 filings, nearly 8.2 million participants [i] were reported by over 5,800 employers as being enrolled in welfare plans where Health was a benefit. Information was the largest reported sector in the filings, representing 14% of all participants, or about 1.2 million people. Manufacturing was second, with just over 1 million covered lives (13%). Retail Trade, Health Care & Social Assistance, and Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services round out the top five sectors in the state.
- Within TX’s Information sector, the top employer/sponsor is the multinational telecommunications company AT&T, based in Dallas, through which nearly 84% of the sector’s participants are enrolled in Health coverage. Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported 101,000 participants, with the majority covered by Kaiser health plans. The remaining participants in the sector are divided amongst 165 other employers/sponsors across the state.
- With over 120,000 participants, Caterpillar is the largest employer/sponsor in TX’s Manufacturing sector, followed by Exxon Mobil with over 79,000 enrollees and the BP Corporation of North America with 39,000 enrollees. National carriers such as Cigna, CVS, HCSC, and Kaiser support these large inter/national businesses.
- H-E-B Grocery Company, based in San Antonio, TX, is one of the state’s major players in the Retail Trade sector with nearly 290,000 participants. Whole Foods (113,000), 7-Eleven (63,000), and Michaels (37,000) are covered primarily by health plans from Cigna and Kaiser.
- The top three reporting employers in TX’s Health Care & Social Assistance sector are all based in the state, and account for almost 21% (191,000) of the sector’s enrollment: Global Medical Response (Lewisville), Tenet Healthcare Corporation (Dallas), and Texas Health Resources (Arlington). There are 632 other businesses reporting health plans within this competitive sector.
- With nearly 691,000 participants, the Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services sector has 759 business entities reporting. Insperity Holdings, a professional employer organization (PEO) based in Kingwood, TX, is the dominant player in this sector with nearly 42.5% of the participants, representing nearly 206,000 covered lives. Cognizant, Resourcing Edge, Infosys, and AECOM are some of the notable employers in this sector and are supported by larger carriers, including Kaiser, Medica, Metropolitan, and UnitedHealthcare.
About this Data
Due to filing guidelines and companies with different fiscal year ends, this subset of Form 5500 data generally encompasses filings from 2024, with a smaller amount from 2022 and 2023, to reflect the most recent filings available. National and international employers based in Texas may also offer coverage through insurers not located in Texas.
[i] A single employee and/or their dependent(s) may be a participant in multiple health coverage products offered by an employer.
Note: MFA makes every effort to accurately aggregate filings properly but cannot guarantee 100% accuracy due to the lack of normalization within the filings. This also allows for potential duplicative data as employers may have multiple filings.
About 5500 Employer Health Plus
The data used in this analysis brief was obtained from Mark Farrah Associates' 5500 Employer Health Plus. This tool has been designed to simplify the analysis of employer health and welfare benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, and other benefits. MFA’s 5500 Employer Health Plus uniquely focuses on health and ancillary benefits purchased by private sector employers and the relationships employers have with contracted insurers, administrators, and brokers. The user interface allows for both detailed and summary level data retrieval. Data sources include Form 5500 filings and related schedules for companies that indicate they provide health and welfare benefits.
About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)
Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Our product portfolio includes Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, 5500 Employer Health PLUS, and Health Plans USA™. For more information about these products, refer to the product pages and brochures, available under the Our Products section of the website (www.markfarrah.com) or call 724-338-4100.
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