A fresh ranking out this week lays out the 150 largest privately held firms across the Cincinnati region, and the numbers are not exactly small change. Together, these companies pulled in more than $64 billion in revenue in 2025 and employ roughly 138,000 people worldwide. The list also makes clear just how Tri‑State the local economy really is, with headquarters scattered across Ohio, Northern Kentucky and parts of Indiana.
According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, the ranking is based on companies' 2025 revenue and reflects a shift in the Courier's 2025 research methodology to emphasize more data and context. The dataset was assembled through Cincinnati Business Courier research, FFIEC call reports, and questionnaires supplied by firms, and was produced by data reporter Isabella Ferrentino.
The snapshot highlights the region’s industry mix, with logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, and finance all showing up among the largest private employers. That sectoral concentration appears in other local measures as well. Deloitte's 2025 Cincinnati 100 continues to put logistics and manufacturing firms near the top, and local firms such as BHDP have publicly noted their inclusion on the Courier's roster.
Regional Reach And Workforce Impact
As reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier, the 150 firms are headquartered across counties that include Brown, Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren in Ohio; Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, and Pendleton in Kentucky; and Franklin, Dearborn and Ohio in Indiana. That regional spread reinforces how private-sector hiring and investment decisions play out across suburbs and smaller towns as well as the urban core, affecting housing, transit, and workforce planning in multiple jurisdictions, a pattern reflected in the Cincinnati Chamber's State of the Region analysis.
For business leaders, economic-development officials and jobseekers, the Courier's list functions as a snapshot of where local economic heft sits today. The full ranked list and company-by-company figures are published by the Cincinnati Business Courier (subscriber content), and the dataset is expected to shape conversations about workforce training, commercial real estate, and regional infrastructure in the months ahead.
