If you'd like to read a general overview of the City of Orlando, Orange County, Florida, just take a moment to read this article first, Orlando, Orange County, Florida - The City Beautiful.
Orlando is generally known for being a tourist destination and as such we've had basically more of a service-oriented economy for many years. But as you've read in the previous article, there is more to Orlando than just the theme parks. Don't get me wrong, they make a great impact on our economy. Orlando would probably not be where it is today if it were not for Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and Sea World, the regions 1st, 5th & 14th largest employers, respectively with a total of approximately 74,000 jobs.
Because of Orlando's proximity to Kennedy Space Center, which is only about an hour or less away to the east, there has always been some space agency related employment. Many years ago there was Martin Marietta, but they joined forces with Lockheed to become
know as the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the 9th largest employer in Orlando. Some other notable aerospace and flight simulation companies include, General Dynamics, Harris Corp, Siemens (21st), Northrop Grumman (28th), Boeing (38th) and Raytheon Corp to name just a few.
Orlando has been building some tech corridors around the Central Florida region attracting many high tech companies. With these companies come higher paying jobs and obviously many technologically advanced ones at that. This in turn brings to our schools more advanced curricula. This will be discussed in another post on education in Central Florida.
Rounding out the top 6 largest companies in Orlando are Florida Hospital, which is an Adventist Health System, at # 2; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. # 3; Publix Super Markets (even though they are headquartered in Lakeland, Florida) at # 4; and, our other large healthcare system, Orlando Regional Healthcare at # 6.
These are followed by several companies involved in the hospitality industry with Darden Restaurants at # 8; Marriott International at # 10; McDonald's Corp coming in at # 11; followed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts at # 12.
There are many companies that have been cited for being some of the best places to work in Orlando. The criteria for this varies, but in most cases includes benefits, flexibility, employee retention, etc. Florida Hospital is known as one of the best places for working families. IKEA opened in Orlando several months ago and has been on Fortune's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work.
A couple of other companies and firms noted as the Best Places to Work in Orlando are: The Gaylord Palms hotel; Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, PA (the areas largest law firm); Cross, Fernandez & Riley (cpa's), which was also noted as a Top 100 Company for Working Families; SGIS & IOA (Insurance Office of America).
We ain't just a Mickey Mouse town, but we're sure glad that he and his friends are here because tourism accounts for about 50 million visitors to Orlando annually.
Come to Orlando to work, live and play!
For more information on Orlando real estate and Orlando homes for sale in addition to Orlando relocation contact Marc Grossman, your Orlando Realtor @ 407-463-1034. Additional information is available for Orange County real estate, Seminole County real estate, West Volusia County and South Lake County.
To learn more about Marc and the services he has to offer, visit his profile & website.
Marc Grossman, GRI - http://www.OrlandoHomes-4u.com/ - 407-463-1034
Marc donates 10% of his net proceeds to Hospice of the Comforter.

Lisa - Thank you very much!
Jennifer - Blog! Blog!! Blog!!! Thanks a lot!
Marc: Another nice localism post. I need to write something like this.
Greg - Yes it is as I am sure so is your area in NC.
Gary - It's quite the grand place and they have displays at different times of the year.
Jan - Thank you and yes you do!
Melissa - It is a great place and St. Cloud is a nice area.
Bill - Thanks & I'm hoping so!
Danny - Thanks and go for it! All the other posts are great, but I sometimes think they are for naught if we don't follow through with posts in regard to our local communities.
Great post for buyer to read!
Bob
San Diego real estate blog