Apple employed approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent people as of September 27, 2025, per the company’s fiscal 2025 Form 10-K. That figure represents a 1.22% year-over-year increase from 164,000 at the end of fiscal 2024, the slowest growth rate Apple has posted outside the 2023 contraction year. Engineering makes up roughly 41% of the workforce, with revenue per employee reaching approximately $2.5 million in fiscal 2025, a figure that puts Apple in a different productivity tier than every public tech peer outside Nvidia.
The 166,000 figure is the easy answer. The interesting one is what it hides.
Key Takeaways
- Apple reported approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees as of September 27, 2025, a 1.22% increase over the 164,000 count from fiscal 2024.
- Engineering dominates Apple’s workforce at 41% of total headcount, followed by business management at 15% and sales and support at 9%.
- Apple’s fiscal 2025 revenue of $416 billion produced approximately $2.5 million per employee, up from roughly $1.79 million per employee in fiscal 2011.
- About 80,000 Apple employees work in the United States, with approximately the remaining ~86,000 across international offices; an additional 450,000 people work for Apple’s supplier network globally.
- Apple operates 540 Apple Stores worldwide as of 2026, with the Cupertino-based Apple Park headquarters housing more than 12,000 employees.
- R&D spending climbed to $34.55 billion in fiscal 2025, a 57.7% increase over the $21.91 billion spent in fiscal 2021.
- Tim Cook will transition to Executive Chairman on September 1, 2026, with John Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, becoming CEO on the same date.
Editor’s Choice
- 166,000 full-time equivalent employees is the canonical headcount per Apple’s fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, dated September 27, 2025.
- 80,000 US-based employees represent just under half of Apple’s direct workforce.
- 450,000 supplier workers sit outside Apple’s payroll but inside its labor economy, primarily in manufacturing.
- Apple’s Apple Park campus in Cupertino houses 12,000+ employees across many divisions, including R&D.
- Apple operated 540 retail stores globally as of 2026.
- Fiscal 2025 revenue per employee landed at approximately $2.5 million, up from approximately $1.79 million in fiscal 2011.
- R&D outlays reached $34.55 billion in fiscal 2025, the largest R&D commitment in Apple’s history at that point.
Recent Developments
- April 2026: Apple announced on April 20 that Tim Cook will become Executive Chairman and John Ternus will become Chief Executive Officer, both effective September 1, 2026. Art Levinson, the current Board Chair, will become Lead Independent Director on the transition date.
- January 2026: Apple’s Q1 fiscal 2026 10-Q disclosed $10.9 billion in single-quarter R&D spend, the first time the company spent more than $10 billion in a quarter, up from $8.9 billion the prior quarter.
- October 2025: Apple reported fiscal 2025 Q4 quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8% year over year, setting all-time records for total company revenue, iPhone revenue, and Services revenue.
- September 2025: Apple’s fiscal year ended on September 27 with approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees, per the Form 10-K filed October 31, 2025.
- 2025: Apple cut dozens of sales roles across account management, briefing centers, and federal government sales in a rare workforce reduction described by an Apple spokesperson as affecting “only a small number of roles.”
How Many People Work at Apple
Apple’s fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, filed October 31, 2025, reported approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees as of September 27, 2025. The figure represented a 2,000-person net addition over the 164,000 reported at fiscal year-end September 28, 2024, for a year-over-year growth rate of 1.22%.
- US-based employees: approximately 80,000 (roughly half of Apple’s direct workforce).
- International employees: approximately 86,000 across Apple’s international offices.
- Apple supplier network: an additional 450,000 workers globally (Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron).
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Apple full-time equivalent employees (Sept 27, 2025) | 166,000 |
| Year-over-year change | +1.22% |
Source: Apple Inc Form 10-K, fiscal year ended September 27 2025
Worth noting: The 10-K is the single source of truth: Apple discloses headcount once a year via the annual 10-K. The September 27 2025 figure of 166,000 stays canonical until the next 10-K.
The headline figure earns its weight when set against revenue. Apple posted $416 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue, which works out to roughly $2.5 million per employee on the 166,000 base. That benchmarks Apple’s productivity against Google headcount and the rest of Big Tech, where most peers sit between $1.2 million and $1.8 million per head.
Apple Headcount Growth
Apple’s workforce nearly quadrupled across 15 years. Apple grew from 46,600 employees at fiscal year end 2010 to 166,000 at fiscal year end 2025. The strongest expansion landed in the early-2010s window. Apple added approximately 63,400 employees between fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2015 (46,600 to 110,000).
- Fiscal 2010: 46,600 employees (+35.86% year over year).
- Fiscal 2015: 110,000 (+18.79%).
- Fiscal 2020: 147,000 (+7.30%).
- Fiscal 2021: 154,000 (+4.76%).
- Fiscal 2022: 164,000 (+6.49%).
- Fiscal 2023: 161,000 (-1.83%, the lone year-over-year decline in this stretch).
- Fiscal 2024: 164,000 (+1.86%).
- Fiscal 2025: 166,000 (+1.22%).
The growth pattern shifts hard around fiscal 2021. The plateau is structural rather than cyclical and lines up with the productivity ramp covered below.
Who is employee number one at Apple?
Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, in Los Altos, California, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The three founders take the original employee credit, with Steve Jobs typically cited as the CEO-founder leadership pole and Steve Wozniak as the hardware-engineering force behind the Apple I. The starting baseline in this 31-year Stock Analysis series is 11,287 for fiscal 1994, and the workforce has expanded by roughly 15-fold across the three decades since.
Apple Employees by Function and Department
Engineering carries the largest share of Apple’s workforce by a wide margin. Engineering makes up roughly 41% of total headcount, with business management at 15% and sales and support at 9%. At the 166,000-employee base, the 41% share implies roughly 68,000 engineers.
- Engineering: roughly 41% of total headcount.
- Business management: roughly 15% of total headcount.
- Sales and support: roughly 9% of total headcount.
- Remaining functions: roughly 35% across retail, operations, services, design, and corporate support.
By the numbers: The 41% engineering share is the structural fact that drives every other workforce decision at Apple, with business management at 15% and sales and support at 9% rounding out the disclosed function mix. The product pipeline scales with engineering capacity, and the engineering bench defines what Apple can ship across the next decade.
Apple’s Global Footprint and Office Locations
Apple operates across a global office and retail network. Apple’s corporate headquarters is Apple Park at One Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California, opened in April 2017, with the main Ring building covering 2.8 million square feet in floor area and housing more than 12,000 employees across many divisions, including research and development. The campus was designed by Foster + Partners under Steve Jobs’ direction, with construction running from 2014 to 2017 at approximately $5 billion.
- Apple operated 540 Apple Stores worldwide as of 2026.
- Retail teams collectively employ thousands across the network.
- Apple does not publicly disclose retail-specialist headcount as a separate line.
| Location / Footprint | Detail | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Park (Cupertino, CA) | 12,000+ employees | Main Ring building, 2.8 million sq ft, opened April 2017 |
| US workforce | ~80,000 employees | Roughly half of total direct headcount |
| International workforce | ~86,000 employees | Distributed across Apple’s international offices worldwide |
| Retail footprint | 540 Apple Stores | Worldwide as of 2026 |
| Supplier workforce | ~450,000 workers | Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron; outside direct payroll |
| Apple Park campus cost | ~$5 billion | Designed by Foster + Partners, built 2014-2017 |
Source: Apple Newsroom, Wikipedia Apple Inc, Wikipedia Apple Park, Yahoo Finance via TheStreet, fiscal year 2025 references
How many Apple Stores are there worldwide?
Apple operated 540 Apple Stores worldwide as of 2026. Retail teams collectively employ thousands of workers across the network, though Apple does not publish a retail-only headcount inside its 10-K.
Apple R&D Spend and the Engineering Hiring Engine
Apple’s R&D budget is the line item that funds future engineering hires. Apple spent $34.55 billion on R&D in fiscal 2025, a 57.7% increase over the $21.91 billion spent in fiscal 2021. The pace then accelerated. Q1 fiscal 2026 (December quarter 2025) brought $10.9 billion in single-quarter R&D spend, more than the $10 billion mark for the first time, up from the prior quarter’s $8.9 billion.
- Fiscal 2021 R&D: $21.91 billion.
- Fiscal 2022 R&D: $26.25 billion.
- Fiscal 2023 R&D: $29.92 billion.
- Fiscal 2024 R&D: $31.37 billion.
- Fiscal 2025 R&D: $34.55 billion.
- Q1 fiscal 2026 R&D: $10.9 billion (first single-quarter spend above $10 billion).
- Fiscal 2025 R&D-to-revenue ratio: approximately 8.3%.
The $10.9 billion single-quarter spend reads as AI catch-up, and the resulting hiring will land mostly in engineering. Apple is investing in AI infrastructure, Apple Intelligence, and Siri overhaul work, all of which scale via engineering headcount more than retail. The engineering share gets reinforced rather than rebalanced by this trajectory, and iPhone statistics will reflect what those engineers ship.
Apple Revenue Per Employee Compared to Big Tech
Apple’s productivity ratio sits well above most public tech peers and below only Nvidia. Apple brought in approximately $2.5 million per employee in fiscal 2025, a roughly 40% improvement over the $1.79 million per employee figure from fiscal 2011. The lift came across a 14-year window in which headcount expanded roughly 2.75x from approximately 60,400 to 166,000.
- Nvidia leads at $3.6 million revenue per employee on a leaner ~36,000-person base.
- Apple ranks second at roughly $2.5 million per employee in fiscal 2025.
- Meta and Google trail at $2.2 million and $1.9 million, respectively.
- Microsoft and Amazon sit at $1.2 million and roughly $0.4 million per employee.
| Company | Employees (latest FY) | FY revenue | Revenue per employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 166,000 | $416 billion | ~$2.5 million |
| Nvidia | ~36,000 | ~$130 billion | ~$3.6 million |
| Microsoft | 228,000 | ~$280 billion | ~$1.2 million |
| Google (Alphabet) | ~187,000 | ~$350 billion | ~$1.9 million |
| Meta | ~74,000 | ~$165 billion | ~$2.2 million |
| Amazon | ~1.55 million | ~$638 billion | ~$0.4 million |
Source: Company Form 10-K filings and peer disclosures, fiscal year 2024 or 2025 latest available
Per-employee revenue is the productivity flex. Apple has added roughly 105,600 net employees since fiscal 2011 (from about 60,400 to 166,000) and still grew per-employee revenue by 40%. The cohort sitting below Apple on the table employs more people per dollar of revenue across the same window. For context on how the Nvidia headcount story compares, the GPU maker hits a higher per-head number on a leaner base; the lean-versus-scaled tradeoff is the productivity question every Big Tech board faces.
Apple’s Workforce Plateau and the 2025 Sales-Team Trim
The 1.22% growth headline masks a structural shift in how Apple hires. Apple added approximately 63,400 employees from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2015 (46,600 to 110,000), driven by retail and Services expansion. From fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025, Apple’s net additions slowed to 12,000 across the four-year window (154,000 to 166,000), a small fraction of the prior pace. The plateau reads as deliberate calibration rather than recruiting weakness.
The shift surfaced in 2025 when Apple cut dozens of sales roles across account managers, briefing center staff, and federal government sales teams supporting the Defense and Justice departments in a rare layoff event. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that only a small number of roles will be impacted and that affected employees could apply for other internal roles. Apple confirmed it was still hiring at the time of the cuts.
Tim Cook has historically framed workforce reductions as exceptional. The 2025 action lands in a sales-strategy reshape rather than a broad reduction.
- Fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2015 net additions: approximately 63,400 employees (46,600 to 110,000).
- Fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025 net additions: approximately 12,000 employees (154,000 to 166,000).
- 2025 sales-team layoff: dozens of roles, primarily account management and federal government sales.
- Apple spokesperson: “only a small number of roles will be impacted”.
- Net effect: Apple’s fiscal 2025 headcount still grew 1.22% year over year despite the targeted cuts.
Key finding: Plateau, not freeze: Apple still added 2,000 net employees in fiscal 2025 alongside the targeted sales-team layoffs. The calibration is selective: Apple is adding where the product roadmap needs people and trimming where the sales structure has slack.
Apple CEO Succession: Cook to Ternus
Apple announced on April 20, 2026, that Tim Cook will transition from Chief Executive Officer to Executive Chairman of Apple’s Board of Directors effective September 1, 2026. The Board appointed John Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board effective on the transition date. Art Levinson, the current Board Chair, will become Lead Independent Director on the same date.
- John Ternus is 50 years old and joined Apple in 2001.
- He has spent 25 years building hardware engineering capability for iPad, AirPods, and recent iPhone models.
- He assumed his current Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering role in 2021.
- “John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity”, Tim Cook said.
- Fiscal 2025 revenue: over $416 billion, up from $108 billion in fiscal 2011.
- Market capitalization: over $4 trillion, up from approximately $350 billion at start of Cook’s tenure.
- Apple Services grew to a more than $100 billion annual business.
The takeaway: Apple’s revenue grew from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to over $416 billion in fiscal 2025 across Cook’s tenure, with market capitalization expanding from approximately $350 billion to over $4 trillion across the same window. More than 150,000 people worked at Apple at the time of the succession announcement.
Who is Apple’s new CEO?
John Ternus becomes Apple’s CEO effective September 1, 2026, succeeding Tim Cook in the role. Ternus is 50 years old, joined Apple in 2001, and has spent 25 years leading hardware engineering programs across iPad, AirPods, and recent iPhone product cycles. He assumed his current Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering role in 2021.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity.” Art Levinson, current Chair of the Board, becomes Lead Independent Director on the same transition date, with Cook moving into the Executive Chairman role.
The succession reads as an engineering-led pivot. Cook came from operations; Ternus arrives via hardware engineering, signalling product engineering as the defining frame for the next chapter.
Conclusion
Apple employed approximately 166,000 people as of September 27, 2025, with engineering at 41% of the workforce and revenue per employee landing near $2.5 million on the fiscal 2025 base of $416 billion. The 1.22% growth headline masks a productivity story, a hiring plateau, and a leadership handoff that together define the chapter ahead.
