The fastest-growing companies in America’s most dynamic regions.

The leaders of our Inc. 5000 Regional honorees are hungry, optimistic, and ready to change everything.

Time, money, and mental health are just a few of the big-ticket items that founders put up as collateral against the pursuit of their dreams. But as our Inc. 5000 Regional honorees have found: Get it right, and the rewards can compound with lightning speed.

After four decades celebrating the fastest-growing private companies in America in the form of the Inc. 5000 list, we expanded this hallmark awards franchise last year to include the Inc. 5000 Regionals. If the Inc. 5000 represents the big league, the Inc. 5000 Regionals are the AAA level—pitting local favorites against one another on a proving ground for national stardom. While the Inc. 5000 recognizes growth across four years, the Regionals keep score across just three, with a focus on firms in the New York City and Washington, D.C., metro areas and the Midwest, Florida, Texas, and California.

The result is a body of winners fresh out of the gate—still racing toward their best ideas, greatest hires, and most popular products. Collectively, these companies generated almost half a million jobs and more than $61 billion in revenue in 2019. Our six regional No. 1 companies, whose founders are introduced in these pages, have the earning power of a small island nation, doing more than $800 million in sales in 2019 alone.

These founders’ stories are unique, but their drive is universal. In a period when businesses lack clarity, we feel certain these Inc. 5000 entrepreneurs will be the first ones to get to tomorrow. Now, we’re rewarding them on their path to greatness one year earlier.

Inc. 5000 Regionals Methodology Companies on the Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2019. To qualify in 2021, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2019. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2019 is $1 million. Qualifying criteria for the Inc. 5000 National list differ in that growth is assessed across four years, not three, and companies must have at least $2 million in revenue in their final year of consideration. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.