Fortune and CNNMoney came out with the Fortune 500 on Sunday. It is a list of the 500 largest companies in America.

You probably already know Exxon Mobile knocked off Wal-Mart Stores for the top spot. Wal-Mart placed second, Chevron third, ConocoPhillips fourth, General Electric fifth. According to Fortune’s story, it shows when oil prices fall dramatically oil companies still make money.

To be sure, the Fortune 500 reflects money made, not money spent. For instance, you’ll see car companies bringing in a lot of revenue — therefore, large — so they make the Fortune 500. That doesn’t mean they are on the list of most profitable. In fact, the car companies are on a list of biggest money losers. That list is led by none other than AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

By the way, Fortune offers a list of most-profitable companies, too. Exxon Mobile topped that list. Chevron was second, Microsoft third, GE fourth, Wal-Mart fifth.

Today I am not writing about the top spots on the Fortune 500. I am writing about the companies on the list closest to good-old Albert Lea. That is what I am interested in when I hear about the Fortune 500.

Let’s go through the Top 50 first.

The largest company in Minnesota is United Health Group, headquartered in Minnetonka. It comes in at 21st, with $81.2 billion in revenues.

Minneapolis-based Target ranks 28th, with $64.9 billion in revenues.

Clearly, the biggest companies in the Midwest are in Detroit. General Motors comes in at sixth with $149 billion and Ford Motor Co. at seventh, with $146.3 billion in revenues. Ford, technically, is headquarted in Dearborn, Mich.

Warren Buffet’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway in Omaha, Neb. ranks 13th. It had $107.8 in revenues.

Here are other Midwestern companies in the Top 50 and their revenues:

18: Cardinal Health of Dublin, Ohio, $91.1 billion

20: Proctor & Gamble of Cincinnati, $83.5 billion

27: Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Ill., $69.8 billion

31: State Farm Insurance of Bloomington, Ill., $61.3 billion

32: WellPoint of Indianapolis, $61.25 billion

34: Boeing of Chicago (the company moved in headquarters away from Seattle in 2001), $60.9 billion

36: Walgreen Co. of Deerfield, Ill., $59 billion

38: Dow Chemical, Midland, Mich., $57.5 billion

44: Caterpillar of Peoria, Ill., $51.3 billion

49: Sears Holdings of Hoffman Estates, Ill., $46.7 billion

OK, now let’s look at the rest of the list for just Minnesota.

I know you are wondering about Austin-based Hormel Foods Corp. A key part of southern Minnesota’s economy, the company placed at 373rd, with revenues of $6.75 billion. It ranked 390th last year.

Looking at the list for Minnesota, I am surprised to find Best Buy is bigger than 3M and General Mills. And I am surprised that Supervalu is bigger than all of them.

Here are other Minnesota companies on the Fortune 500:

51: Supervalu of Eden Prairie, $44 billion

56: Best Buy of Richfield, $40 billion

72: CHS of Inver Grove Heights, $32.2 billion

95: 3M of St. Paul, $25.3 billion

129: U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, $19.2 billion

193: General Mills of Minneapolis, $13.7 billion

196: Medtronic of Minneapolis, $13.5 billion

224: Land O’Lakes of Arden Hills, $12 billion

242: Xcel Energy of Minneapolis, $11.2 billion

300: C.H. Robinson Worldwide of Eden Prairie, $8.6 billion

348: Ameriprise Financial of Minneapolis, $7.1 billion

403: Ecolab of St. Paul, $6.1 billion

409: Thrivent Financial for Lutherans of Minneapolis, $6.1 billion

478: PepsiAmericas of Minneapolis, $4.9 billion

492: Nash-Finch of Minneapolis, $4.7 billion

That means there are 16 Minnesota companies on the Fortune 500. Iowa has two.

273: Principal Financial of Des Moines, $9.9 billion

488: Rockwell Collins of Cedar Rapids, $4.8 billion.

I remember the days when Newton-based Maytag used to make the list. It ranked 435th in 2006. Michigan-based Whirlpool bought Maytag that year.

I grew up in Iowa and sort of root for Iowa’s well-being, so here’s a question I had when scanning down the Fortune 500 list. If Ankeny-based Casey’s General Stores came in at 516th with $4.4 billion in revenues, then where is West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee? The company obviously is bigger than Casey’s, yet the grocer made neither the Fortune 500 nor the Fortune 1,000.

The answer is in the methodology. Fortune ranks companies that file financial statements with a government agency such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, mainly companies that are publicly traded. Hy-Vee is a private company.

And can you spot what major Minnesota company is not on the Fortune 500?

Cargill, of course, and for the same reason. It is private.

So where do you find a list of America’s largest private companies? Forbes offers one.

It places Hy-Vee as the 48th largest private company in America, with $6.3 billion in revenues. It is the largest private company in Iowa. But Minnesota still outdoes Iowa. Minneapolis-based Cargill ranks No. 1 in the United States, with $110.6 billion in revenues.

And to think, Cargill was once headquartered in Albert Lea. We could have been a contender!

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every Tuesday.