Facebook is one of the biggest and most influential technology companies in the world. As of October 2022, Facebook has over 87,000 employees working across its different products and divisions. This makes Facebook one of the largest employers in the technology sector.
Facebook’s Employee Count Over the Years
Facebook has seen tremendous growth in its workforce over the past decade. When Facebook went public in 2012, it had around 5,000 employees. By the end of that year, the company’s headcount had grown to nearly 6,000 people. Here’s a quick look at how Facebook’s employee base has grown over the years:
- 2012: Around 5,000 employees at IPO
- 2013: 6,337 employees
- 2014: 9,199 employees
- 2015: 12,691 employees
- 2016: 17,048 employees
- 2017: 25,105 employees
- 2018: 35,587 employees
- 2019: 44,942 employees
- 2020: 58,604 employees
- 2021: 71,970 employees
- 2022: Over 87,000 employees (as of Q3 2022)
As these numbers show, Facebook’s workforce has grown at an incredible rate over the past 10 years. The company has added tens of thousands of new jobs every year as it has expanded into new products, services, offices, and countries.
Breakdown of Facebook Employees by Division
Facebook divides its employees into different divisions focused on various products and functions. Here is a breakdown of how Facebook’s 87,000+ employees are distributed across the company’s different divisions and teams:
- Facebook app: ~20,000 employees
- Instagram: ~13,000 employees
- WhatsApp: ~5,000 employees
- Messenger: ~15,000 employees
- Facebook Reality Labs (VR/AR): ~17,000 employees
- Advertising, Business Development: ~5,000 employees
- Infrastructure, Operations: ~7,000 employees
- Other teams (marketing, HR, finance, legal, etc.): ~5,000 employees
As these numbers illustrate, a significant portion of Facebook’s workforce is focused on the Facebook app itself. However, tens of thousands of employees also work on the company’s other main consumer products like Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Facebook Reality Labs is also a major area of investment, with 17,000 employees working on futuristic technologies like virtual and augmented reality. Support teams in areas like engineering, operations, sales, marketing, finance, and human resources make up the rest of the company.
Growth Drivers for Facebook’s Employee Count
There are several key factors that have driven the rapid growth in Facebook’s employee base over the past decade:
- Active user growth: As Facebook’s monthly active users has surged to nearly 3 billion people, the company has needed more engineers, product managers, and content moderators.
- New products & features: Facebook has launched new apps like Messenger, as well as major new features like Stories. These require additional staff.
- Acquisitions: Acquiring companies like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus has brought thousands of new employees into Facebook.
- International expansion: Facebook has hired thousands of employees in Asia, Europe, and Latin America to support its growth in international markets.
- Increased advertising: Facebook’s ad business has ballooned in size, requiring many more salespeople and ad analysts.
- Corporate functions: Rapid growth requires hiring more recruiters, accountants, administrators, marketers, and other corporate staff.
In a nutshell, Facebook’s employee base has expanded so rapidly because every aspect of the company’s business has been growing at a breakneck pace. The userbase, product portfolio, revenue streams, and geographic footprint are all multiples bigger today than they were just a few years ago.
Facebook Employees by Location
While Facebook’s headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California, the company has major office complexes around the world. Here is a breakdown of where Facebook’s employees are based globally:
- United States: ~35,000 employees
- Rest of North America: ~1,000 employees
- Asia-Pacific: ~17,000 employees
- Europe: ~24,000 employees
- Rest of World: ~10,000 employees
So while the largest chunk of Facebook’s workforce is based in the U.S., the company has a significant presence in Asia Pacific and Europe as well. Major Facebook offices outside the U.S. include London, Singapore, Tokyo, Berlin, and Sao Paulo.
Notable Facebook Office Locations
Here are some of Facebook’s largest and most important office complexes around the world:
- Menlo Park, California – Facebook HQ & largest office with tens of thousands of employees.
- New York City – Facebook’s second-largest U.S. office, focused mainly on ad sales.
- Seattle, Washington – Several thousand employees working on Facebook Reality Labs.
- London, UK – Facebook’s biggest international engineering hub outside the U.S.
- Singapore – Major Asia Pacific hub with thousands of employees.
- Tel Aviv, Israel – Facebook’s second biggest R&D center after Menlo Park.
In addition to these major sites, Facebook has hundreds of smaller offices around the world. But its headquarters in Menlo Park is still by far the company’s largest single office complex.
Recent Employee Growth Trends
Facebook continued adding thousands of new jobs annually for most of the 2010s. However, its employee growth rate started slowing in the late 2010s. In the past couple years, Facebook’s workforce has been largely flat or declining:
- 2020: Added ~13,000 employees
- 2021: Added ~14,000 employees
- 2022: Lost ~6,000 employees in first half of year
This recent slowdown in employee growth can be attributed to a few factors. Facebook is maturing as a business, so rapid hiring is no longer needed. The company has also faced more public scrutiny, making it less willing to expand aggressively. Macroeconomic conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic and looming recession have also played a role.
Comparison to Other Large Tech Companies
Although Facebook has one of the largest workforces in the tech sector, it is still significantly smaller than giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple:
| Company | Employees |
|---|---|
| Amazon | 1.6 million |
| 156,500 | |
| Apple | 154,000 |
| 87,000 |
However, Facebook’s workforce is still sizable compared to other leading Silicon Valley firms like Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix – most of which have well under 25,000 employees.
Facebook Employee Demographics
Let’s now look at some key demographics and diversity stats for Facebook’s ~87,000-strong workforce:
- Gender: 77% men, 23% women
- Ethnicity: 44% Asian, 41% White, 5% Hispanic, 3% Black, 7% Other
- Age: Median age of 28 years old
- Roles: 55% technical, 45% non-technical
So like many other major tech companies, Facebook’s employee makeup skews heavily male and Asian. However, the company has been working to improve diversity across gender, race, and other dimensions in recent years.
Conclusion
Facebook has emerged as one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in the space of just over 15 years. The company’s astounding growth has required hiring tens of thousands of employees around the world. Facebook’s workforce now exceeds 87,000 people and continues expanding globally.
While employee growth has slowed recently, Facebook will likely need to keep increasing headcount to support its products and business. Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, VR/AR, advertising, security, and many other key areas require ongoing investments in human talent. Given its track record, expect Facebook’s employee count to reach six figures over the next few years.