Economy of Corpus Christi

is home to two installations of the United States military: the Corpus Christi Army Depot, and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. Combined, these installations provide 6,200 civilian jobs to the local economy, making them the single largest employer in the city. Corpus Christi Army Depot, located on NAS Corpus Christi, is the largest helicopter repair facility in the world. A third military installation, also located on NAS Corpus Christi, is the United States Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi is the original home of the headquarters of Whataburger, a fast food restaurant operator and franchiser with 650 stores in ten states and Mexico; however, the company relocated its headquarters to San Antonio in 2009. Other large employers include CHRISTUS Spohn Health System at 5,400 local employees, the Corpus Christi Independent School District with 5,178, H-E-B at 5,000, and Bay Ltd. at 2,100. Other companies based in Corpus Christi include Stripes Convenience Stores and AEP Texas.

Corpus Christi became the first major city to offer city wide free wi-fi in order to allow remote meter reading after a meter reader was attacked by a dog. In 2007, the network was purchased by Earthlink for $5.5 million, and stopped being a free service on May 31, 2007