Companies are selected for the Inc. 500|5000 awards based on their revenue growth over a three-year period. To be eligible, companies must be privately held, for-profit, and based in the United States. Companies must also have generated at least $100,000 in revenue in the first year of the measurement period and at least $2 million in revenue in the most recent year. The rankings are determined by the percentage of revenue growth over the three-year period.