CHECK OUT AMERICAS BEST EMPLOYERS 2017

Last week, unemployment fell to its lowest level in a decade. Companies are competing aggressively for talent, piling on more perks and benefits every year. But which organizations have the most satisfied employees? Forbes worked with research firm Statista to compile the definitive list of the best employers in America. 

Statista surveyed 30,000 American workers to gather their opinions of their employers. On a scale of zero to ten, it asked how likely they were to recommend their organization to friends or family. Those results were the most important factor in determining a company’s ranking on this list. Statista then asked employees to recommend other companies outside of their own. Those ratings also informed the ranking, but to a lesser degree.

We split the best employers list into two groups, midsized and large employers. To see the top 300 midsize employers — companies with 1,000 to 5,000 employees — view America’s Best Midsize Employers 2017 .

In this post we’ll focus on large employers with 5,000 or more workers, a ranking we also published in the May 16 issue of Forbes magazine. Here’s the full list of the 500 best large employers, organized into 25 industries: America’s Best Employers 2017 .

For the top 25 employers across all sectors, open the gallery above.

Costco topped this year’s ranking. Over the past three years, it has never fallen below third place. The wholesale retailer, where you can buy everything from TV sets to bulk granola, has 73 million square feet of floor space and 143,000 employees in the U.S. One noteworthy perk is that it offers health insurance to part-time employees.

Google came in second, slipping one slot since last year’s ranking. The tech giant has 72,000 workers, nearly 40% of which work in research and development. It has grown into the second-largest company in the country by market value, second only to Apple. Over the past five years, its stock has tripled.

Outdoor gear retailer Recreational Equipment, Inc. — more commonly known as REI — ranked third. It’s the first time the company made our best employers list. Over the past year, REI increased pay for hourly retail workers and gave them more clarity and predictability in their schedules, says Sara Vallas, an REI spokesperson. REI has a unique ownership structure. It’s a consumer cooperative, and anyone who pays the one-time $20 membership fee and spends at least $10 a year at REI receives an annual dividend (usually 10% of their REI purchases) and can vote for its board directors. Currently, there are 16 million REI members.

The United Services Automobile Association ranked fifth. The 28,000-person company provides insurance, banking and investment services to current and former members of the military. It’s not publicly traded, but owned by its more than 11 million members.

This year, several health care organizations made the top ten. Memorial Hermann Health System, a non-profit with 16 hospitals and more than a dozen other health centers, ranked fourth. Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania’s academic medical center that runs five hospitals, ranked seventh. And the Mayo Clinic ranked eighth.  


1* COTSCO
2* GOOGLE
3* REI
4* MEMORIAL HARMAN HEALTH SYSTEM
5* UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
6* MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER
7* PENN MEDICINE
8* MAYO CLINIC
9* CITY OF AUSTINE
10* WEGMANS FOOD MARKET
11* THE CONTAINER STORE
12* JETBLUE AIRWAYS
13* FACEBOOK
14* UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HOSPITAL CLINIC
15* UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
16* TRADER JOE'S
17* QUIK TRIP
18* WINTHROP UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
19* GENENTECH
20* SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
21* SAS INSTITUTE
22* WILLIAMS
23* COLD WELL BANKER
24* THE CHRIST HOSPITAL HEALTH NETWORK
25* NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION