About the rankings

For the list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 160,000 employees at U.S. companies with at least 500 workers. Respondents rated their employers on factors such as workplace culture, wage parity, career advancement pathways, and whether organizations act on issues like harassment.

Survey participants also evaluated former employers and organizations they knew through their industry, friends, or family. Responses from the past three years were included, with greater weight given to recent data and to ratings from current employees.

In total, 1,417 organizations earned recognition across at least one state ranking, yielding 2,500 placements nationwide. Healthcare employers were strongly represented across multiple sectors, including drugs and biotechnology, medical equipment and services, insurance, and healthcare and social services.

Drugs and biotechnology

Organizations recognized in this category include several of the nation's largest pharmaceutical and life sciences companies:

• AbbVie (North Chicago, IL)
• AstraZeneca (Wilmington, DE)
• Bayer (Whippany, NJ)
• Bristol Myers Squibb (New York, NY)
• Genentech (South San Francisco, CA)
• Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ)
• Lilly (Indianapolis, IN)
• Merck (Kenilworth, NJ)
• Pfizer (New York, NY)
• Sanofi (Bridgewater, NJ)
• Takeda (Lexington, MA)
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA)

Overall, 23 drug and biotechnology companies were recognized.

Insurance

Health insurers that made the list include:

• Cambia Health Solutions (Portland, OR)
• Centene (St. Louis, MO)
• Cigna (Bloomfield, CT)
• Elevance Health (Indianapolis, IN)
• Health Care Service Corporation (Chicago, IL)
• Humana (Louisville, KY)
• UnitedHealth Group* (Minnetonka, MN)
• WPS Health Solutions (Madison, WI)

Several regional Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates, including in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and North Carolina, were also recognized.

*Advisory Board is a subsidiary of Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group. All Advisory Board research, expert perspectives, and recommendations remain independent. 

Healthcare and social services

Hospitals, health systems, children's hospitals, and other healthcare and social service providers made up the largest share of honorees. Some honorees include:

• Advocate Health (Milwaukee, WI)
• American Heart Association (Dallas, TX)
• Cedars-Sinai Health System (Los Angeles, CA)
• CVS Health (Woonsocket, RI)
• Houston Methodist (Houston, TX)
• Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, MD)
• Mass General Brigham (Somerville, MA)
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY)
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN)
• University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor, MI)

Overall, 308 hospitals and health systems were recognized.