About the rankings

For the rankings, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 217,000 U.S. workers at American companies. Organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 workers were considered midsize employers, and those with more than 5,000 workers were considered large employers.

In the survey, respondents were asked to rate their employers and if they would recommend their employer to other people. Evaluations from current and former employees were given more weight than those from friends, family, and peers in the industry. Forbes and Statista also included data from the last three years — with more recent data having greater weight — to identify companies that have been consistently rated well over the years.

Survey responses were used to create a score for each company, and the 1,200 organizations with the highest scores made the final lists. In total, there were 700 organizations on the "America's Best Large Employers" list, and 500 on the "America's Best Midsize Employers" list.

Healthcare employers across several categories, including drugs and biotechnology, medical equipment and services, healthcare and social services, and insurance, were included on the lists.

The best large healthcare employers

Overall, 60 organizations made the list of the best large healthcare and social services employers, including:

2. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, TN)

9. Hoag* (Newport Beach, CA)

10. Houston Methodist (Houston, TX)

16. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX)

26. St. Luke's University Health Network* (Bethlehem, PA)

29. Community Health Network* (Indianapolis, IN)

32. Cedars-Sinai Health System* (Los Angeles, CA)

34. Mayo Clinic Health System* (Rochester, MN)

35. Nationwide Children's Hospital* (Columbus, OH)

38. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia* (Philadelphia, PA)

41. Cook Children's Health Care System* (Fort Worth, TX)

43. Covenant Health (Knoxville, TN)

45. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta* (Atlanta, GA)

46. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY)

55. Cincinnati Children's (Cincinnati, OH)

63. Amedisys (Baton Rouge, LA)

65. Children's Hospital Colorado (Aurora, CO)

66. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

67. University of Mississippi Medical Center* (Jackson, MS)

69. FirstHealth of the Carolinas (Pinehurst, NC)

78. Sutter Health* (Sacramento, CA)

85. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute* (Boston, MA)

86. Memorial Hermann Health System* (Houston, TX)

98. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (Los Angeles, CA)

99. Texas Health Resources* (Arlington, TX)

101. Cleveland Clinic Main Campus* (Cleveland, OH)

102. UW Health University Hospital (Madison, WI)

103. University of Chicago Medicine (Chicago, IL)

105. Duke University Health System* (Durham, NC)

112. JPS Health Network* (Fort Worth, TX)

114. Cooper University Health Care (Camden, NJ)

117. UC Davis Health* (Sacramento, CA)

120. The University of Kansas Health System (Kansas City, KS)

122. BJC Health System* (St. Louis, MO)

123. Boston Children's Hospital (Boston, MA)

125. University Hospitals* (Cleveland, OH)

135. Tampa General Hospital* (Tampa, FL)

139. NYU Langone Health (New York, NY)

147. Broward Health (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

149. Methodist Health System (Nebraska) (Omaha, NE)

154. Tucson Medical Center (Tucson, AZ)

157. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus, OH)

160. Johns Hopkins Medicine* (Baltimore, MD)

164. University of Rochester Medical Center (Rochester, NY)

165. CHRISTUS Health (Irving, TX)

167. Presbyterian Homes and Services (St. Paul, MN)

168. Nemours Children's Health (Jacksonville, FL)

184. HealthPartners* (Bloomington, MN)

189. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (Sarasota, FL)

194. Seattle Children's (Seattle, WA)

208. Arkansas Children's Hospital* (Little Rock, AR)

210. Northwell Health (Great Neck, NY)

211. CAMC Health System (Charleston, WV)

213. Scripps Health* (San Diego, CA)

215. Norton Healthcare* (Louisville, KY)

226. VCU Health* (Richmond, VA)

232. University of Virginia Health System* (Charlottesville, VA)

238. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center* (New York, NY)

244. American Cancer Society (Atlanta, GA)

245. Stanford Medicine Children's Health (Palo Alto, CA)

In addition, 22 drug companies, 23 medical equipment and services companies, and 12 health insurance companies made the best large employers list:

Drugs and biotechnology

21. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY)

42. Novo Nordisk* (Plainsboro, NJ)

57. Merck & Co. (Kenilworth, NJ)

83. Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA)

124. Roche Holding (Indianapolis, IN)

127. Genentech (South San Francisco, CA)

140. Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ)

151. AbbVie* (North Chicago, IL)

200. Lilly* (Indianapolis, IN)

287. GSK (Philadelphia, PA)

305. Pfizer* (New York, NY)

353. AstraZeneca (Wilmington, DE)

396. Takeda Pharmaceutical (Lexington, MA)

506. CSL (King of Prussia, PA)

523. Bristol Myers Squibb (New York, NY)

572. Sanofi* (Bridgewater, NJ)

597. Bayer (Whippany, NJ)

629. Gilead Sciences (Foster City, CA)

639. Alcon (Fort Worth, TX)

651. Novartis* (East Hanover, NJ)

687. Boehringer Ingelheim* (Ridgefield, CT)

695. Charles River Labs (Wilmington, MA)

Medical equipment and services

19. Boston Scientific* (Marlborough, MA)

49. IDEXX Laboratories (Westbrook, ME)

197. Medtronic* (Minneapolis, MN)

217. Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH)

235. Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale, CA)

256. Teladoc Health (New York, NY)

268. Stryker* (Kalamazoo, MI)

321. Labcorp Holdings* (Burlington, NC)

341. Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA)

358. National Vision (Duluth, GA)

408. Dexcom (San Diego, CA)

509. TeamHealth (Knoxville, TN)

514. McKesson* (Irving, TX)

530. Abbott Laboratories (Chicago, IL)

531. Patterson (Saint Paul, MN)

538. Siemens Healthineers (Erlangen, Germany)

547. Edwards Lifesciences* (Irvine, CA)

588. Quest Diagnostics* (Secaucus, NJ)

628. Steris (Mentor, OH)

649. Philips (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

679. Global Medical Response (Lewisville, TX)

685. Smith & Nephew (Watford, United Kingdom)

697. Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, NJ)

Health insurance

108. Cambia Health Solutions* (Portland, OR)

185. Florida Blue* (Jacksonville, FL)

236. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey* (Newark, NJ)

297. Cigna* (Bloomfield, CT)

322. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (Chattanooga, TN)

346. Humana (Louisville, KY)

395. Health Care Service Corporation (Chicago, IL)

451. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan* (Detroit, MI)

504. Blue Shield of California (Oakland, CA)

511. Chubb (Warren, NJ)

593. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina* (Durham, NC)

631. Independence Blue Cross (Philadelphia, PA)

*Denotes Advisory Board member

The best midsize healthcare employers

Overall, 45 organizations made the list of the best midsize healthcare and social services employers, including:

15. Maury Regional Medical Center (Columbia, TN)

20. Vizient (Irving, TX)

23. Riverview Health (Noblesville, IN)

28. BSA Health System* (Amarillo, TX)

49. Shriners Hospitals for Children (Tampa, FL)

51. Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas* (Beaumont, TX)

53. Presbyterian SeniorCare (Oakmont, PA)

55. National Youth Advocate Program (Columbus, OH)

57. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

58. Resources for Human Development (Philadelphia, PA)

63. Jupiter Medical Center (Jupiter, FL)

84. North Oaks Health System (Hammond, LA)

100. Boone Hospital Center (Columbia, MO)

101. Eisenhower Medical Center* (Mirage, CA)

105. Baptist Health Care (Pensacola, FL)

106. Ronald McDonald House Charities (Chicago, IL)

107. Baptist Health (Alabama) (Montgomery, AL)

109. Elliot Health System (Manchester, NH)

112. Meridian Health (Muncie, IN)

117. Advanced Health Care (Fruitland, ID)

118. University Hospital Newark* (Newark, NJ)

127. Midland Memorial Hospital (Midland, TX)

135. University Health, Kansas City* (Kansas City, MO)

136. The Brooklyn Hospital Center (Brooklyn, NY)

139. Woman's Hospital  (Baton Rouge, LA)

148. Alzheimer's Association (Chicago, IL)

160. Broadlawns Medical Center (Des Moines, IA)

173. AHRC New York City (New York, NY)

176. Mercy Medical Center (Baltimore, MD) (Baltimore, MD)

182. Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center* (Pomona, CA)

183. Children’s Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI)

188. Preferred Family Healthcare (Kirksville, MO)

191. Hurley Medical Center* (Flint, MI)

192. Capital District Physicians' Health Plan (CDPHP) (Albany, NY)

201. Holland Hospital* (Holland, MI)

206. Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company (Renton, WA)

207. Enloe Medical Center (Chico, CA)

210. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium* (Anchorage, AK)

212. Compass Health Network (Missouri) (Clinton, MO)

226. Stormont-Vail HealthCare* (Topeka, KS)

230. Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute* (Fort Myers, FL)

231. NCH Healthcare (Naples, FL)

253. Capital Health* (Trenton, NJ)

255. CareSource (Dayton, OH)

257. Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center* (Livingston, NJ)

Medical equipment and services

48. Align Technology (Tempe, AZ)

74. Biotronik (Berlin, Germany)

80. Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, MA)

94. Myriad Genetics (Salt Lake City, UT)

120. athenahealth (Watertown, MA)

125. CareCentrix (Tampa, FL)

163. Arthrex (Naples, FL)

197. Dentsply Sirona (York, PA)

248. ATL Technology (Springfield, UT)

327. ResMed (San Diego, CA)

382. ABB OPTICAL GROUP (Coral Springs, FL)

404. Carestream Health* (Rochester, NY)

429. Alverno Laboratories (Hammond, IN)

441. Hollister (Libertyville, IL)

466. Midmark* (Versailles, OH)

Health insurance

4. Medical Mutual of Ohio* (Cleveland, OH)

27. Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Little Rock, AR)

67. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Rochester, NY)

76. Healthfirst (New York, NY)

77. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota* (Eagan, MN)

208. Blue Cross of Idaho (Meridian, ID)

213. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Boston, MA)

217. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama (Birmingham, AL)

243. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield* (Des Moines, IA)

252. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (Topeka, KS)

307. WPS Health Solutions (Madison, WI)

398. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, LA)

*Denotes Advisory Board member