These Are The Top 10 Employers In IL In Forbes Ranking

ILLINOIS — The best employer in Illinois is Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, according to a new Forbes ranking released Thursday.

Forbes’ 2025 ranking of America’s Best Employers By State is based on surveys of more 169,000 employees who work for a company of at least 500 within the United States.

They were asked on a scale of zero to 10 how likely they were to recommend their current employer, and also evaluate their workplace on such things as wages, parity, work culture, and paths to professional advancement, and whether their employer takes action on serious issues, such as sexual harassment.

The survey, conducted by market research firm Statista, also asked respondents to evaluate other recent employers and organizations they knew through their industry or through family and friends who work there.

The top 10 companies in Illinois are:

1. Southwest Airlines (Transportation and Logistics), Dallas, Texas, founded in 1967
2. Apple (Semiconductors, Electronics, Electrical Engineering), Cupertino, California, 1976
3. Google (IT Software and Services), Mountain View, California, 1998
4. Fidelity Investments (Banking and Financial Systems), Boston, Massachusetts, 1946
5. University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority (Healthcare and Social Services), Madison, Wisconsin, 1924
6. Costco Wholesale (Retail and Wholesale), Issaquah, Washington, 1983
7. Salesforce (IT Software and Services), San Francisco, California, 1999
8. Silver Cross Hospital (Healthcare and Social Services), New Lenox, Illinois, 1895
9. IBM (IT Software and Services), Armonk, New York, 1911
10. Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System (Healthcare and Social Services), Mattoon, Illinois, 1977

The rankings are based on four years of survey data. Greater weight was given to the more recent data and to the responses from current employees within the state, Forbes said. Companies that received the highest scores in each state made Forbes’ final lists.

As in other years, companies in the health care, social services and education industries dominated the list. But employers from other industries were also prominent in multiple states, including retail giant Amazon (ranked in 33 states), transportation and logistics provider United Parcel Service (ranked in 25 states) and Bank of America (ranked in 25 states), according to Forbes.

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