California's Best Employers: New Forbes List

CALIFORNIA — Forbes has released a new list that identifies the best employers in California and across the country.

Californians say the best employer in the Golden State is Atlanta's Delta Air Lines, Forbes said.

And if the Forbes list is any indication, the cheeseburgers at Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger may be as good as the company itself, which was ranked as the second-best California employer.

Costco Wholesale and ConocoPhillips were the only companies taking the No. 1 spot in more than one state, according to Forbes. Among the companies that appear in the top 100 in many states include FedEx, which appears in 27 states, and Amazon, which appears in 23.

School districts and colleges hold the top spot in eight states. Hospitals and health care systems were the top employers in five states.

According to Forbes, the 40 best California employers are:

1. Delta Air Lines
2. In-N-Out Burger
3. Costco Wholesale
4. Microsoft
5. Long Beach Unified School District
6. Sacramento Municipal Utility District
7. Jet Propulsion Laboratory
8. University of California, Davis
9. Sony
10. Amtrak
11. Loma Linda University Health
12. Hilton
13. Adobe
14. San Diego Zoo
15. Placer County
16. Google
17. Sherwin-Williams
18. Foot Locker
19. Sharp HealthCare
20. First Republic Bank
21. Cisco Systems
22. Boston Scientific
23. California State University, Los Angeles
24. Stanford Health Care
25. WinCo Foods
26. Nissan Motor
27. IKEA
28. Toyota North America
29. Direct Energy
30. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
31. UCSF Medical Center
32. NVIDIA
33. Workday
34. E. & J. Gallo Winery
35. Waste Management
36. Philips
37. NASA
38. Palo Alto Networks
39. Parker-Hannifin
40. Johnson & Johnson

View the rest of the list here.

Forbes said it worked with Statista to come up with the rankings. An anonymous survey consisting of 50,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 500 employees was used to come up with the rankings.

You can read more about the methodology and see the full rankings here.

Here are the best employers in the other 49 states:

Alabama - University of Alabama, Birmingham
Alaska - ConocoPhillips
Arizona - United Services Automobile Association
Arkansas - Entergy
Colorado - Boulder Valley School District
Connecticut - ESPN
Delaware - ChristianaCare
D.C. - Microsoft
Florida - Costco Wholesale
Georgia - Houston County Schools
Hawaii - Marriott International
Idaho - MDU Resources Group
Illinois - Northwestern Medicine
Indiana - Salesforce.com
Iowa - Principal Financial Group
Kansas - Blue Valley Schools
Kentucky - Fayette County Public Schools
Louisiana - Stuller
Maine - L.L. Bean
Maryland - Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Massachusetts - Boston Children’s Hospital
Michigan - Grand Valley State University
Minnesota - Presbyterian Homes and Services
Mississippi - Rankin County School District
Missouri - Veterans United
Montana - Costco Wholesale
Nebraska - Lincoln Public Schools
Nevada - Las Vegas Valley Water District
New Hampshire - Southern New Hampshire University
New Jersey - Apple
New Mexico - Home Depot
New York - Amtrak
North Carolina - SAS Institute
North Dakota - United Parcel Service
Ohio - Proctor & Gamble
Oklahoma - ConocoPhillips
Oregon - Alaska Airlines
Pennsylvania - Carnegie Mellon University
Rhode Island - International Game Technology
South Carolina - Southeastern Freight Lines
South Dakota - MidContinent Communications
Tennessee - 3M
Texas - H-E-B
Utah - University of Utah Health Care
Vermont - Middlebury College
Virginia - Raytheon Technologies
Washington - Northern Quest Resort & Casino
West Virginia - Toyota North America
Wisconsin - Prohealth Care
Wyoming - State of Wyoming