Best Employers In Illinois: New Forbes List

ILLINOIS — Forbes has released a new list that identifies the best employers in Illinois. The best employer in Illinois is Northwestern Medicine, Forbes said.

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 best Illinois employers are:

1. Northwestern Medicine
2. Trader Joe's
3. Microsoft
4. Township High School District 211
5. Discover Financial Services
6. Costco Wholesale
7. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
8. Exelon
9. Google
10. U.S. Cellular
11. Apple
12. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago
13. Department of Veterans Affairs
14. Boeing
15. Meijer
16. Ulta Beauty
17. Abbott Laboratories
18. Hilton
19. North American Lighting
20. United States Department of Defense
21. Diageo
22. Snap-on
23. Indian Prairie School District 204
24. The Center for Innovative & Lifelong Learning
25. Starbucks
26. CIBC Bank USA
27. Northwestern University
28. Mars
29. ALDI
30. Fellowes Brands
31. Packaging Corp of America
32. Ford Motor
33. Wintrust
34. Southern Illinois Healthcare
35. Accenture
36. Marriott International
37. JLL
38. State Farm
39. Nordstrom
40. Best Buy
41. Continental
42. IBM
43. FedEx
44. AutoZone
45. CDW
46. COUNTRY Financial
47. Allstate
48. Deloitte
49. Loyola University Chicago
50. Argonne National Laboratory
51. Deere & Company
52. SSM Health
53. NorthShore University HealthSystem
54. Northrop Grumman
55. First Midwest Bank
56. H&R Block
57. Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois)
58. Cintas
59. YMCA of the USA
60. University of Illinois, Chicago
61. BJC HealthCare
62. PepsiCo
63. Mario Tricoci
64. OSF HealthCare
65. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
66. Red Lobster
67. Kohl's
68. Beam Suntory
69. Township High School District 214
70. AbbVie
71. Travelers
72. Northern Trust
73. Genuine Parts
74. U.S. Bank
75. Aon
76. Health Care Service Corporation
77. Hyatt Hotels
78. University of Illinois
79. Honeywell International
80. Linde
81. Home Depot
82. Help At Home
83. DuPage Medical Group
84. Ace Hardware
85. University of Chicago
86. Medline Industries
87. Baxter International
88. Hospital Sisters Health System
89. Chicago Transit Authority
90. Advocate Health Care
91. CBRE Group
92. Advocate Aurora Health
93. Advance Auto Parts
94. Yum! Brands
95. JPMorgan Chase
96. PricewaterhouseCoopers
97. Waste Management
98. Caterpillar
99. Barnes & Noble
100. Lettuce Entertain You

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.