14 Triangle companies rank among nation’s best places to work. See Forbes’ list
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- Forbes and Statista surveyed more than 217,000 workers to rank companies.
- In the Triangle, Duke University Health System ranked highest among large employers.
- Cary-based Epic Games was named the top midsize company in the Triangle.
North Carolina is brimming with businesses — but which are the best for workers?
More than a dozen Raleigh-area companies rank among the nation’s best employers. To create the rankings, the business website Forbes said it teamed up with researchers at Statista to conduct an online survey of more than 217,000 workers.
“Survey respondents were asked if they would recommend their employer to others and to rate it based on a range of criteria, including wages, work-life balance, leadership training and opportunities to advance. Participants were also asked if they would recommend their previous employers” as well as other companies they know about, Forbes wrote in a Tuesday, Feb. 10 report.
Best large companies to work for in the Raleigh area
On the resulting lists of top employers, Forbes considered large companies to be places with more than 5,000 workers.
The Triangle business that earned the top spot was Duke University Health System, which ranked No. 105. The Durham-based employer has roughly 26,000 full-time workers, according to its website.
Here’s how other large Triangle-based companies fared among the top 700 in the United States:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at No. 129
- Duke University in Durham at No. 175
- N.C. State University in Raleigh at No. 177
- First Citizens Bank in Raleigh at No. 204
- Lenovo in Morrisville at No. 224
- Butterball in Garner at No. 280
- Sunstates Security in Raleigh at No. 308
- SAS Institute in Cary at No. 556
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina in Durham at No. 593
- SASR Workforce Solutions in Raleigh at No. 623
Best midsize companies to work for
Forbes also named the nation’s best midsize companies, defined as places with 1,000 to 5,000 workers.
The top-ranking Raleigh-area business in this category was Epic Games in Cary, which landed at No. 17 out of 500. The company developed the massively world-famous video game Fortnite, which had more than 800 million user accounts as of 2024, The News & Observer previously reported.
Here’s where other Triangle employers landed among the top 500:
- City of Durham at No. 215
- Bell and Howell in Durham at No. 369
Best company to work for?
Across the country, Forbes said the best large employer was California-based grocery store chain Trader Joe’s.
The top-ranked midsize company was Toll Brothers, a home builder headquartered in Pennsylvania.
