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15 Dallas-Fort Worth companies promoted as best large employers in U.S. by Forbes

Heathcare organizations made up 20 percent of the top 100 employers on Forbes' list.

Attention to all those seeking a career in the medical industry: Dallas' University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has been named the second best large employer in Texas, and No. 19 best employer in America, according to Forbes’ 2023 report.

Healthcare organizations are the shining stars in this year’s report; they represented 20 percent of the top 100 employers. Houston Methodist made some major improvements within the span of a year to earn its title as the best large employer in the state and No. 2 spot overall in the report, after it was ranked No. 37 in Forbes' 2022 report.

Last year, UT Southwestern ranked No. 9 in the country.

To determine their 2023 rankings, Forbes partnered with consumer data and statistics firm Statista to survey 45,000 employees at companies with a staff of 5,000 or more. The full list categorized 500 of America’s large employers that earned the most recommendations.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area had the most employers make Forbes’ list, with 14 companies making an appearance after UT Southwestern Medical Center’s No. 19 ranking. Four are based in Plano, two from Irving, one from Fort Worth, and one from Grand Prairie.

Dallas-Fort Worth area companies on Forbes’ list include:

No. 70 – Southwest Airlines
No. 83 – Topgolf
No. 164 – McKesson, based in Irving
No. 188 – Toyota North America, based in Plano
No. 250 – Jacobs Engineering
No. 268 – Texas Instruments
No. 339 – ExxonMobil, based in Irving
No. 369 – CBRE Group
No. 376 – American Airlines Group, based in Fort Worth
No. 400 – Aimbridge Hospitality, based in Plano
No. 403 – NTT Data, based in Plano
No. 410 – Republic National Distributing Company, based in Grand Prairie
No. 430 – AT&T
No. 497 – Crossmark, based in Plano

Other Houston-area companies on the list after Houston Methodist include:

No. 210 – Shell
No. 289 – Schlumberger, based in Sugar Land
No. 341 – BP
No. 383 – Sysco
No. 421 – Waste Management
No. 479 – Air Liquide

Elsewhere in Texas, San Antonio had a top 10 contender on Forbes’ report for best employers: none other than Texas’ signature grocery store H-E-B. Other San Antonio companies that were ranked include United Services Automobile Association (USAA) at No. 42 and Whataburger at No. 493.

In Austin, five employers earned spots in Forbes' rankings:

No. 77 – Dell Technologies, based in Round Rock
No. 96 – Keller Williams Realty
No. 121 – University of Texas at Austin
No. 306 – Whole Foods Market
No. 454 – McLane Company, based in Temple

The full rankings and its methodology can be found at forbes.com.

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entrepreneurship starts here

Dallas leads on 2026 list of the best big cities to start a business

Photo by Gabriel Tovar on Unsplash

Dallas ranked 11th in the U.S. in 2026, and previously ranked 16th in 2025.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is showing its strong entrepreneurial spirit after Dallas and five of its neighbors appeared on WalletHub's new list of the best large U.S. cities for starting a business in 2026. Dallas leads the charge in North Texas as the No. 11 best city nationwide.

The annual report compared 100 U.S. cities based on 19 relevant metrics across three key dimensions: business environment, access to resources, and costs. Factors that were analyzed include five-year business survival rates, job growth comparisons from 2020 and 2024, population growth of working-age individuals aged 16-64, office space affordability, and more.

Florida cities locked out the top five best places in America for starting a new business: Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Hialeah, and St. Petersburg.

Dallas' business environment ranked as the fifth-best in the country, and the city ranked 45th for its "access to resources," and 64th in the "business costs" category. Dallas also topped a separate ranking of cities with the longest average workweeks nationwide.

Here's how Dallas compared in some of the other rankings in the study:

No. 24 – Numerical small business growth
No. 29 – Financing accessibility
No. 40 – Labor costs
No. 55 – Cost of living

Elsewhere in North Texas, Irving ranked No. 16 nationally, followed by Arlington (No. 23), Fort Worth (No. 30), Plano, (No. 35), and Garland (No. 65).

Earlier this year, WalletHub declared Texas the third-best state for starting a business in 2026, and several DFW cities have seen robust growth after being recognized among the top 20 best career hotspots in the U.S. WalletHub also ranked Plano the 7th best U.S. city for finding a job.

Only seven other Texas cities earned spots in the report: Austin (No. 24), Houston (No. 26), Lubbock (No. 36), Corpus Christi (No. 39), San Antonio (No. 64), El Paso (No. 67), and Laredo (No. 76).

Austin tied with Boise, Idaho and Fresno, California for the highest average growth in the number of small businesses nationally, while Corpus Christi and Laredo topped a separate list of the U.S. cities with the most accessible financing.

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