Best Employers In Virginia, DC: Forbes List For 2019

MCLEAN, VA — Forbes has released a new list that identifies the best employers in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Unlike Forbes’ annual list of the best employers in the country, the business magazine's first best employers by state feature consists of a unique list for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the DC/northern Virginia region, several school districts and colleges, along with health systems, led local employers on the list.

Still, Forbes writes that some employers took the No. 1 spot on many state lists. Costco Wholesale and Google took the most No. 1 spots, according to Forbes. Boeing also featured in more than one No. 1 spot, Forbes writes.

Two federal government agencies, the United States Department of Defense and the Department of Veteran Affairs, ranked on a number of state lists despite not being ranked nationally by Forbes.

According to Forbes, the best Virginia employers, number of employees nationally, and their headquarters are:

1. University of Virginia, 30,000, Charlottesville, Virginia
2. Google, 80,110, Mountain View, California
3. Huntington Ingalls Industries, 40,000, Newport News, Virginia
4. Kaiser Permanente, 217,173, Oakland, California
5. Apple, 80,000, Cupertino, California
6. Raytheon, 63,000, Waltham, Massachusetts
7. Navy Federal Credit Union, 17,000, Vienna, Virginia
8. VCU Health, NA, Richmond, Virginia
9. Altria Group, 8,300, Richmond, Virginia
10. CarMax, 25,110, Richmond, Virginia
11. James Madison University, 1,375, Harrisonburg, Virginia
12. Fairfax County Public Schools, 24,137, Falls Church, Virginia
13. Capital One Financial, 42,685, McLean, Virginia
14. Amazon, 563,100, Seattle, Washington
15. IBM, 366,000, Armonk, New York
16. TJX Companies, 249,000, Framingham, Massachusetts
17. Cisco Systems, 37,800, San Jose, California
18. Hanover County Public Schools, NA, Ashland, Virginia
19. Arlington Public Schools, NA, Arlington, Virginia
20. Northrop Grumman, 70,000, Falls Church, Virginia
21. Merck, 26,700, Kenilworth, New Jersey
22. Inova Health System, NA, Falls Church, Virginia
23. United States Department of Defense, 2,870,000, Arlington County, Virginia
24. Commonwealth of Virginia, NA, Richmond, Virginia
25. MillerCoors, 4,500, Chicago, Illinois
26. Bwx Technologies, 6,250, Lynchburg, Virginia
27. Abbott Laboratories, 99,000, Abbott Park, Illinois
28. Bon Secours Health System, 57,000, Marriottsville, Maryland
29. Anthem, 58,000, Indianapolis, Indiana
30. Target, 345,000, Minneapolis, Minnesota
31. Prince William County Public Schools, NA, Manassas, Virginia
32. Deloitte, 84,890, New York, New York
33. Marriott International, 133,238, Bethesda, Maryland
34. Starbucks, 185,000, Seattle, Washington
35. Sentara Healthcare, 28,000, Norfolk, Virginia
36. CACI International, 18,800, Arlington, Virginia
37. Nestle, 48,000, Glendale, California
38. Department of Commerce, 46,608, Washington, District of Columbia
39. Wawa, 30,000, Wawa, Pennsylvania
40. Lowe's, 290,000, Mooresville, North Carolina
41. Ferguson Enterprises, 27,000, Newport News, Virginia
42. AT&T, 254,000, Dallas, Texas
43. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 13,000, Blacksburg, Virginia
44. PricewaterhouseCoopers, 250,930, New York, New York
45. Walgreens Boots Alliance, 354,000, Deerfield, Illinois
46. Hilton, 163,000, McLean, Virginia
47. Loudoun County Public Schools, NA, Ashburn, Virginia
48. Best Buy, 125,000, Richfield, Minnesota
49. Centra Health, 8,500, Lynchburg, Virginia
50. Panda Express, 27,000, Rosemead, California
51. Lockheed Martin, 105,000, Bethesda, Maryland
52. Century 21 Real Estate, 128,000, Madison, New Jersey
53. Volvo Group, 100,000, Greensboro, North Carolina
54. BB&T, NA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
55. Walt Disney, 199,000, Burbank, California
56. Ahold USA, 372,000, Quincy, Massachusetts
57. Chesterfield County Public Schools, NA, Chesterfield County, Virginia
58. McKesson, 78,000, San Francisco, California
59. George Mason University, 1,470, Fairfax, Virginia
60. Fairfax County, 12,000, Fairfax, Virginia
61. American National Red Cross, 23,000, Washington, District of Columbia
62. Henrico County Public Schools, NA, Henrico, Virginia
63. Trader Joe's, NA, Monrovia, California
64. Bed Bath & Beyond, 65,000, Union, New Jersey
65. Arlington County, 3,700, Arlington, Virginia
66. SAP, 94,989, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
67. Suffolk Public Schools, 2,088, Suffolk, Virginia
68. UnitedHealth Group, 260,000, Minnetonka, Minnesota
69. Advance Auto Parts, 71,000, Roanoke, Virginia
70. Food Lion, 63,000, Salisbury, North Carolina
71. FedEx, 425,000, Memphis, Tennessee
72. BH Media Group, NA Omaha, Nebraska
73. County of Chesterfield, NA, Chesterfield, Virginia
74. College of William and Mary, 2,240, Williamsburg, Virginia
75. Verizon Communications, 155,400, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
76. AECOM, 87,000, Los Angeles, California
77. Arby's,80,000, Atlanta, Georgia
78. Jacobs Engineering, 74,400, Dallas, Texas
79. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, 29,349, Greenwood Village, Colorado
80. Riverside Health System, 2,900, Newport News, Virginia
81. CHS - Community Health Systems, 87,000, Franklin, Tennessee
82. General Dynamics, 98,800, Falls Church, Virginia
83. HCA Healthcare, NA, Nashville, Tennessee
84. Bank of America, 209,000, Charlotte, North Carolina
85. Leidos, 31,000, Reston, Virginia
86. Booz Allen Hamilton, 24,225,McLean, Virginia

According to Forbes, the best District of Columbia employers, number of employees nationally, and their headquarters are:

1. Smithsonian Institution, 6,833, Washington, District of Columbia
2. United States Department of Defense, 2,870,000, Arlington County, Virginia
3. United States Department of Labor, 5,801, Washington, District of Columbia
4. The Washington Post, NA, Washington, DC, District of Columbia
5. U.S. Department of Energy, 14,681, Washington, District of Columbia
6. Department of State, 69,000, Washington, District of Columbia
7. Georgetown University, 2,573, Washington, District of Columbia
8. Safeway, NA, Pleasonton, California
9. Department of the Interior, 70,000, Washington, District of Columbia

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 via Forbes)

You can see the full list and read more about the rankings via Forbes.