More than 100 health systems, pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare organizations landed on Forbes‘ 2026 list of America’s Best Employers for Women.
The ninth annual ranking, published Aug. 4 and produced by Forbes in partnership with market research firm Statista, is based on survey responses from more than 146,000 women working at U.S. companies that employ at least 1,000 people.
Women make up nearly 80% of the healthcare workforce, according to research cited by Forbes, and the industry has been a major driver of women’s overall labor force gains — the U.S. gender employment gap, which stood at nearly 7 million jobs in men’s favor in the early 1990s, has closed entirely. Even so, the gender pay gap has narrowed only slightly: a Pew Research Center analysis found women earned 85% of what men did in 2024, up from 81% in 2003, according to Forbes.
Survey participants were asked how likely they were to recommend their current and previous employers, and whether they would recommend employers they know through their industry or through friends and family. Respondents also rated employers on pay equity, career development, parental leave, work-life balance, benefits for childcare or eldercare, and how companies handled incidents related to sexual misconduct and discrimination.
The 700 companies with the highest combined scores made the final list. Companies do not pay to be considered or included. Read more about the methodology here.
Here are the organizations included in the healthcare and social services; drugs and biotechnology; and medical equipment and services categories, along with their rank out of 700 and headquarters city:
Note: Epic and Oracle were included under the IT software and services category but added because of their healthcare focus.
2. Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.)
8. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
13. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City)
16. North Oaks Health System (Hammond, La.)
18. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston)
19. Hurley Medical Center (Flint, Mich.)
23. Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.)
27. Norton Healthcare (Louisville, Ky.)
28. Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System
30. University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medicine
37. Amedisys (Baton Rouge, La.)
39. Cincinnati Children’s
47. AbbVie (North Chicago, Ill.)
51. UC Davis Health (Sacramento, Calif.)
54. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health
63. Align Technology (Tempe, Ariz.)
72. UNC Health (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
76. Houston Methodist
77. University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson, Miss.)
84. Medtronic (Minneapolis)
94. AstraZeneca (Wilmington, Del.)
98. Cedars-Sinai Health System (Los Angeles)
105. Home Instead (Omaha, Neb.)
106. Takeda Pharmaceutical (Lexington, Mass.)
108. Eli Lilly and Co. (Indianapolis)
110. Denver Health
112. Pfizer (New York City)
115. Cook Children’s Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas)
117. Hoag (Newport Beach, Calif.)
120. University of Virginia Health System (Charlottesville, Va.)
121. Mercy Medical Center (Baltimore)
131. Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio)
134. Roche Holding (Indianapolis)
140. Texas Health Resources (Arlington, Texas)
141. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Buffalo, N.Y.)
144. Arkansas Children’s Hospital (Little Rock, Ark.)
146. HealthPartners (Bloomington, Minn.)
153. Myriad Genetics (Salt Lake City)
154. Novartis (East Hanover, N.J.)
161. Boston Scientific (Marlborough, Mass.)
162. South Shore Hospital (Weymouth, Mass.)
165. University of Tennessee Medical Center (Knoxville, Tenn.)
167. Inspira Health Network (Mullica Hill, N.J.)
169. ChristianaCare (Newark, Del.)
170. Covenant HealthCare (Saginaw, Mich.)
173. Mayo Clinic Health System (Rochester, Minn.)
180. WakeMed (Raleigh, N.C.)
182. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Boston)
185. Methodist Health System, Nebraska (Omaha, Neb.)
186. BJC Healthcare (St. Louis)
187. NKC Health Hospital (Kansas City, Mo.)
188. Bayer (Whippany, N.J.)
201. Reliant Rehabilitation (Plano, Texas)
206. Cooper University Health Care (Camden, N.J.)
207. GSK (Philadelphia)
209. UMass Memorial Health (Worcester, Mass.)
210. Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital
215. Zoetis (Parsippany-Troy Hills, N.J.)
225. Baptist Health (Montgomery, Ala.)
227. UW Medicine (Seattle)
230. The MetroHealth System (Cleveland)
235. Natera (Austin, Texas)
238. Fred Hutch Cancer Center (Seattle)
239. Genentech (South San Francisco, Calif.)
245. Cleveland Clinic
263. Noridian (Fargo, N.D.)
270. Teladoc Health (New York City)
274. Arthrex (Naples, Fla.)
288. CSL (King of Prussia, Pa.)
289. Bio-Techne (Minneapolis)
295. Dentsply Sirona (York, Pa.)
300. Abbott Laboratories (Chicago)
308. Tempus (Chicago)
311. Medpace CRO (Cincinnati)
321. McKesson (Irving, Texas)
329. Charles River Labs (Wilmington, Mass.)
330. Bristol Myers Squibb (New York City)
347. Cardinal Health (Dublin, Ohio)
371. National Vision (Duluth, Ga.)
385. CareCentrix (Tampa, Fla.)
393. Amgen (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
402. Merck & Co. (Kenilworth, N.J.)
424. Datavant (San Francisco)
459. Eversana (Chicago)
463. Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Mass.)
489. Biogen (Cambridge, Mass.)
511. Labcorp Holdings (Burlington, N.C.)
520. Oracle (Redwood Shores, Calif.)
539. athenahealth (Watertown, Mass.)
547. Baxter International (Deerfield, Ill.)
570. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, N.Y.)
573. Novo Nordisk (Plainsboro, N.J.)
587. Veradigm (Chicago)
589. Smith & Nephew (Watford, UK)
599. Epic (Verona, Wis.)
606. ICU Medical (San Clemente, Calif.)
610. Gainwell Technologies (Conway, Ark.)
617. Philips (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
638. Quest Diagnostics (Secaucus, N.J.)
643. Siemens Healthineers (Erlangen, Germany)
658. Moderna (Cambridge, Mass.)
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