12 from region on Forbes best employers lists, including No. 1 spot

For the past 10 years, Forbes has been ranking America’s best large and midsize employers, and this year a dozen organizations in the region made the list — including one that secured a top spot. Shriners Hospitals for Children, based in Tampa, ranked No. 1 among the best midsize employers, climbing from No. 12 in last year’s rankings, according to the publication.

One area employer — Lakeland-based Publix — has been on Forbes' Best Large Employers list every year since the publication began the tradition a decade ago. It was among 77 employers recognized for being among America’s Best Employers all 10 years the list has been in existence, joining companies like Coca-Cola, Ford Motor, Google, Meta, State Farm and Walt Disney.

To compile the 2025 rankings, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey 217,000 employees, who were asked to rate their employers across criteria like salary, work environment, training and advancement opportunities, as well as whether they would recommend working there. New survey data was analyzed along with responses from the last three years, with recent information weighted more heavily, to determine the rankings.

Organizations with more than 5,000 employees were classified as large employers, while those with 1,000 to 5,000 workers were categorized as midsize.

Companies in the region that made the list of America’s Best Large Employers include:

• Raymond James Financial of St. Petersburg, with 18,000 employees, ranked No. 10.
• Publix Super Markets of Lakeland, which has 253,000 employees, came in at No. 96.
• University of South Florida of Tampa, which employs about 16,000, was No. 101.
• Tampa General Hospital, with 8,815 employees, ranked No. 148.

Companies in the region that made the list of America’s Best Midsize Employers include:

• Shriners Hospitals for Children of Tampa has 1,500 employees and ranked No .1.
• Velera of St. Petersburg has 5,000 employees and ranked No. 35.
• Zenith American Solutions of Tampa, with 1,750 employees, came in at No. 169.
• TECO Energy of Tampa ranked No. 199. Its employee count was not listed.
• Pinellas County, based in Clearwater with 3,000 employees, was No. 229.
• CareCentrix of Tampa, which has 1,740 employees, came in at No. 235.
• Arthrex of Naples, which has 4,700 employees, ranked No. 419.
• AmeriLife of Clearwater was No. 454 on the list. Its employee count was not provided.

There were 498 organizations on Forbes' Best Midsize Employers list and 701 organizations on the Best Large Employers list.