Two of the nation’s top 10 ‘dream employers’ are in Washington, Forbes says. Which ones?
If you could work at any company in the nation, which would you choose?
Forbes asked college students and working people around the United States about their dream employers — and two companies with offices in Washington state got a lot of love.
The two tech companies ranked among the top 10 on Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Dream Employers.
Several other Evergreen State employers — in sectors ranging from retail to real estate — also made Forbes’ list, which features 500 companies in all.
Here’s a look at the Washington employers that made Forbes’ list and where they ranked:
Microsoft, Nintendo rank among best places to work
The highest-ranking Washington company on Forbes’ dream employers list was Microsoft, which came in at No. 3.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen started the famed software company in 1975. It’s based in Redmond, about a 15-mile drive northeast from Seattle.
Microsoft has about 126,000 employees, according to Forbes.
The other top-10 employer with Washington ties was Nintendo, which came in at No. 8.
The video game and electronics company was started in 1889 in Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi, and initially made playing cards.
Nintendo of America is headquartered in Redmond.
Nintendo had more than 8,500 employees across the globe as of September, its website said.
What other Washington employers made Forbes’ list?
A total of 10 other Washington employers also made Forbes’ list:
- No. 58, Lululemon Athletica in Sumner
- No. 69, Amazon in Seattle
- No. 172, Blue Origin in Kent
- No. 183, T-Mobile in Bellevue
- No. 282, Costco Wholesale in Issaquah
- No. 289, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman
- No. 298, F5 in Seattle
- No. 316, Zillow in Seattle
- No. 444, TrueBlue in Tacoma
- No. 466, Milliman in Seattle
What are top 10 dream employers in the US?
These were America’s top 10 dream employers for 2026, according to Forbes:
- 1. NVIDIA in Santa Clara, California
- 2. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee
- 3. Microsoft
- 4. Google in Mountain View, California
- 5. Universal Music Group in Santa Monica, California
- 6. IBM in Armonk, New York
- 7. Apple in Cupertino, California
- 8. Nintendo
- 9. LinkedIn in Sunnyvale, California
- 10. Shriners Hospitals for Children in Tampa, Florida
How did Forbes come up with its ranking?
To rank America’s dream employers, Forbes said it surveyed thousands of U.S. college students and workers in partnership with Statista.
“The students were asked which employers they considered to be dream employers and were then asked to rate how excited they would be to receive an offer from the company,” Forbes said in a Nov. 18 report. “Student participants were also asked how appealing the employer was based on criteria including growth opportunities, quality of work, salary and company reputation.”
Employees were asked if they’d recommend their company, and how they’d rate the wages, benefits, working conditions and other factors, according to Forbes. They were also asked about previous employers and about their dream employers.
Data from previous employee surveys with Statista were also included, Forbes said.
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