In-N-Out, Trader Joes named among best employers in California: See the list

LOS ANGELES - California favorites In-N-Out Burger and Trader Joe's are featured on Forbes's annual list of America's Best Employers By State.

America’s Best-In-State Employers 2025

What we know:

To create its seventh annual list of best employers, Forbes partnered with Statista to survey over 160,000 employees of more than 2,500 companies from all 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C. 

Employees rated their employers on a scale of 0-10 and evaluated them based on factors such as work culture, wage parity, professional advancement, and a company’s response to sexual harassment. 

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The survey also included evaluations of previous and well-known employers in their industry. 

The scores were then tallied with data from the past three years, with greater weight given to recent data and feedback from current employees. Based on the scores, companies with the highest rankings were included on state-specific lists.

Local perspective:

The top employer in California, according to the list, was Progressive Insurance, which is based in Ohio. California had over 100 employers on the list.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California is among the highest hourly earners, with an average of $41.02.

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10 Best Employers in California

By the numbers:

1. Progressive Insurance
2. In-N-Out Burger
3. Ford Motors
4. Microsoft
5. Google
6. Stanford University Education
7. Trader Joe's
8. NVIDIA
9. Apple
10. University of California, San Diego

To see the full list of best employers across the U.S., tap or click here.