11 Houston companies named best places to work by U.S. News

Best in the U.S.

Chevron is one of the best places to work. Courtesy photo

Nearly a dozen public and private Houston-based companies have been hailed among the best places to work in 2025 by U.S. News and World Report.

The annual "U.S. News Best Companies to Work For" report examines thousands of publicly-traded companies around the world to determine the best employers based on six metrics including work-life balance and flexibility; quality of pay and benefits; job and company stability; career opportunities and professional development; and more. The companies were not ranked, but included based on reader surveys and publicly available data about each workplace.

New for the 2025-2026 ratings, U.S. News expanded its methodology to include privately owned companies and companies with internship opportunities for recent graduates and new, current, and prospective students. Companies were also grouped into job-specific and industry-specific lists, and the publication also added a new list highlighting "employers that are particularly friendly to employees who are also caregivers in their personal lives."

U.S. News included seven publicly-traded companies and four privately owned companies in Houston on the lists.

Chevron

It may not come as a surprise that oil and gas corporation Chevron landed at the top of the list of top public employers in the Energy Capital of the World. The energy giant currently employs more than 45,000 people, earns $193.47 billion in annual revenue, and has a market cap of $238.74 billion. The company earned high ratings by U.S. News for its job stability, "belongingness," and quality of pay.

Chevron also appeared in U.S. News' industry-specific "Best in Energy and Resources" list, the "Best Companies in the South" list, and the "Best for Internships" list.

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)

In the category of privately held companies headquartered in Houston, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) landed on top as one of the best employers thanks to its employee work-life balance, job stability, and quality of pay. U.S. News estimates ABS has between 5,000 and 10,000 employees, and generated between $1 billion to $10 billion in revenue in 2024.

This engineering and construction company was founded in 1862, and describes itself as "a global leader in providing classification services for marine and offshore assets."

"Our mission is to serve the public interest as well as the needs of our members and clients by promoting the security of life and property and preserving the natural environment," the company website says.

In addition to earning a place among U.S. News' overall "Best Companies" list, ABS also appeared in the "Best in Engineering and Construction" list.

Other top companies to work for in Houston include:

  • Calpine – Best in Energy and Resources; Best Companies (overall)
  • ConocoPhillips – Best in Energy and Resources; Best Companies (overall); Best in Caregiving; Best Companies in the South
  • Hines – Best in Real Estate and Facilities Management; Best Companies (overall)
  • Insperity, Kingwood – Best in Healthcare and Research; Best Companies (overall); Best in Caregiving; Best Companies in the South
  • KBR – Best in Engineering and Construction; Best Companies (overall); Best Companies in the South
  • Men's Warehouse – Best in Consumer Products; Best Companies (overall)
  • Occidental – Best in Energy and Resources; Best Companies (overall); Best Companies in the South
  • PROS – Best in Information Technology; Best Companies (overall); Best Companies in the South
  • Skyward Specialty Insurance – Best in Finance and Insurance; Best Companies (overall); Best Companies in the South
"'Best' is a subjective term relative to career satisfaction, and many aspects factor into someone’s decision to apply for a job with any given company," U.S. News said. "But some universally desired factors can contribute to a good workplace, such as quality pay, good work-life balance, and opportunities for professional development and advancement.

Other top Texas employers

In all, 30 employers headquartered in the Lone Star State made it onto U.S. News' 2025-2026 "Best Places to Work For" lists. Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area tied for the most employers make the list, at 11 companies each. Diamondback Energy in Midland was the only company from West Texas to make it on the list for the second year in a row.

The best places to work for across Dallas-Fort Worth:

  • Aimbridge Hospitality, Plano
  • Ben E. Keith, Fort Worth
  • Coach America, Grand Prairie
  • Digital Realty, Dallas
  • Freeman, Dallas
  • Integrity Marketing Group, Dallas
  • Lincoln Property Company, Dallas
  • RGP, Dallas
  • Sammons Enterprises, Dallas
  • Texas Instruments, Dallas
  • Veritex Community Bank, Dallas

The top companies to work for in Austin:

  • Cirrus Logic
  • Dell Technologies, Round Rock
  • Silicon Labs
  • Yeti

The top companies to work for in San Antonio:

  • Frost Bank
  • H-E-B
  • Sachry Group
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

From Your Site Articles
Three Houston companies made Fortune's list of best places for millennials. Photo by Katya Horner

Houston energy company with big perks named among best workplaces for millennials

Young life

When it comes to keeping young professionals happy in the workplace, Houston is doing a bang-up job — some companies more than others. A new report released by Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work finds three Houston companies, and a total of 11 Texas companies, among the top 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials 2018.

Making the national list is Hilcorp Energy Company, an organization known for giving its employees huge bonuses, such as $100,000 in 2015 and $50,000 toward a new car in 2010. The Houston-based company has 93 percent of employees saying their workplace is great, likely because of these aggressive financial incentives, which include a revenue sharing program, a bonus program, "helping hands" community assistance programs, and a generous referral incentive, according to the Fortune piece.

Hilcorp, even with its big perks, isn't actually the top Houston company on the national list. That distinction goes to Houston-based David Weekley Homes. The construction and real estate powerhouse, leads the Texas pack at No. 19. Houston's construction/real estate company Camden Property Trust comes in at No. 94, and manufacturing/production firm Hilcorp appears at No. 95.

More than 434,000 survey respondents from Great Place to Work-Certified companies provided input into this annual list. The study analyzed how millennials rated their organizations on more than 50 different metrics defining great workplaces, such as managers' competence, respect and fairness in the workplace, opportunities for meaningful work, executive leadership, and opportunities to innovate and contribute to the organization's success.

The report also analyzed an index of factors where millennials often lag behind other workers, such as access to meaningful work, fair pay, and plans for a future with their organizations. Companies were evaluated as to whether they were creating great workplaces for all millennials — regardless of who they are or what they do for the organization.

Surveys were anonymous, and companies needed to employ at least 50 millennials to be considered. Employees rated the companies on challenges, atmosphere, rewards, pride, communication, and bosses with a numerical ranking. Here's what made the other Houston companies shine:

David Weekley Homes, where 96 percent of employees say their workplace is great, was lauded for offering an employee's children's scholarship program, product discounts, profit sharing, sabbaticals, and even spiritual assistance.

At Camden, where 92 percent of employees say their workplace is great, employees are given apartment discounts, holiday suites, scholarships, tuition assistance, an aggressive stock purchase plan, and even tickets to hot sporting events.

Elsewhere In Texas, familiar San Antonio insurance/financial service brand USAA (United Services Automobile Association) comes in at No. 40, followed by Dallas professional services firm Ryan, Inc. at No. 44 and Dallas' Prime Lending at No. 58.

Austin is represented by tech firm WP Engine, Inc. at No. 61. Dallas' Encompass Home Health checks in at No. 66, while San Antonio transportation company NuStar Energy L.P. follows at No. 69. Abilene makes an appearance with Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company at No. 92, and rounding out the Texas representation is Arlington's Texas Health Resources, Inc. at No. 96.

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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.

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10 Houston companies clock in with best corporate cultures, says Forbes

Where to Work

Two of Houston's biggest medical institutions – Houston Methodist and MD Anderson Cancer Center – have just landed top-50 spots on Forbes' new ranking of "America's Best Employers for Company Culture." The report highlighted eight more Houston-area companies for their inspiring company culture.

Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey over 218,000 workers at companies with at least 1,000 employees throughout the U.S, and relied on data from the past three years of employee surveys (with an emphasis on the most recent data and recommendations from current employees). Companies don't pay to be included, Forbes additionally noted.

Among the final list of 600 U.S. companies, 30 Texas employers were praised for providing "a unifying company culture that inspires a sense of purpose and loyalty among employees."

Houston Methodist climbed into the No. 15 spot nationally and outranked all other Texas companies on the list, while MD Anderson ranked 47th nationwide. Both institutions have dominated U.S. News' annual rankings of the best Texas hospitals for over a decade, proving exactly how having a great company culture can also improve the service provided to patients.

MD Anderson Cancer Center MD Anderson Cancer Center has been the No. 1 best cancer hospital in the U.S. for over a decade. Photo courtesy of KVUE

According to the report's research, employers with a successful company culture don't rely on "surface-level perks" such as free lunches, wellness apps, and flex days to inspire employee engagement. Instead, employers that focused on conflict resolution and coaching their managers saw a reduction in employee burnout and an increase in "perceptions of fairness and leadership care."

"In fact, the researchers noted that when 'senior leaders changed how they led — how they ran meetings, gave feedback, made decisions and responded to challenge — trust scores rose by an average of 26 percent,'" the report said.

The eight other Houston-area companies that earned national acclaim for their company culture are:

  • No. 220 – Stewart Info Services
  • No. 325 – BP
  • No. 332 – Baylor College of Medicine
  • No. 492 – Chevron Phillips Chemical, The Woodlands
  • No. 525 – Insperity
  • No. 558 – NRG Energy
  • No. 586 – Waste Management
  • No. 593 – LyondellBassell

Other Texas employers with great company culture:

Elsewhere in Texas, 15 North Texas companies and five Central Texas companies were included on Forbes' list of employers with the best company culture.

The three Austin-area companies that earned spots on the list include Austin Community College District (No. 56), Round Rock-based Dell Technologies (No. 207), and Keller Williams Realty (No. 352).

The two San Antonio-based companies that made the cut are beloved Texas grocery chain H-E-B (No. 445), and municipal electric utility company CPS Energy (No. 551).

The 15 Dallas-Fort Worth-based companies that made the list include:

  • No. 58 – The Container Store, Coppell
  • No. 73 – Lewisville Independent School District, Lewisville
  • No. 117 – Southwest Airlines, Dallas
  • No. 123 –Topgolf, Dallas
  • No. 170 – McKesson, Irving
  • No. 190 – Kimberly-Clark, Irving
  • No. 245 – Jacobs Solutions,Dallas
  • No. 312 – Brinker International, Coppell
  • No. 350 – Texas Health Resources, Arlington
  • No. 482 – Toyota North America, Plano
  • No. 562 – Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Dallas
  • No. 567 – AT&T, Dallas
  • No. 569 – Energy Transfer, Dallas
  • No. 591 – American Airlines Group, Fort Worth
  • No. 597 – Aimbridge Hospitality, Plano
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Eli Lilly to build $6.5B pharmaceutical factory at Generation Park

coming soon

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. plans to build a $6.5 billion manufacturing plant at Houston’s Generation Park. More than 300 locations in the U.S. competed for the factory.

The Houston site will be the first major pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Texas, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.

Lilly said it plans to hire 615 full-time workers for the 236-acre plant, including engineers, scientists and lab technicians. The company will collaborate with local colleges and universities to help build its talent pipeline.

The plant will also generate an estimated 4,000 construction jobs.

Lilly said every dollar it spends in the Houston area will contribute an additional $4 to the local economy.

“This is a transformative moment for the Houston region and our life sciences industry,” Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, said in a release. “The Lilly project represents one of the largest for-profit life sciences investments in Texas history and is a powerful endorsement of Houston’s growing position as a global hub for innovation, advanced manufacturing, and biomedical excellence.”

The factory, expected to go online by 2030, will make small-molecule medicines for fields such as oncology, immunology and neuroscience. Perhaps most notably, the site will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly's first oral small-molecule GLP-1 medicine for treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The drug is currently undergoing clinical trials.

“Our new Houston site will enhance Lilly’s ability to manufacture orforglipron at scale and, if approved, help fulfill the medicine’s potential as a metabolic health treatment for tens of millions of people worldwide who prefer the ease of a pill that can be taken without food and water restrictions,” David Ricks, chairman and CEO of Lilly, said in a release.

The company said it chose Generation Park, a 4,300-acre, master-planned commercial district near Lake Houston, because of factors such as financial incentives, access to utilities and transportation, and the region’s business-friendly environment. Generation Park is home to campuses for San Jacinto College and Lone Star College.

The plant will be outfitted with machine learning, AI, advanced data analytics, digital automation, and similar tools to streamline operations, Lilly said.

Houston engineering firm lands $400M NASA contract

space deal

NASA has granted Houston-based Bastion Technologies Inc. the Safety and Mission Assurance II (SMAS II) award with a maximum potential value of $400 million.

The award stipulates that the engineering and technical services company provide safety and mission services for the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, according to a release from NASA.

In the deal, Bastion’s services include system safety, reliability, maintainability, software assurance, quality engineering, independent assessment, institutional safety and pressure systems. Bastion’s work will support research and development projects, hardware fabrication and testing, spaceflight and science missions, and other activities at NASA Marshall, Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and various other sites.

The first base period for the SMASS II award has already begun, with the option for a base ordering period of four years to extend services through March 2034.

Bastion has been a key player in NASA’s Artemis program, and was also awarded a contract to support occupational safety, health and mission assurance at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley in 2024. Also in 2024, Bastion was awarded the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) Environmental, Safety, Health, and Mission Assurance (ESHMA) contract.

Since 1998, Bastion has held over 350 contracts at almost every NASA center and most major aerospace industry partners.

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