Forbes Ranks University Hospitals No. 25 on America’s Dream Employers 2026 List

CLEVELAND -- University Hospitals was ranked No. 25 by Forbes in the magazine’s second-annual America’s Dream Employers ranking. UH is ranked highest in the healthcare & social services category in Ohio and the only employer in the state among the Top 25.

Only 500 employers across the country made the list.

Employers on America’s Dream Employers 2026 list are turning dreams into reality for their workers by offering generous compensation, mission-driven initiatives, challenging assignments and benefits that promote mental wellbeing and flexible schedules, according to Forbes.

“It’s an honor for University Hospitals to be recognized once again as one of America’s Dream Employers by Forbes, employees and college students who aspire to become part of our workforce,” said Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, UH Chief Executive Officer, and Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. “Our more than 33,000 caregivers pride themselves on caring for our community and share in our speak up culture. We’re an organization that values input from our entire workforce, regardless of title, which helps drive outstanding patient care. We are committed to creating a sense of belonging for our employees so that we can retain top talent and recruit new talent to our health system.”

To create list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey 10,000 college students in the United States and 140,000 U.S.-based employees at companies across all sectors that employ a minimum of 1,000 people in the country. Students were asked which employers they considered to be dream employers and to rate how excited they would be to receive an offer from the company. They were also asked how appealing the employer was based on growth opportunities, quality of work, salary and company reputation.

Employee respondents were asked about their dream employers in addition to whether they would recommend their current employer or previous employer (within the past two years). Employees were also asked to evaluate their companies based on certain criteria: wages, health benefits, professional development, working conditions and the ability of employees to express ideas.

Responses were analyzed, and more than 266,000 data points were considered to give each employer a score. The 500 companies with the highest scores made the list.

UH has a robust employee recognition program in which leaders and team members can nominate those who go above and beyond to drive our mission, vision and values.

As Northeast Ohio’s hometown healthcare team and the third-largest healthcare employer in the state, UH works to engage local students early on about career opportunities through youth programs and training camps, so students can learn about the variety of career options in the medical field.

The full list of Dream Employers can be found here.