LinkedIn’s First-Ever Top Companies: City Edition Reveals Where Career Growth Is Accelerating

Published on Jun 2, 2026 Categories: Data and insights

Key Insights

The lists spotlight where career growth is accelerating at the local level and how opportunity is evolving across cities.
From healthcare in Boston to aerospace and entertainment in Los Angeles, the rankings show how different cities are emerging around distinct industries and career opportunities.

Career Growth Is Going Local

LinkedIn released its first “Top Companies: City Edition” report, showing that job markets across major U.S. cities are becoming more specialized — with AI security jobs growing in New York, aerospace expanding in Los Angeles, and energy innovation booming in Houston — as workers seek career opportunities and trends tailored to their local markets.

LinkedIn’s Top Companies expands beyond national rankings to spotlight the best workplaces for career growth across major global cities — including 10 leading U.S. hubs: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The lists evaluate companies on key pillars like skills development, internal mobility and career progression, giving professionals a closer look at where opportunity is growing near them. The rankings also spotlight:

The industries driving growth in each city
The companies hiring now and investing in talent
How professionals can identify opportunities in their local market

“The future of work isn't unfolding the same way everywhere. Cities are becoming more specialized, with different industries driving hiring, innovation, and career growth," says Andrew Seaman, Editor at Large for Job Search & Careers, LinkedIn News. "Top Companies: City Edition gives professionals a clearer view of the employers and opportunities shaping their local job market, while helping them make more informed career decisions close to home.”

As work changes, career growth is becoming more closely tied to the strength of local industries, opportunities, and professional networks. From established industry strongholds to emerging innovation corridors, companies are creating opportunities that reflect the unique economic and talent strengths of each city.

What the Lists Reveal About Local Economies

More than rankings, these lists offer a real-time snapshot of the world of work across America’s biggest metro areas — highlighting the employers, industries and trends shaping local career growth.

Atlanta: The Home Depot, The Coca-Cola Company and Delta Air Lines highlight the city’s strength in retail, consumer goods and global transportation.
Boston: A major healthcare hub led by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Takeda, Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, alongside financial giants Fidelity Investments and State Street.
Chicago: Corporate heavyweights AbbVie, McDonald's and United Airlines come out on top while Accenture, PwC and JPMorgan Chase reinforce its finance and consulting strength.
Dallas: Telecom, aviation and finance drive growth, with AT&T, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, Citi and Bank of America fueling the region’s rising “Y’all Street” reputation.
Houston: Energy dominates with Shell, ExxonMobil and Venture Global LNG, while Sysco and UTHealth Houston expand the city’s healthcare and logistics footprint.
Los Angeles: Entertainment meets aerospace with The Walt Disney Company, Northrop Grumman, Anduril Industries and Vast driving next-generation defense and space innovation.
New York: Financial services leaders American Express, Citi and Bank of America dominate, while Cyera highlights rapid growth in AI and cybersecurity roles.
Philadelphia: Healthcare and biotech remain central, led by Merck, GSK and Incyte, alongside finance players Vanguard and Citadel Credit Union.
San Francisco: The innovation economy powers the city through Salesforce, NVIDIA, Google and Apple, with biotech and AI healthcare companies like Gilead Sciences and Abridge also gaining ground.
Washington, D.C.: Government, finance and tech converge with Capital One, Marriott International, Freddie Mac, The World Bank and Microsoft as AI and cybersecurity investment accelerates.

For more insights and to join the conversation on LinkedIn:

Explore the Top Companies city edition list in your city: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Brazil, France, Germany, India, Spain and the UK.

Methodology

Our methodology uses LinkedIn data to rank companies based on eight pillars that have been shown to lead to career progression: ability to advance; skills growth; company stability; external opportunity; company affinity; gender diversity; educational background and employee presence in the city. Ability to advance tracks employee promotions within a company and when they move to a new company, based on standardized job titles. Skills growth looks at how employees across the company are gaining skills while employed at the company, using standardized LinkedIn skills. Company stability tracks attrition over the past year, as well as the percentage of employees that stay at the company at least three years. External opportunity looks at Recruiter outreach across employees at the company, signaling demand for workers coming from these companies. Company affinity, which seeks to measure how supportive a company’s culture is, looks at connection volume on LinkedIn among employees, controlled for company size. Gender diversity measures gender parity within a company. Educational background examines the variety of educational attainment among employees, from no degree up to Ph.D. levels, reflecting a commitment to recruiting a wide range of professionals. Finally, employee presence in the city looks at the company’s number of employees in the city relative to other companies, as a means of capturing companies that provide a diverse work environment and more opportunities for career advancement and networking.

To be eligible, companies must have had at least 250 global employees with at least 100 in the city as of Dec. 31, 2025. Attrition can be no higher than 10% over the methodology time period, based on LinkedIn data. Similarly, organizations that have had layoffs of 10% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between Jan. 1, 2025 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets. While our annual Top Companies list includes only parent companies (data on majority-owned subsidiaries are incorporated into the parent company score), the city lists separate out subsidiaries from their parent companies. The methodology time frame is Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2025. This analysis represents the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data, drawn from the anonymized and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn's members around the world.

We exclude all staffing and recruiting firms, educational institutions and government agencies. We also exclude LinkedIn and Deloitte, which is Microsoft’s independent third-party auditor, from the list.