SurveyMonkey, a “people powered data platform,” in collaboration with Fortune, has released the third edition of its annual U.S. consumer rankings of Fortune 500 companies. Americans were asked to rank the top 75 companies from the list based on their employer appeal, impact on the country and innovation (willingness to change in pursuit of success), among other dimensions.
Following a strong performance in 2017, tech companies occupy half of the top 10 spots in the ranking and continue to be some of the most appealing employers for Americans. Alphabet (Google) rose from #3 on the 2017 list and replaced Microsoft as the company that Americans would be most excited to work for—ranking highly overall with Americans, but also among millennials and people who value diversity the most in an employer. Apple was named the top choice for Americans who value diversity the most in an employer.
Amazon tops the list of companies that care most about their customers. Boeing and Walt Disney Company repeat their appearances among top employers of choice for Americans, with General Electric (#22 in 2017) and Berkshire Hathaway (#27 in 2017) both making big jumps into this year’s top 10 ranking.
Americans still aren’t big fans of banks, brokerages and lenders, with seven of the top 10 companies that have lost ground in the 2018 SurveyMonkey|Fortune 500 ranking all coming from the financial sector. American Airlines stands out as the only airline named among top companies with the most negative change in the general public’s view. Meanwhile, Amazon and United Parcel Service (UPS) are cited as companies with the most positive change.
While tech companies may be the most desirable employers, they aren’t as dominant in the ranking of companies with the most positive impact on the country. Overall, UPS leads the ranking for its positive impact, followed by Microsoft, FedEx, Boeing and Amazon.
The national urban/rural divide is clear, with urban dwellers more likely to value tech companies like Alphabet (#6) and Apple (#8) for their positive impact, while rural Americans favor big manufacturers like Boeing (#3) and Ford Motor Company (#9). UPS, FedEx, Intel, Microsoft and Costco Wholesale make appearances on both rural and urban Americans’ top 10 lists of companies that make a difference.
Partisan preferences are quite clear too. Democrats’ top 10 list includes Alphabet (#3), Apple (#6), the Walt Disney Company (#7) and Costco Wholesale (#9), while Republicans favor Caterpillar (#5), Intel (#6), Ford Motor Company (#7) and Lowe’s (#8). Companies favored among both Democratic and Republican voters in the top 10 include Boeing, Microsoft, FedEx, UPS and Amazon.
Other key findings from the 2018 SurveyMonkey|Fortune 500 rankings of the top 75 companies, including full survey results of U.S. consumers can be found here.
Fortune and SurveyMonkey partnered to discover how Americans view the companies in the recently released Fortune 500 ranking. The survey was conducted online from June 12-20, 2018 among a national sample of 19,860 adults ages 18 and older. Respondents for the survey were randomly selected from the nearly 3 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform every day.
Data for the survey was weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States. Respondents evaluated the top 75 companies ranked in the Fortune 500. Each randomly received 4 companies to evaluate on 5 dimensions: impact to the country, willingness to change, excitement to work, care for customers and recent improvement.
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