Glassdoor just revealed its list of the 100 Best Places to Work in 2026. While some of them are names we’ve heard before, there are a surprising few entries that tell us a lot about what it takes to stand out.
Businesses may no longer be competing to present themselves as the best workplaces in terms of culture, community, and opportunity, but it remains an assessment many continue to make and follow. Indianapolis-based Crew Carwash emerged on Glassdoor’s list as the best place to work in 2026, moving up a spot from the position it held on the list last year. The name may be familiar to some and unfamiliar to many more, but the family-owned business, spread across 55 locations in the US, emerged as the leading name across the country.
There are many ways to assess a business and measure its success, but Glassdoor’s ranking looks at employee reviews to make a decision on who to crown. While relatively smaller than many of the other businesses on the list, the company’s top position on this list serves as a reminder that much of an organization’s notoriety and success hinges on its employees.
Crew Carwash has topped Glassdoor’s list of the 100 best places to work in 2026, stealing the spotlight from AI leaders that otherwise dominate conversations. (Image: Pexels)
Let’s Go Through the Best Places to Work In 2026
Snazzy startups and well-established tech giants are believed to offer the best benefits and advantages to employees, but their hectic, fast-paced operations often fall short. From the perspective of employees, picking the best organizations for employment doesn’t always correlate with the biggest business around. Often, positive reviews come from good company culture, hiring and management policies, regular professionalism, employee well-being considerations, training, flexibility, and other aspects that shape the quality of their employment.
The Glassdoor workplace ranking is based on employee reviews that are shared on the website, which rate a business across nine workplace attributes. The reviews are then run through an internal algorithm by Glassdoor’s Economic Research team, “to consider the quantity, quality, and consistency of those reviews” in order to finally determine its list of top workplaces.
What Are the Top 10 Workplaces in 2026?
Crew Carwash is a relatively mid-sized business, employing about 5000 employees across the US, and it currently maintains a 4.7 rating on Glassdoor. From the list of top 100 companies, it appears to offer supportive leadership, a healthy team spirit, and career growth via training, which are all qualities that workers admire.
The company is followed by In-N-Out Burger, NVIDIA, Ryan, and Keller Williams, to make the top 5 companies to work at in 2026. Next on the list are Mars, ServiceNow, Bain & Company, Houston Methodist, and EPAM Systems, to complete the list of the top 10 best workplaces for 2026.
Looking at tech and AI exclusively, NVIDIA leads the crowd, with ServiceNow, EPAM Systems, Google, and Motorola Solutions together making up the top 5.
In consulting, finance, and insurance, Ryan takes the first spot, followed by Bain & Company, Progressive Insurance, RDSolutions, and Fidelity Investments.
Switching over to manufacturing and energy, Mars leads the industry, while Boston Scientific, GE Aerospace, Intuitive, and Toyota North America complete the top 5.
In the final category, consumer services, Crew Carwash is the undeniable leader, followed by In-N-Out Burger, H E B, Wegmans Food Markets, and Grainger.
Good Reviews Are Great For Business
Does featuring on Glassdoor’s list of the 100 best US companies for 2026 really make a difference? For employees, it most certainly does. In their haste to find work, some employees may choose to apply to an organization regardless of their reputation or negative reviews, but they remain on the lookout for an alternate source of employment. Employees prefer to work for businesses that have been well-rated by others in their position, and they often put more stock in these Glassdoor reviews than in what a company might choose to highlight as a job benefit online.
With layoffs, AI investments, RTO policies, and other changes to workplace operations, many employers have been negatively rated over the last year, and this is likely to affect the quality and quantity of candidates who choose to apply for a role at the organization. With employees regaining their ambitions to build their careers and grow in their profession this year, organizations can expect their candidate pool to shift in the coming months.
The public attention to the list of best places to work also draws in positive business, with many customers indicating a preference for ethical, honest business practices where workers are treated right. While this may be a small part of the advantage of improving the workplace to suit employees, the task is one that reflects just how meaningful it can be to build a healthy relationship with workers.
What do you think about Glassdoor’s list of the best places to work in 2026? Share your thoughts with us. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights into the workplace and what it takes to stand out.
