Stratospheric recognition

Iconic Houston-area landmark rockets to No. 1 in new list of best employers in Texas

Johnson Space Center astronauts enjoy the best workplace in Texas.

NASA must be over the moon about a new ranking of the best employers in Texas.

A new list from Forbes and Statista puts NASA at No. 1 among the state’s major employers, both those based in Texas and those with a significant presence here.

NASA’s $1.5 billion Johnson Space Center complex occupies more than 1,600 acres in Clear Lake. The site, home to the space agency’s mission control and astronaut training operations, employs roughly 3,000 NASA workers, along with thousands of NASA contractors. NASA’s headquarters is in Washington, D.C.

It’s estimated that Johnson Space Center contributed more than $4.7 billion to the Texas economy in 2018.

On its career website, NASA cites several reasons to work at the federal agency. For instance, NASA says it offers “a range of challenging projects that will make a difference to society. You need only find the intersection between talent, passion, and opportunity.”

“To tackle the most complex problems, we employ the best of the best. Our world-class, accessible experts will become your trusted colleagues and mentors,” NASA goes on to say.

To come up with their ranking, Forbes and Statista surveyed about 70,000 Americans working at employers in the U.S. with at least 500 employees each. The final list features 1,382 highly recommended employers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Here are the 30 best large employers in Texas, as determined by Forbes and Statista.

Houston area

No. 1 NASA (based in Washington, D.C.; Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake)
No. 2 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
No. 3 Oceaneering International, based in Houston
No. 4 MD Anderson Cancer Center, based in Houston
No. 11 Bechtel (based in Reston, Virginia; major corporate hub in Houston)
No. 13 Clear Creek ISD, based in League City
No. 20 Air Liquide, based in Houston
No. 23 Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, based in Pearland
No. 25 Houston Methodist, based in Houston

Dallas-Fort Worth

No. 7 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas
No. 8 Capital One (based in Richmond, Virginia; major corporate hub in Plano)
No. 16 University of Texas at Dallas
No. 17 Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas
No. 18 Lewisville ISD, based in Lewisville
No. 19 GM Financial, based in Fort Worth
No. 21 City of Plano
No. 22 Fidelity Investments (based in Boston; major corporate hub in Westlake)
No. 28 Jordan Health Services, based in Addison

San Antonio

No. 5 University of Texas at San Antonio
No. 9 H-E-B (based in San Antonio; more than 300 stores in Texas)
No. 12 University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Austin area

No. 14 Google (based in Mountain View, California; major corporate hub in Austin)
No. 29 Dell Technologies, based in Round Rock
No. 30 NXP Semiconductors (based in the Netherlands; major corporate hub in Austin)

Throughout Texas

No. 6 IKEA (based in Sweden; five stores in Texas)
No. 10 Costco (based in Issaquah, Washington; 35 stores in Texas)
No. 15 Hyatt (based in Chicago; hotels throughout Texas)
No. 24 Microsoft (based in Redmond, Washington; offices in Austin, Dallas, Friendswood, Frisco, Houston, San Antonio, and The Woodlands)
No. 26 Sherwin-Williams (based in Cleveland; more than 300 stores in Texas)

rankings lists

Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

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