Out of the 17 Texas-based companies included on Fortune’s newly released ranking of the World’s Most Admired Companies, a little more than half are headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. 

The elite group commemorates the most respected and recognizable companies across a variety of industries. The list is essentially an authority on corporate reputations—it’s lauded as a ranking of global admirability that looks at the most key attributes from qualified professionals.

Locally, Southwest Airlines, Charles Schwab, AT&T, D.R. Horton, Jacobs Engineering Group, Kimberly-Clark, McKesson, and Texas Instruments were ranked in the top 300 All-Star companies. Here’s the breakdown:

• No. 14 Southwest Airlines – Dallas
• No. 44 Charles Schwab – Westlake
• No. 79 AT&T – Dallas
• No. 103 CBRE Group – Dallas
• No. 118 D.R. Horton  – Arlington
• No. 176 Jacobs Engineering Group – Dallas
• No. 184 Kimberly-Clark – Irving
• No. 210 McKesson – Irving
• No. 295 Texas Instruments – Dallas

Each year, Fortune Magazine teams up with management consulting firm Korn Ferry to create a survey on corporate reputation to begin forming the list.

Fortune determines two rankings, Industry and All-Star, for the best regarded companies. Industry rankings were determined from a pool of 680 companies with the highest revenues in 52 industries.

To find the most well-regarded companies, Korn Ferry asks 3,820 executives, directors, and analysts to rate enterprises in their own industry based on nine criteria. The survey criteria includes investment value, quality of management and products, social responsibility, and the ability to attract talent.

To be listed, a company must score in the top half of its industry.

To determine the All-Star score, Korn Ferry asked the same executives, directors, and analysts to select ten companies they admired the most. Unlike the industry rankings, a vote could be placed for any company in any industry. 

Southwest Airlines, ranked No. 14, had the highest All-Star ranking out of all Texas-based companies listed. Out of the airlines industry, Southwest Airlines was ranked third. 

The difference in the methodology for voting in the All-Star and Industry ranking explains why No. 23 Delta Air Lines is ranked highest in the airline industry, but has a lower All-Star ranking than Southwest.

Some other notable rankings, Jacobs Engineering Group and McKesson, came in second in their industries, Engineering Construction and Wholesaler Healthcare, respectively. 

Companies with a major North Texas presence also made the list, like Abbott, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper. Also, Toyota Motor, which has its U.S. headquarters in Plano, ranked No. 31.

Check out the full 2021 Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list here.

Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.

Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.