Philadelphia is famous for those founding fathers, so is it any surprise the largest employer is named for Thomas Jefferson? In that same vein, in 1830, John K. Smith opened his first pharmacy in Philadelphia. Now, 178 years later, that’s become GlaxoSmithKline, the second largest pharma giant (after Pfizer) in the world.

In the Poconos mountains north of Philadelphia, you’ll find vaccine heavyweight Sanofi Pasteur, the largest maker of vaccines in the world, manufacturing the CDC’s top secret H1N51 vaccine, the first human vaccine against bird flu (not available commercially).

The tradition of world-class medicine at UPenn, rated a Best Hospital, continues with a husband and wife research team announcing the stunning news this week that they had found a gene therapy for a condition that causes blindness – and proven it by restoring partial sight to three people.

Philaldelphia seems to be the sort of place that often makes history.




Registered Nurses
- Mean Annual Salary: $63,770

- Number Employed: 44,840




Biggest Employers

- Jefferson Health System

- Christiana Health Care System

- Crozer-Keystone Health System

- Tenet Health Systems

- Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania




Other Employers of Note

- Merck and Co.

- Independence Blue Cross

- AmerisourceBergen

- Cigna




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