Two western Wisconsin financial institutions were among the 300 companies included on Forbes magazine’s inaugural list of America’s Best Small Employers.

The recently published list includes companies with between 200 and 1,000 employees, and features just seven Wisconsin-based employers. Forbes and its partner, Statista Inc., analyzed more than 7 million data points about more than 11,000 companies nationwide to create the rankings.

Royal Credit Union, headquartered in Eau Claire, was placed at 48th on the list. Royal operates 26 branches in west-central Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.

“We are honored to be named by Forbes as one of America’s Best Small Employers,” Brandon Riechers, Royal’s president and CEO, said in a media release. “At Royal we have a fun and unique workplace culture based on our values. Our team members put Royal’s core purpose of creating a positive impact in the lives we touch into practice every day. We are proud to offer our team a total rewards program that includes competitive wages, great benefits, and access to a wide variety of development opportunities.”

Menomonie-based WESTconsin Credit Union, which has 15 locations in western Wisconsin and Minnesota, ranked 156th on the Forbes list.

“As a non-profit cooperative, WESTconsin is able to take our profits and invest them back into our employees through great benefits, better wages, and development opportunities,” said Lora Benrud, CEO of WESTconsin Credit Union. “More than 20% of our employees have been with WESTconsin for 10 years or longer. Our culture, genuine investment in our employee’s success, and focus to Inspire Better is what makes our credit union such a great place to work.”

Other Wisconsin employers on the list were Educators Credit Union of Mount Pleasant (24th), Mid-State Technical College of Wisconsin Rapids (65th), Fox World Travel of Oshkosh (66th) Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry Co. of Manitowoc (74th), and Continental Properties of Menomonee Falls (172nd).

According to Forbes, the rankings were prepared with the help of anonymous employee surveys, “tracking of job-related websites to gauge employer reputation, engagement, retention, benefits, and more,” and “social listening text analysis of news websites and blogs as well as platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube to assess the company’s relationship with its employees.”

Find the complete list online at www.forbes.com/lists/americas-best-small-employers.