DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — For the 12th consecutive year, JM Family Enterprises Inc. (JM Family) landed on FORTUNE magazine's list of America’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” coming in at No. 28.

Two thirds of a company’s score is determined by the results of anonymous surveys sent to randomly selected associates, the remainder from a thorough evaluation of the organization’s demographics, compensation and benefits programs and overall culture.

JM Family climbed the annual ranking five spots from No. 33 last year and continues to be the highest-ranked company headquartered in Florida and the leading automotive company on the list. The company has ranked on this impressive list every year since it first applied in 1999.

“In a year that was tough for all companies and the automotive industry, this ranking is particularly meaningful to us because it represents the passion and dedication our associates feel toward JM Family,” said Colin Brown, president and CEO. “Our founder Jim Moran would be proud of the way our associates come together and continually make JM Family such a great place to work.”

FORTUNE also highlighted JM Family for the feeling of unity the company maintains: The remarkable family vibe at this distributor of Toyota vehicles is a legacy of the founder, Jim Moran, who died in 2007. His birthday, Aug. 8, is celebrated as Founder’s Day. At the last one, all employees were invited to a 91¢ lunch (it would have been Moran’s 91st birthday).

This is the sixth year that FORTUNE has subdivided the list by company size: large, medium and small – with JM Family ranked No. 7 among medium-sized companies with between 2,500 and 10,000 U.S. employees.

“The most important considerations for this year’s list were hiring and the ways in which companies are helping their employees weather the recession,” said FORTUNE Deputy Managing Editor Hank Gilman. “All 100 companies on our list are currently hiring, many of them aggressively, leading to more than 96,000 open job positions expected in the next year.”