Amazon has been named the most reputable company in the US this year (up from 21st place last year), according to the sixth annual list of the 150 Most Reputable Companies from advisory firm Reputation Institute (RI), in partnership with Forbes Media. The list is based on RI's US RepTrak Pulse Study, which measures trust, esteem, admiration, and good feelings consumers have towards the largest 150 companies based on revenue in the US. The ratings are analyzed from nearly 33,000 online consumer responses taken in January and February.

Amazon had a pulse score of 82.70, which was 5.76 points higher than last year and 1.30 points higher than Kraft Foods, the second most reputable company. The Seattle-based company earned first place ranking by providing value to users, staying ahead of the curve in technology and innovation and responding quickly and ethically to scandals. Here are the top 10 companies for this year, and their corresponding categories (if you want to see the full list of 150 companies, head over to Forbes):

  • Amazon.com (Retail - General)
  • Kraft Foods (Food - Manufacturing)
  • Johnson & Johnson (Consumer Products)
  • 3M (Industrial Products)
  • Kellogg's (Food - Manufacturing)
  • UPS (Transport & Logistics)
  • FedEx (Transport & Logistics)
  • Sara Lee (Food - Manufacturing)
  • Google (Information & Media)
  • Walt Disney Company (Information & Media)

In addition to Amazon and Google in the top 10, here are some other notable rankings for technology companies: Texas Instruments was number 11, Staples was number 19, and Intel was number 22. Then there are many of them in the 40s. Hewlett-Packard was in 40th and Cisco Systems took 42nd. IBM, Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle were all very close: 44th, 46th, 47th, and 49th, respectively.

"People can understand their business model, which is a little unusual in today's world," Anthony Johndrow, RI's managing partner, said in a statement. "And Amazon really takes pains to establish solid governance rules so the free-for-all, Wild West the Internet has become in some arenas, feels like a place where you can conduct transactions and get fair value in a safe environment."