The rankings gain attention from consumers and are used extensively by hospitals in marketing campaigns.
Out of nearly 5,000 hospitals, about 1 in 10 earned recognition in the U.S. News & World Reports 2024-2025 Best Hospitals.
U.S. News unveiled the list Tuesday morning. This marks the 35th year of the U.S. News rankings, which draw heavy interest from consumers.
Hospitals that earn recognition often tout their good showing in marketing campaigns, ranging from online advertisements to billboards. (See the full U.S. News rankings here.)
This year, 466 hospitals earned recognition as Best Regional Hospitals, while 20 hospitals landed in the U.S. News “Honor Roll” this year.
U.S. News also named high-performing hospitals in specialties such as cancer, heart care and neurology.
Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, said in a statement that the rankings are designed to empower consumers to find top-performing hospitals.
“Choosing the right hospital to match your needs shouldn't be a guessing game,” Harder said in a statement.
U.S. News says it compiles the rankings after poring over millions of records from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. For the first time this year, U.S. News also examined data from patients on Medicare Advantage plans and those receiving outpatient care. U.S. News said those steps nearly doubled the number of patient records in its analysis.
Some hospitals have bristled at the rankings. In June 2023, Penn Medicine criticized the rankings and said the system wasn’t going to market its place among the Best Hospitals. Penn said the rankings give too much weight to inpatient care and on patients on Medicare. Still, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was selected for the U.S. News honor roll and ranked as the top hospital in the Keystone State.
As part of its analysis, U.S. News has also come up with other new rankings. U.S. News recently named the top hospitals in providing equitable care. Reflecting the growing trend of patients choosing outpatient care, U.S. News has also recently released its inaugural ranking of ambulatory surgery centers.
U.S. News names the top 50 hospitals in 12 specialties based on data, and about a dozen top hospitals in three specialties where the analysis reflects expert opinion. In the 2024-25 rankings, 160 hospitals earned at least one top 50 ranking.
Honor roll
These hospitals landed on the 2024-25 Best Hospitals Honor Roll. They are listed by state in alphabetical order, and each hospital ranked at the top, or tied for first, in their state.
Arizona
Mayo Clinic-Arizona (Phoenix)
California
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto) UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles)
UC San Diego Health-La Jolla and Hillcrest Hospitals (San Diego)
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco)
Illinois
Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago)
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)
Maryland
Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore)
Massachusetts
Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston)
Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston)
Minnesota
Mayo Clinic-Rochester (Rochester)
New York
Mount Sinai Hospital (New York)
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York)
North Shore University Hospital at Northwell Health (Manhasset)
NYU Langone Hospitals (New York)
North Carolina
Duke University Hospital (Durham)
Ohio
Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland)
Pennsylvania
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian (Philadelphia)
Texas
Houston Methodist Hospital (Houston)
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