Every year, U.S. News & World Report evaluates roughly 4,500 hospitals nationwide and names a “Honor Roll” of the top performers across specialty care, complex procedures, and patient outcomes. For 2026–2027, 20 hospitals made that Honor Roll — a notable change this year is that U.S. News no longer numerically ranks these 20 hospitals 1 through 20; they’re presented alphabetically as a group of elite performers rather than a strict ladder. Below, we highlight 10 of the most prominent Honor Roll hospitals based on their breadth of top-ranked specialties, along with what makes each one stand out.
How the Rankings Work
U.S. News evaluates hospitals across 14 adult specialties (like cancer, cardiology, and neurology) and 23 procedures and conditions, drawing on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, professional medical organizations, and patient outcome records. Hospitals earn Honor Roll points for high rankings in individual specialties and for “High Performing” ratings across common procedures — the 20 hospitals with the most points make the Honor Roll. Three specialties (ophthalmology, psychiatry, and rheumatology) are evaluated using physician surveys rather than claims data, since outcomes in those fields are harder to measure through hospital records alone.
Top 10 Hospitals to Know for 2026–2027
1. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota)
Mayo Clinic is ranked in more specialties than any other US hospital and is the only health system with three separate campuses (Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida) on this year’s Honor Roll. It holds the No. 1 national ranking in diabetes & endocrinology and gastroenterology & GI surgery, and is widely regarded as the country’s top general destination for rare or highly complex diagnoses.
2. Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio)
Cleveland Clinic remains one of the top two hospitals nationally for cardiology, heart & vascular surgery, and is consistently near the top for gastroenterology and rheumatology. It’s the hospital most patients think of first for complex cardiac cases.
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)
One of the founding institutions of modern academic medicine, Johns Hopkins holds nationally ranked programs across 15 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties, and is the No. 1 hospital in Maryland. It’s especially strong in neurology, neurosurgery, and urology.
4. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts)
Part of the Mass General Brigham system, Mass General holds the No. 1 national ranking in psychiatry and top rankings in ophthalmology (with Mass Eye and Ear), ear, nose & throat, neurology, neurosurgery, diabetes & endocrinology, and cardiology.
5. NYU Langone Hospitals (New York, New York)
NYU Langone earned more No. 1 specialty rankings than any other hospital in the country this year, including the top spot nationally in cardiology, heart & vascular surgery. It’s one of three New York City hospitals on the Honor Roll.
6. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, California)
Cedars-Sinai earned top-50 national rankings across 11 areas of complex care, with particular strength in gastroenterology, cardiology, and cancer care, making it the leading Honor Roll hospital on the West Coast outside the Bay Area.
7. UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (Los Angeles, California)
UCLA’s flagship hospital is a top-five performer in pulmonology & lung surgery and holds strong national rankings across cancer, cardiology, and geriatrics, rounding out Los Angeles as a two-hospital Honor Roll city alongside Cedars-Sinai.
8. Mount Sinai Hospital (New York, New York)
Mount Sinai is recognized across a wide range of specialties from cardiac surgery to neurology to pediatric care, and is tied as the No. 1 hospital in the New York metro area alongside NewYork-Presbyterian and NYU Langone.
9. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York, New York)
A joint academic medical center affiliated with both Columbia and Cornell medical schools, NewYork-Presbyterian ranks in the top five nationally for rheumatology and maintains broad strength across cardiology and cancer care.
10. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, California)
Stanford rounds out the list as the leading Honor Roll hospital in Northern California, with nationally ranked programs in cancer, cardiology, and neurology, and a research base tightly integrated with Stanford University’s medical school.
The Rest of the 2026–2027 Honor Roll
Ten additional hospitals also made this year’s Honor Roll: Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Houston Methodist Hospital (Houston), Mayo Clinic-Arizona (Phoenix), Mayo Clinic-Florida (Jacksonville), Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago), Rush University Medical Center (Chicago), UC San Diego Health (La Jolla), UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco), and University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor. Notably, UC San Diego Health returned to the Honor Roll after a year’s absence, and Mayo Clinic-Florida joined for the first time in 2026.
Best Hospitals by Specialty (National Leaders, 2026–2027)
| Specialty | #1 Ranked Hospital |
|---|---|
| Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery | NYU Langone Hospitals |
| Cancer | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Cancer (runner-up) | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| Psychiatry | Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Pulmonology & Lung Surgery | UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center |
| Diabetes & Endocrinology / GI Surgery | Mayo Clinic |
| Rheumatology | Johns Hopkins Hospital |
| Urology | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
If your primary concern is a single condition rather than overall hospital reputation, the specialty-specific ranking is usually more useful than the general Honor Roll — a hospital that doesn’t make the Honor Roll can still be the single best option in the country for a specific disease.
How to Use These Rankings
- Match the ranking to your actual condition. A hospital’s overall Honor Roll status reflects breadth across many specialties; if you need care for one specific condition, check that hospital’s individual specialty ranking rather than assuming general prestige translates to the best outcomes for your case.
- Check your insurance network first. Being ranked nationally doesn’t guarantee a hospital is in-network for your plan — confirm coverage before scheduling anything, since out-of-network care at a top-tier academic medical center can be extremely costly.
- Consider Best Regional Hospitals too. U.S. News also ranks 505 “Best Regional” hospitals across the country; for routine or moderately complex care, a strong regional hospital closer to home is often a better trade-off than traveling to a Honor Roll institution.
- Look at both specialty rankings and procedure ratings. Specialty rankings reflect broad reputation and complex case volume, while “High Performing” procedure ratings reflect more specific, outcome-based data (like risk-adjusted mortality) for common conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mayo Clinic really the #1 hospital in America? Mayo Clinic is ranked in more specialties than any other U.S. hospital, but U.S. News no longer assigns a strict 1–20 order to Honor Roll hospitals — Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins are generally considered the three most consistently top-ranked academic medical centers.
What’s the difference between the Honor Roll and Best Regional Hospitals? The Honor Roll recognizes 20 hospitals nationally for broad excellence across many specialties and complex conditions. Best Regional Hospitals is a larger list of 505 hospitals recognized for strong performance within their local area — a hospital doesn’t need Honor Roll status to be an excellent choice for most common procedures.
Do these rankings apply to children’s hospitals too? No — U.S. News publishes a separate “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranking with its own methodology, evaluated independently from the adult Best Hospitals Honor Roll.
How often are the rankings updated? Annually. The 2026–2027 rankings were released in August 2026 and reflect the most recent full year of available outcomes data.