10 children’s hospitals maintain top spots in U.S. News ranking

Key takeaways:

• The same 10 hospitals kept their spots in the honor roll this year.
• Boston Children’s Hospital claimed the top spot for pediatric neonatology.

Ten pediatric hospitals retained their spots on the U.S. News & World Report honor roll for best children’s hospitals in the country.

The publication listed the top-ranked pediatric hospitals in unranked alphabetical order again. They are:

• Boston Children’s Hospital;
• Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora;
• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles;
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia;
• Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.;
• Cincinnati Children’s;
• Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio;
• Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego;
• Seattle Children’s Hospital; and
• Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

“In 2023, U.S. News ended the use of ordinal rankings on its honor roll of the top adult general medical and surgical hospitals in the nation,” Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News, told Healio. That same year, U.S. News eliminated ordinal rankings for the best children’s hospital rankings as well.

“An honor roll without ordinal rankings of hospitals helps underscore that all Honor Roll hospitals have attained the highest standards of care,” he said.

Although the top overall hospitals are no longer ranked ordinally, the publication continues to rank hospitals in 11 specialties. Out of 86 hospitals ranked this year, four achieved at least one No. 1 spot: Boston Children’s (3), Cincinnati Children’s (3), Texas Children’s Hospital (3) and Children’s Medical Center Dallas – Scottish Rite for Children (1).

Boston Children’s Hospital claimed the top spot for pediatric neonatology, followed by Texas Children’s Hospital, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital of Standford, Cincinnati Children’s and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to round out the top 5.

For the second year in a row, the publication also published a list of the top 50 hospitals for pediatric and adolescent behavioral health. The unranked list highlights hospitals’ commitment to treating mental health conditions, which affect one in five U.S. children, according to Harder.

For more information:

Ben Harder can be reached at szpike@usnews.com.