7 Sacramento-area hospitals rank among best in California. Which was No. 1?
The Sacramento area is home to some of the best hospitals in California, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The media company recently released the 2025-2026 edition of its Best Hospitals rankings, analyzing nearly 5,000 hospitals and surveying 30,000 physicians across the nation to discover the top options for patient care.
The top 20 medical centers in the United States earned spots on a national Honor Roll.
In addition to identifying the best hospitals for maternity and specialty care, U.S. News ranked the top medical centers in almost every state and nearly 100 metropolitan areas based on “high-quality across all procedures and conditions.”
“For most Americans, health care decisions are made close to home,” Ben Harder, U.S. News chief of health analysis and managing editor, said in a July 29 news release. “These local hospital rankings, entirely performance-driven, equip individuals and their families .... to choose the highest quality care available in their own communities.”
Here’s which Sacramento-area hospitals made the list:
What makes UC Davis the best hospital in Sacramento?
U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings recognized a total of 504 hospitals across 49 states and 95 metro areas as Best Regional Hospitals.
“Each year U.S. News identifies the hospitals across the country that excel at treating patients in a wide variety of medical conditions experienced by many American and in performing often-needed medical procedures,” the media company said.
One Sacramento-area hospital ranked among the top 10 hospitals in California in 2025, U.S. News said.
UC Davis Medical Center, 4301 X St. in Sacramento, received “High Performing” ratings for its treatment of conditions such as diabetes, kidney failure and pneumonia and procedures including pacemaker implantation and prostate cancer surgery.
The hospital, which is part of the Northern Sierras region, has a patient experience score of three out of five stars, U.S. News said.
Another Sacramento hospital ranked among the top 20 hospitals in California, the media company said.
Sutter Medical Center, 2825 Capitol Ave. in Sacramento, was No. 16 on the list, according to U.S. News.
Sutter Medical Center was among the Sacramento-area hospitals that received “A” grades for patient safety in The Leapfrog Group’s latest report, The Sacramento Bee previously reported.
What are high-performing hospitals in Sacramento metro area?
As part of its regional rankings, U.S. News & World Report identified the best hospitals in the Sacramento metro area, which it defined as including Arden-Arcade and Roseville.
A total of seven local hospitals made the list.
Here’s which ones:
- 1. UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento
- 2. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento in Sacramento
- 3: Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville
- 4. Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in Roseville
- 5. Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center in Sacramento
- 6. Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael
- 7. Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento
Where are the top 10 hospitals in California?
U.S. News & World Report evaluated more than 400 hospitals in California to discover where patients can receive the best care in the Golden State..
In total, 64 of those medical centers were recognized as Best Regional Hospitals.
These were the top 10 best hospitals in California, according to U.S. News.
- 1. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
- 2. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto
- 3. UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles
- 4. UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco
- 5. UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest and East Campus Medical Centers in La Jolla
- 6. Scripps La Jolla Hospitals in La Jolla
- 7. UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento
- 8. Torran Memorial Medical Center in Torrance
- 9. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach
- 10. Huntington Health Medical Center-Pasadena in Pasadena
How did US News & World Report come up with rankings?
U.S. News & World Report said its 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings were “broken into two subcomponents.”
The Best Hospitals specialty rankings rated hospitals on their ability to care for “patients with life-threatening or rare conditions” who need facilities that “excel at treating complex, high-risk cases,” U.S News said.
The Best Hospitals procedures and conditions ratings focused on how well hospitals treated common health issues such as heart attacks and strokes and performed procedures including back surgery and hip replacement.
“These ratings reflect how well hospitals perform in each procedure or condition for the full range of patients – not just the most complex, challenging cases as in the specialty rankings,” the media company explained.
To be named a Best Regional Hospital, U.S. News said, a medical facility needed to offer a “full range of general medical and surgical services” and earn a certain number of High Performing ratings for procedures and conditions.
