Chicago Hospitals Shine In U.S. News Rankings

U.S. News released its 2026-2027 Best Hospitals rankings on Aug. 4, putting two Chicago institutions at the top of Illinois and the Chicago metro area. Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center were both listed as the No. 1 hospital in Illinois and No. 1 in Chicago on the U.S. News state and metro rankings pages. U.S. News said it evaluated 202 hospitals in Illinois and ranked 21 that met its standards. Northwestern Memorial and Rush also appeared on the national Honor Roll, a list of 20 hospitals that U.S. News said stood out across multiple specialties, procedures and conditions. ### Which Chicago hospitals led the Illinois rankings? Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville was listed as regionally ranked No. 1 in Illinois and No. 1 in Chicago, and U.S. News said it was nationally ranked in 10 adult specialties. The hospital was also rated high performing in 24 procedures and conditions, according to its profile page. (health.usnews.com) Rush University Medical Center on the Near West Side was also listed as regionally ranked No. 1 in Illinois and No. 1 in Chicago. U.S. News said Rush was nationally ranked in 11 adult specialties and rated high performing in 21 procedures and conditions. University of Chicago Medical Center ranked No. 3 in Illinois and No. 3 in Chicago. U.S. (health.usnews.com) News said the Hyde Park hospital was nationally ranked in seven adult specialties and rated high performing in three adult specialties and 18 procedures and conditions. ### How broad was Chicago’s presence in the state and metro lists? U.S. News said the Chicago metro area rankings cover hospitals in Chicago as well as Aurora, Evanston, Joliet and Naperville. (health.usnews.com) The Illinois page said 21 hospitals statewide met the publication’s standards for ranking. Endeavor Health NorthShore Hospitals in Evanston ranked No. 5 in Illinois and No. 5 in Chicago, with national rankings in three adult specialties and high-performing marks in 23 procedures and conditions, according to U.S. (health.usnews.com) News. Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital was listed No. 11 in Illinois and No. 11 in Chicago. Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood was listed No. 15 in Illinois and No. 14 in Chicago. (health.usnews.com) ### What did U.S. News measure in these rankings? U.S. News said its 2026-2027 rankings covered 14 adult specialties involving complex care and also recognized hospitals for performance in 24 procedures and conditions. The publication said the Honor Roll was based on points hospitals earned from specialty rankings and from high-performing ratings in maternity care and the 23 procedures and conditions it evaluates for that distinction. (health.usnews.com) The U.S. News overview page said the annual rankings are intended to help patients, in consultation with doctors, identify hospitals for particular health needs. The rankings include national specialty lists, state and metro regional lists, and hospital profile pages with procedure- and condition-level ratings. ### Which Chicago hospitals made the national Honor Roll? (health.usnews.com) U.S. News said Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center were both included on the 2026-2027 Honor Roll. The national overview page listed those two Chicago hospitals among 20 medical centers nationwide on the Honor Roll. Northwestern’s profile page said it was nationally ranked in 10 adult specialties. (health.usnews.com) Rush’s profile page said it was nationally ranked in 11 adult specialties, and a U.S. News Honor Roll entry said Rush was rated high performing in 20 out of 23 procedures and conditions. ### Where can patients compare the Illinois and Chicago results? U.S. News published separate pages for Illinois statewide rankings, the Chicago metro rankings and national specialty rankings. (health.usnews.com) Those pages let readers compare hospitals by location, specialty, procedure and condition, including cardiology, cancer, orthopedics and neurology. As of Aug. 6, 2026, the Illinois and Chicago rankings remained available on the U.S. (health.usnews.com) News hospital pages, alongside individual profiles for Northwestern Memorial, Rush, University of Chicago Medical Center, NorthShore and other hospitals in the region. (health.usnews.com)