U.S. News has named 11 New Jersey hospitals among its 2026-2027 Best Regional Hospitals, with Hackensack again leading the state rankings for another year.

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New Jersey’s 11 Best Hospitals Revealed in New U.S. News Rankings

New Jersey’s hospital system has received a fresh national assessment, giving patients another useful way to compare medical facilities when deciding where to seek care.

The 2026-2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings, released August 4, recognize 11 New Jersey hospitals as Best Regional Hospitals. Hackensack University Medical Center again leads the state, while hospitals across North, Central and South Jersey also earned recognition.

The annual rankings evaluate hospitals across different specialties, procedures and medical conditions. While rankings are not the only factor patients should consider, they can provide useful information when comparing healthcare providers.

Hackensack Holds Onto the No. 1 Position

Hackensack University Medical Center has once again taken the top spot in New Jersey, marking the fourth consecutive year the hospital has ranked No. 1 statewide.

The Hackensack facility, part of Hackensack Meridian Health, received recognition for seven nationally ranked specialties and 21 high-performing cohorts.

The hospital also ranked No. 4 among hospitals in the New York metropolitan area, extending its strong reputation beyond New Jersey.

Its nationally ranked specialties include cancer, cardiology, diabetes and endocrinology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology.

Orthopedics was its highest-ranked specialty, placing No. 14 nationally.

Morristown and Overlook Make Strong Showing

Atlantic Health System also had a strong performance in the latest rankings.

Morristown Medical Center ranked No. 2 in New Jersey, while Overlook Medical Center in Summit came in at No. 3.

Morristown received three nationally ranked specialty recognitions and 22 high-performing cohorts. Its recognized areas included cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, orthopedics and urology.

Orthopedics was particularly strong, ranking No. 13 nationally.

Overlook Medical Center recorded 15 high-performing recognitions across the categories evaluated by U.S. News.

The results place two Atlantic Health hospitals among the state’s top three facilities.

Cooper and Englewood Complete the Top Five

Cooper University Health Care-Camden ranked fourth statewide, followed by Englewood Hospital at No. 5.

Cooper earned 11 high-performing recognitions and was also recognized for Community Access. The designation highlights accessibility to healthcare services in addition to clinical performance.

Cooper also ranked No. 8 among Best Regional Hospitals in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Englewood Hospital recorded nine high-performing cohorts, giving Bergen County another highly rated facility near the top of the statewide list.

Two Hospitals Share the Sixth Spot

The No. 6 position is shared by Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Cooperman Barnabas recorded 10 high-performing cohorts, while Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital received nine.

Both hospitals also received recognition in the New York metropolitan area rankings.

Their inclusion demonstrates that high-performing hospitals are spread across several healthcare systems and different parts of New Jersey.

Three Hospitals Tie for Eighth

Three facilities share the No. 8 position in the statewide rankings.

They are:

• Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune
• Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro
• Valley Hospital in Paramus

Jersey Shore University Medical Center recorded 10 high-performing cohorts. Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center and Valley Hospital each recorded nine.

All three were also recognized among New Jersey hospitals in the New York metropolitan rankings.

For patients in Central and North Jersey, the recognition provides additional options when comparing hospitals based on nationally evaluated performance.

AtlantiCare Rounds Out the List

AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center-Atlantic City Campus ranked No. 11 statewide and received eight high-performing recognitions.

Its inclusion gives the latest New Jersey list a broad geographic reach, with recognized hospitals located throughout North, Central and South Jersey.

For patients, location can be an important consideration when choosing a hospital, particularly when treatment requires regular appointments or specialist care.

How U.S. News Evaluated Hospitals

The latest U.S. News rankings evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide, with 505 receiving Best Regional Hospital recognition. Eleven of those hospitals are in New Jersey.

The evaluation considers several measures of hospital performance, including risk-adjusted mortality, preventable complications and patient experience.

The methodology also includes data covering hundreds of millions of patient-care records. The latest edition introduced changes to the evaluation process, including a major overhaul involving cardiology and heart and vascular surgery.

U.S. News evaluates hospitals across a wide range of adult specialties and procedures, including cancer, cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, orthopedics, pulmonology, urology and rehabilitation.

New Jersey Gets National Specialty Recognition

The statewide rankings are not the only area where New Jersey hospitals performed well.

Hackensack University Medical Center received several national specialty rankings. It ranked No. 38 for cancer, No. 45 for cardiology, No. 43 for diabetes and endocrinology, No. 34 for neurology and neurosurgery, No. 14 for orthopedics, No. 36 for pulmonology and lung surgery, and No. 32 for urology.

Morristown Medical Center also earned national specialty recognition, ranking No. 41 for cardiology and heart and vascular surgery, No. 13 for orthopedics and No. 25 for urology.

New Jersey also performed strongly in rehabilitation.

Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange ranked No. 3 nationally in rehabilitation, while HMH JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute ranked No. 39.

These results highlight that New Jersey’s healthcare recognition extends beyond its overall hospital rankings and includes several specialized areas of medical care.

What the Rankings Mean for Patients

Hospital rankings can be useful when researching healthcare options, but they should not be the only factor patients consider.

A hospital may have particular strengths in one specialty while another facility may be more convenient or better suited to a specific medical condition or procedure.

Patients may also need to consider insurance coverage, physician availability, distance, emergency-care requirements and whether a particular specialist or treatment is available.

The U.S. News rankings are intended to provide patients and doctors with additional information that can support healthcare decisions.

For New Jersey residents, the latest results nevertheless offer a useful snapshot of how hospitals across the state performed in the latest national assessment.

With Hackensack University Medical Center retaining the No. 1 position for a fourth consecutive year and 10 additional hospitals joining the Best Regional Hospitals list, the rankings highlight the range of highly recognized healthcare facilities available throughout the Garden State.

New Jersey’s 11 Best Regional Hospitals

Overall, the 2026-2027 rankings give New Jersey residents a new look at the hospitals receiving national recognition for their performance, specialties and patient care.