U.S. News Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals distinguishes CHLA with six specialties ranking in top 10 in the nation
As a leader in pediatric academic medicine for nearly 125 years, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) continues to fulfill its mission by advancing care and making discoveries that enhance and save lives. Today, CHLA was again distinguished among the top 10 pediatric hospitals in the United States in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-26 edition of its annual Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.
In addition, CHLA was named to U.S. News’ Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals for the 17th consecutive year, an honor the hospital has held since the publication first created the list. CHLA also retained its top placement in U.S. News’ state and regional rankings, tying for No. 1 in both California and the Pacific U.S. region, which includes California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. For the 2025-26 survey, U.S. News did not publish ordinal rankings for the 10 hospitals that made the Honor Roll. All 10 are considered equally top tier.
“We can’t emphasize enough that at the heart of this recognition is the remarkable commitment of our entire team—physicians, nurses, specialists, researchers, and everyone who works tirelessly to support and elevate Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as the largest pediatric provider in both Los Angeles and California,” says President and Chief Operating Officer Lara Khouri. “CHLA is the best in the nation because our team is the best in the nation.”
U.S. News & World Report also ranked hospitals in 11 individual subspecialties, and CHLA was ranked in all of these. CHLA earned top-10 recognition in six of the specialties: Orthopedics (No. 4), Cancer (No. 6), Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (No. 6), Urology (No. 7), Diabetes & Endocrinology (No. 8), and Neurology & Neurosurgery (No. 10).
CHLA earned national recognition in all specialty areas surveyed, which also include: Cardiology & Heart Surgery (No. 20), Neonatology (No. 22), Nephrology (No. 14), Pulmonology & Lung Surgery (No. 12), and Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health (Top 50)
For the second year of the survey’s newest category—Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health—the publication again ranked CHLA’s Behavioral Health Institute among the top 50 pediatric programs providing the highest quality, compassionate care for youth coping with behavioral and emotional challenges. The Behavioral Health Institute delivers seamless psychosocial and developmental-behavioral services, including care for developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder.
“It is more crucial than ever that children have access to the child- and family-centered care they need to thrive—physically, mentally, emotionally, and more,” says Chief Executive Officer Paul S. Viviano. “Each of these specialty rankings is a testament that, even the midst of a challenging time for pediatric hospitals everywhere, CHLA team members continue to persevere in creating hope, building healthier futures, and delivering the highest caliber expert and compassionate care.”
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has more than 8,000 team members—including nearly 900 pediatric specialist physicians. The hospital performs nearly 17,000 surgeries and conducts more than 747,000 patient visits each year. As a pediatric academic medical center, CHLA delivers world-class medical care; conducts groundbreaking scientific research to develop new treatments and new cures for childhood diseases at The Saban Research Institute of CHLA; and operates one of the largest pediatric training programs in the country for physicians, nurses and other specialists. CHLA is one of the nation’s premier pediatric institutions with services and outcomes for rare and complex conditions among the best in the world. It has treated patients from more than 90 countries.
“CHLA is proud to be recognized among the nation’s top children’s hospitals, a reflection of our ability to care for children with the rarest and most complex conditions,” says CHLA Chief Medical Officer James Stein, MD, MSc. “Through the expertise and collaboration of our multidisciplinary teams and our ongoing advances in research and clinical practice, we are providing solutions that save lives and distinguish CHLA as a leader in pediatric health care.”
CHLA is one of the nation’s premier pediatric institutions with services and outcomes for rare and complex conditions among the best in the world. It has treated patients from more than 90 countries and has a dedicated Center for Global Health to support the unique needs of international patients and families traveling to CHLA for specialty and complex care needs. International patients and families can contact the Center for Global Health at internationalpatientreferrals@chla.usc.edu.
“We are dedicated to making world-class care at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles accessible to international patients through our Center for Global Health, which provides one central point of contact for every step of the journey,” said Yadira Torres, Executive Director of the Center for Global Health. “With multilingual services in more than 34 languages, our team helps families feel confident and supported as they engage with our physicians and care providers.”
Each year, U.S. News & World Report and research firm RTI International develop the Best Children’s Hospital list. For 2025-26, 198 pediatric hospitals were eligible to take part in the survey—including freestanding institutions like CHLA, children’s hospitals that are part of a larger health system, and specialty pediatric centers. Each was scored across hundreds of benchmarks, including quality and safety performance; patient outcomes; peer recognition; research; technology; commitment to care that is diverse, equitable and inclusive; certifications; third-party awards; and other data points provided by each hospital.
