When you’re pregnant, the last thing you want to worry about is the safety of you and your baby at the hospital. But Pennsylvania’s maternal and infant mortality rates have been steadily increasing over the past few years, so finding a hospital well-known for comprehensive maternity care is very important for expecting parents.
U.S. News and World Report recently announced its 2026 Best Hospitals in Maternity Care ratings, determining the best hospitals to give birth or seek maternal care in the United States, with a state-by-state breakdown for parents-to-be.
The ranking and analysis website has been assessing maternity care hospitals since 2021 and is now in its fifth year of gathering data. Hospitals are graded based on objective factors, such as unexpected newborn complication rates, breastfeeding rates and how baby- and birthing-friendly they are.
There were 21 hospitals that made the list of the best maternity care hospitals in Pennsylvania, including these Philadelphia-area hospitals:
Jefferson Health hospitals in Abington, East Norriton and Philadelphia
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia
Main Line Health hospitals in Paoli and Media
Notably, Jefferson Abington Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia have an official Baby-Friendly Designation from Baby-Friendly USA, which advocates for safe conditions for expecting mothers and their babies.
Additionally, U.S. News and World Report has spent the last three years ranking maternity care access hospitals, which operate in areas considered “maternity care deserts.” If not for these hospitals, locals would have to drive long distances to access maternal care. While no Philadelphia-area institutions made the list because the area is home to so many hospitals, the best maternity care access hospitals in Pennsylvania include:
Lehigh Valley Hospitals in Hazleton, East Stroudsburg and Pottsville
UPMC hospitals in Altoona, Carlisle, Seneca and Williamsport
WellSpan hospitals in Chambersburg and Lebanon
Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre
Independence Health System Westmoreland Hospital, Greensburg
The ranking also determined the top 20 metropolitan areas with highly-rated maternity care hospitals in the U.S. Philadelphia was the only Pennsylvania city to make the list.
Parents can visit the usnews.com website to see a full ranking of every hospital in their state, as well as how their local hospitals stack up.
