Fresno area has one of nation’s best hospitals for maternity care. Which one?
Looking for the best maternity care in California? If you live in or near Fresno, you’re in luck.
The Fresno area has one of the nation’s top hospitals for expectant parents, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The self-described “global authority in hospital rankings and consumer advice” recently released its 2026 list of the best hospitals for maternity care in the United States, focusing on facilities that “provide high-quality maternity care for uncomplicated pregnancies.”
“Choosing where to welcome a new baby is one of the most personal health care decisions a family makes,” Jennifer Winston, health data scientist at U.S. News, said in a Tuesday, Dec. 9, news release.
Winston said parents-to-be can use U.S. News’ health care rankings to “compare key outcomes and support services at maternity hospitals in their area.”
U.S. News started evaluating hospitals that provide labor and delivery services in 2021, the company said, adding that “a record-breaking 901 hospitals submitted maternity data for evaluation” this year.
There’s at least one high-performing hospital for maternity care in almost every state, U.S. News said.
Here’s what to know:
Which Fresno-area hospital has the best maternity care?
Community Regional Medical Center, 2823 Fresno St. in Fresno ranked among “high performing” hospitals in the country for maternity care, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The hospital delivers a “relatively high number of births,” which “could reflect a large, busier labor and delivery program, with more clinicians and more patients” as well as more robust services, according to U.S. News’s analysis.
Services and accommodations offered by the hospital’s labor and delivery program include:
- Childbirth classes
- Private rooms or suites
- Partners may stay overnight post-delivery
- Midwives can attend births
- Neonatal intensive care unit
- Breastfeeding and lactation consultants
- Perinatal depression screening and services
- Postpartum depression screening services
- Intrauterine device placement
- Tubal ligation
Community Regional Medical Center also scored highly for minimizing avoidable C-sections and supporting vaginal birth after Caesarean section, U.S News said.
The Fresno hospital was recognized as “birthing-friendly” due to its commitment to improving maternal outcomes” and implementing “projects related to maternal morbidity to address complications,” U.S. News said.
The hospital, which is part of the Community Medical Centers system, received a “C” for patient care in the Leapfrog Group’s latest hospital safety report, The Fresno Bee previously reported.
The Leapfrog Report grades hospitals on factors including rates of preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections and the medical facilities’ effectiveness at preventing them.
Which other Central Valley hospitals made the list?
U.S. News showcased a total of 495 hospitals across the nation — including 80 California hospitals — based on their labor and delivery services.
These included:
- Kaiser Permanente Manteca Medical Center in Manteca
- Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in Roseville
- Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville
- Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento
- Sutter Tracy Community Hospital in Tracy
How did U.S. News & World Report rank best hospitals for maternity care?
To rank the best hospitals for maternity care in the United States, U.S. News & World Report said it looked at “objective measures of quality,” including C-section rates in lower-risk pregnancies, severe unexpected newborn complication rates and exclusive breast milk feeding rates.
The company asked hospitals for data in seven measures, including average rates of C-sections, routine vaginal birth after cesarean delivery and episiotomies.
“Where appropriate, data were validated with data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” U.S. News said.
Hospitals that scored well on the seven measures were recognized as high performing, the company said.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
