These 3 New Hampshire Hospitals Are Ranked Among Best For Maternity Care

NEW HAMPSHIRE — Where to have a baby is one of the most important decisions New Hampshire parents make.

To help guide them, U.S. News & World Report has released its 2026 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care.

U.S. News has been evaluating hospitals that provide labor and delivery service since 2021, and this year evaluated a record 901 hospitals.

These public ratings assist expectant parents, in consultation with their prenatal care providers, in making informed decisions about where to receive maternity care for uncomplicated births.

The top maternity hospitals in New Hampshire are:

• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon
• Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Dover

The data is based entirely on objective measures of quality, such as C-section rates in lower-risk pregnancies, severe unexpected newborn complication rates, exclusive breast milk feeding rates, among other measures.

The 2026 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care ratings also recognize hospitals offering services to underserved communities. Now in its third year, the Maternity Care Access Hospital designation was awarded to 147 hospitals.

These essential hospitals serve communities that would be in danger of becoming maternity care deserts if they were to stop providing crucial maternity care services. Parents-to-be can research their local hospitals’ performance metrics as well as maternity-related programs, services and support at health.usnews.com to help them decide where to give birth.

In New Hampshire, only one hospital was named to the Best Maternity Care Access Hospitals list:

• Cheshire Medical Center, Keene

The following metropolitan areas, listed in alphabetical order, have the greatest number of hospitals on the list:

• Boston
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Chicago
• Cincinnati
• Dallas-Fort Worth
• Denver
• Detroit
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Kansas City
• Los Angeles
• Milwaukee
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Riverside-San Bernardino, California
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• St. Louis
• Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: This post was scripted by another Patch staffer, not New Hampshire's editor, for publication on New Hampshire sites.