Utah has the highest share of hospitals with five stars under CMS’ Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings system, a Becker’s analysis shows.
CMS updated its star ratings on May 13. Of the 3,182 hospitals rated nationally, 384 received five stars. Of Utah’s 29 rated hospitals, 51.7% earned five stars — more than four times the 12.1% national average.
Seven states had no five-star hospitals at all: Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
CMS scores hospitals on a one-to-five star scale using mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timeliness and effectiveness measures. Not every hospital receives a rating — CMS excludes facilities that don’t report enough of the underlying measures, a gap that falls disproportionately on small, rural and specialty hospitals. The rankings below measure five-star share against each state’s rated hospitals only, not its total hospital count, and exclude U.S. territories in CMS’ dataset.
Here is the share of five-star hospitals in every state and Washington, D.C.
Note: For states with fewer than 20 rated hospitals, a single facility’s rating can shift percentages by several points, so rankings should be treated as directional rather than precise for these states.
| State | Rated hospitals | 5-star hospitals | Percentage of 5-star hospitals |
| Utah | 29 | 15 | 51.7% |
| Colorado | 49 | 14 | 28.6% |
| South Dakota | 18 | 5 | 27.8% |
| Wisconsin | 86 | 21 | 24.4% |
| Minnesota | 57 | 13 | 22.8% |
| Idaho | 22 | 5 | 22.7% |
| Montana | 20 | 4 | 20.0% |
| Maryland | 42 | 7 | 16.7% |
| Massachusetts | 54 | 9 | 16.7% |
| Vermont | 12 | 2 | 16.7% |
| Virginia | 76 | 12 | 15.8% |
| Connecticut | 26 | 4 | 15.4% |
| Pennsylvania | 132 | 20 | 15.2% |
| New York | 136 | 20 | 14.7% |
| West Virginia | 34 | 5 | 14.7% |
| Arizona | 55 | 8 | 14.5% |
| District of Columbia | 7 | 1 | 14.3% |
| South Carolina | 49 | 7 | 14.3% |
| Ohio | 128 | 18 | 14.1% |
| Texas | 217 | 29 | 13.4% |
| North Carolina | 90 | 12 | 13.3% |
| Indiana | 91 | 12 | 13.2% |
| Oklahoma | 62 | 8 | 12.9% |
| North Dakota | 16 | 2 | 12.5% |
| Wyoming | 16 | 2 | 12.5% |
| Nevada | 25 | 3 | 12.0% |
| New Jersey | 61 | 7 | 11.5% |
| Iowa | 62 | 7 | 11.3% |
| Florida | 169 | 19 | 11.2% |
| California | 280 | 29 | 10.4% |
| Illinois | 136 | 14 | 10.3% |
| Alaska | 10 | 1 | 10.0% |
| Washington | 60 | 6 | 10.0% |
| Michigan | 94 | 9 | 9.6% |
| Tennessee | 72 | 6 | 8.3% |
| Kentucky | 67 | 5 | 7.5% |
| Georgia | 84 | 6 | 7.1% |
| Arkansas | 44 | 3 | 6.8% |
| Oregon | 44 | 3 | 6.8% |
| Missouri | 80 | 5 | 6.3% |
| Kansas | 55 | 3 | 5.5% |
| New Mexico | 23 | 1 | 4.3% |
| Maine | 24 | 1 | 4.2% |
| Mississippi | 52 | 1 | 1.9% |
| Alabama | 59 | 0 | 0% |
| Delaware | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| Hawaii | 11 | 0 | 0% |
| Louisiana | 59 | 0 | 0% |
| Nebraska | 36 | 0 | 0% |
| New Hampshire | 23 | 0 | 0% |
| Rhode Island | 11 | 0 | 0% |
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