2024's top medical schools by state: US News

Thirty universities were found to be the best medical schools nationwide in primary care and research, according to U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools" for 2024.

U.S. News assessed 99 primary care programs and 102 research programs at medical and osteopathic schools based on student selectivity and faculty resources, then considered indicators of research activity to rank the best research programs and considered the number of graduates that go into primary care to assess each university's primary care programs. The full methodology can be found here.

U.S. News revised its ranking process after several previously high-ranking schools, including Harvard University in Boston and New York City-based Columbia University, withdrew from the ranking, citing ranking measures such as peer assessments from deans, academic directors and test scores, giving an unfair advantage to schools with more resources available.

This year, schools were ranked on a four-tier system, tier 1 included schools with overall scores of 85-99, while tiers 2-4 included schools scoring 50-84, 15-49 and 1-14, respectively.

Here are the schools that earned tier 1 scores in primary care and research, organized by state:

Arkansas

Primary care

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock)

California

Primary care

University of California-Davis (Sacramento)

University of California-San Francisco

Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona)

Research

University of California-Los Angeles

University of California-La Jolla

University of California-San Francisco

Colorado

Research

University of Colorado (Aurora)

Connecticut

Research

Yale University (New Haven)

Georgia

Research

Emory University (Atlanta)

Hawaii

Primary care

University of Hawaii-Manoa (Honolulu)

Illinois

Research

Northwestern University (Chicago)

Kansas

Primary care

University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City)

Maryland

Primary care

University of Maryland (Baltimore)

Massachusetts

Primary care

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (Worcester)

Minnesota

Primary care

University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)

Research

Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (Rochester)

Missouri

Primary care

Saint Louis University

Nebraska

Primary care

University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha)

New Mexico

Primary care

University of New Mexico (Albuquerque)

New York

Research

Hofstra University/Northwell Health (Hempstead)

North Carolina

Primary care

East Carolina University (Greenville)

Ohio

Research

Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)

Ohio State University (Columbus)

University of Cincinnati

Pennsylvania

Research

University of Pittsburgh

Tennessee

Vanderbilt University (Nashville)

Texas

Primary care

Texas Tech University Health Science Center (Lubbock)

University of North Texas Health Science Center (Fort Worth)

Research

Baylor College of Medicine (Houston)

​​University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas)