California has 38 critical access hospitals: 2.8% of the US total of 1,380. That ranks #12 by count and #41 per person (0.1 per 100,000 residents) of 51.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital data, July 2026. Every hospital CMS lists as critical access, geocoded from its address. Critical access means 25 beds or fewer, usually 35 miles or more from another hospital.
Licence: U.S. government data: no copyright, free to reuse
Local blogs, news sites, parks pages: embed the live interactive map with one snippet. Attribution stays on, that's the whole deal.
<iframe src="https://get-instamaps.com/embed/rankings/critical-access-hospitals/california" width="100%" height="440" style="border:2px solid #111" loading="lazy" title="California critical access hospitals map — InstaMaps"></iframe>Eastern Plumas Hospital - Portola Campus, Portola, CA · Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley, Tehachapi, CA · Southern Inyo Hospital, Lone Pine, CA · Mammoth Hospital, Mammoth Lakes, CA · John C Fremont Healthcare District, Mariposa, CA · Mayers Memorial Hospital, Fall River Mills, CA · Glenn Medical Center, Willows, CA · Catalina Island Medical Center, Avalon, CA · Surprise Valley Community Hospital, Cedarville, CA · Jerold Phelps Community Hospital, Garberville, CA · Adventist Health Howard Memorial, Willits, CA · Orchard Hospital, Gridley, CA
"California has 38 critical access hospitals, #12 in the US by count and #41 per person (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, July 2026, mapped by InstaMaps)." Free to quote with a link to this page. Population: US Census 2024 estimates.