Mayo Clinic

Overview

Mayo Clinic’s long run at the top of hospital rankings is downstream of a legal structure most profiles never mention. In 1919, the Mayo brothers signed a Deed of Gift transferring all of their practice’s assets and most of their personal savings — about $10 million at the time — to a nonprofit entity, the Mayo Properties Association, dedicating all proceeds beyond operating expenses to education, research, and patient care (Eighth Circuit). From that point, Mayo physicians were employees on fixed salaries with no stake in the clinic’s profits (Eighth Circuit) — removing the financial incentive to compete over patients, and making team-based medicine possible.

Today Mayo Clinic is a Minnesota nonprofit corporation, tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota (Eighth Circuit). In 2024 it reported revenue of $19.8 billion and a record $1.293 billion in operating income, employing nearly 83,000 people — about 57,000 in Minnesota, where it is the state’s largest health system and largest employer (Twin Cities Business).

What the organization is known for

Mayo Clinic is known above all for an unmatched rankings record. It led U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” for 2025-2026 — the 36th time since the rankings began — with more specialties in the top three than any other U.S. hospital (Newswise). It is the only organization with two hospitals on the Honor Roll: Rochester (highest overall point total) and Arizona (ninth consecutive year) (Newswise). In the 2026-27 edition, all three main campuses — Rochester, Jacksonville, and Phoenix — made the Honor Roll; Rochester ranked No. 1 in Minnesota, No. 1 in gastroenterology surgery, and No. 3 in orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology (FOX 9). Separately, Newsweek and Statista ranked Mayo Clinic in Rochester the world’s best hospital for the fifth straight year, evaluating 2,500+ hospitals on physician recommendations, patient satisfaction, quality metrics, and patient-reported outcomes (Medscape).

Products and services

Mayo Clinic’s work spans integrated clinical care, medical education, and research — its stated three-part mission (Newswise). It operates destination campuses in Rochester (Minnesota), Phoenix/Scottsdale (Arizona), and Jacksonville (Florida), plus the Mayo Clinic Health System regional network, with new bed towers in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Mankato, Minnesota (Becker’s Hospital Review). In 2023 it cared for more than 1.3 million patients from more than 130 countries (Becker’s Hospital Review). Its graduate medical education fellowship program dates to 1915 — one of the world’s first formal programs of its kind — and the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine was established in 1972 (Eighth Circuit). Current strategy initiatives include Mayo Clinic Platform and “Bold. Forward. Unbound.,” blending physical expansion with AI, robotics, and automation (Newswise).

Ownership, founders and leadership

Mayo Clinic traces to 1863, when Dr. William Worrall Mayo, an English-born physician, arrived in Rochester as an examining surgeon for Union Army recruits and settled permanently; his sons, Drs. William J. Mayo and Charles H. Mayo, joined the practice in the 1880s (Eighth Circuit). The founding partnership was with the Sisters of Saint Francis: after an 1883 tornado killed more than twenty people in Rochester, Mother Alfred Moes — who had founded the order there in 1877 — proposed that the sisters build and staff a hospital with Dr. Mayo leading its medical staff (National Catholic Register). Saint Marys Hospital opened in 1889 with 27 beds; the brothers performed the first surgery the day before it opened, and the sisters staffed nursing (Eighth Circuit). By the early 1890s the brothers’ collaborative practice had a national reputation and was known as the Mayo Clinic; the sisters’ collaborative, patient-centered example shaped its team-led consultations (Eighth Circuit; National Catholic Register).

As a nonprofit, Mayo Clinic has no owners in the corporate sense; it is governed as a charitable organization. Its president and CEO is Gianrico Farrugia, M.D. (Newswise); his predecessor John Noseworthy served as CEO from 2009 to 2018 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit).

Funding and acquisitions

As a nonprofit, Mayo Clinic does not raise equity capital; it funds itself from operations and reinvests surpluses. Its 2024 operating income of $1.293 billion on $19.8 billion in revenue set a record (Twin Cities Business). Current capital commitments include a $5 billion redesign of the Rochester campus and a $1.9 billion expansion of the Arizona campus that will increase clinical space there by about 60%, alongside investments in the Jacksonville hospital (Twin Cities Business). No acquisitions were established from the sources read for this profile.

Regulation, licenses and compliance record

Mayo Clinic’s tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) was tested in Mayo Clinic v. United States: after a 2009 audit, the IRS assessed $11,501,621 in unrelated business income tax on Mayo’s debt-financed property, concluding Mayo was not a qualifying educational organization (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit). Mayo paid the assessment and sued for a refund; the district court granted summary judgment, and on July 25, 2025, the Eighth Circuit affirmed, finding that Mayo’s educational purpose is “inextricably intertwined” with its clinical and research functions and dates back to its founding (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit).

Timeline

• 1863 — William Worrall Mayo settles in Rochester as a Union Army examining surgeon (Eighth Circuit).
• 1883 — Rochester tornado; Mother Alfred Moes proposes a hospital partnership (Eighth Circuit).
• 1889 — Saint Marys Hospital opens (27 beds); brothers perform first surgery (Eighth Circuit).
• 1915 — Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research endowed ($2M); fellowships begin (Eighth Circuit).
• 1919 — Deed of Gift creates the nonprofit Mayo Properties Association; salaried physicians (Eighth Circuit).
• 1969 — Foundation merges with the Associates of the Mayo Clinic; 501(c)(3) confirmed (Eighth Circuit).
• 1972 — Mayo Clinic School of Medicine established (Eighth Circuit).
• 2025 — Eighth Circuit affirms Mayo’s tax-exempt educational status (Eighth Circuit).
• 2026 — World’s best hospital (Newsweek/Statista, fifth straight year); U.S. News 2026-27 Honor Roll (Medscape; FOX 9).

Competitors and partners

Mayo Clinic’s historical partner is the Sisters of Saint Francis, whose 1889 hospital partnership and collaborative-care example shaped its team-based model (National Catholic Register). In rankings it is measured alongside peers including the Cleveland Clinic, Toronto General Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Karolinska University Hospital (Medscape). Specific competitive or market-share claims were not established from the sources read and are not stated here.

What this profile does not claim

• This profile does not rank Mayo Clinic’s clinical outcomes against specific competitors; it reports published rankings and their stated methodologies only.
• It does not cover billing, collections, or charity-care controversies — those were not researched from fully-read sources.
• The 2024 patient-volume figure is not stated; only the 2023 figure (>1.3M patients, >130 countries) was verified.
• The Eighth Circuit opinion is a tax decision; its history section is used for uncontested organizational facts, not for legal conclusions beyond the case outcome stated.
• “Mayo Clinic” here means the Rochester-based nonprofit health system — not the Mayo Clinic Health System regional network, the Alix School of Medicine, or Rochester, New York.
• “Saint Marys Hospital” follows Mayo’s own spelling (no apostrophe).