Best Mattresses for Back Sleepers

The mattresses we highlight below all earned high Overall Scores, which take into account a range of factors that all sleepers desire, including stability and durability. They also all come from brands that received satisfactory to excellent ratings for comfort and owner satisfaction, based on CR members’ experiences with nearly 67,000 mattresses. And most important? These mattresses earned top-notch ratings in support for small, medium, and large back sleepers. (Many received near top-level marks for side sleepers, too.)

A mattress won’t offer the same level of support for a large person as it would for a small one. That’s why we test each mattress with people of different sizes. To accomplish this for back sleepers, we graph a mattress tester’s neutral spine position as they’re standing. Next, using 36 sensors, we graph the impression the body makes as the tester lies on each mattress. We then compare the two graphs to evaluate how well they align. If they don’t align well, the mattress isn’t going to be particularly supportive. “A nonsupportive mattress may not conform to the body’s natural curves, and may allow sagging or even flattening of the spine,” says Chris Regan, who oversees mattress testing CR. “It’s that lack of support that makes you shift around on a mattress.”

Back sleepers can find support with all types of mattresses,  from innerspring to foam to adjustable air. To learn more about each category, check out our mattress buying guide.

Innerspring mattresses consist of a layer of steel coils topped with fiber padding or foam. The coils offer resilience and a buoyant feel, but as a result, you may feel some motion transfer from one end of the mattress to the other.

These mattresses, made entirely of foam layers, have a body-conforming feel and, typically, good stabilization. But as a result, they also tend to retain heat and lack resilience.  Regan reports that a greater percentage of foam mattresses score higher for back support than innersprings.

Adjustable air mattresses are typically pricey, but sleep partners appreciate that each side can be inflated (or deflated) to match their own comfort needs.