How much does an MRI of the neck (cervical spine) cost in the US?

Across 1,177 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $533, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $290 and $1,462. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $1,742 across the 922 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.

Why do Neck MRI prices vary so much?

Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 10.6 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $216 in Alabama to $3,427 in Utah.

Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?

Sometimes. At 214 of the 922 hospitals that list a cash price (23%), it is lower than that hospital's own median negotiated rate. If you have a high deductible, ask the hospital for its self-pay price before you book.

What is the Medicare rate shown here?

$244 is the CMS national outpatient (OPPS) payment rate for this service (July 2026). We show it as a government baseline: the national median negotiated rate is 2.2 times it.

All procedures / Neck MRI

Neck MRI Cost in the US (2026): What 1,177 Hospitals NegotiatedNPI VERIFIED

Across 1,177 US hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate for an MRI of the neck (cervical spine) is $533 — 2.2× the Medicare outpatient rate of $244. The middle half of hospitals negotiated between $290 and $1,462; the priciest tenth negotiated more than $2,478, 10.6× the cheapest tenth (under $234). Hospitals that list a self-pay price ask a median of $1,742 (922 hospitals).

Code CPT 72141 · Source: hospital machine-readable files (45 CFR §180), file dates 2022-11-12 to 2026-09-28 (median 2026-04-01) · Medicare baseline: CMS OPPS Addendum B, July 2026 · Data extracted 2026-10-06 · Page updated 2026-10-07

National median

$533

all plan types · 1,177 hospitals

Middle half

$290–$1,462

25th–75th percentile of hospitals

Median cash price

$1,742

self-pay · 922 hospitals list one

Medicare baseline

$244

CMS OPPS national · July 2026

1,177 hospitals, one bar per price band

median $533Medicare $244

$0$2,500$5,000

Each bar counts hospitals whose median rate falls in that price band; the last, dashed bar holds the 4 at $5,000 or more. The cheapest tenth negotiated under $234, the priciest tenth over $2,478 — 10.6× apart for the same procedure.

These are contract reference rates, not your bill. A median across hospitals is not a quote for your plan or network. Your out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network status.

This is the hospital's facility fee. The radiologist who reads the images bills separately.

Coverage: 1,177 of the 5,419 hospitals in the CMS roster have an identity-verified price file with this procedure in our data. It is not a random sample, and a hospital missing here has not been judged non-compliant — we may simply not have its file yet. 86 of these 1,177 hospital files were more than 12 months old at extraction — hospitals must update yearly; we keep the figures and say so rather than hide them.

By insurance type

Insurance type	Hospitals	Median	Middle half	× Medicare
Commercial (plan type not stated)	725	$1,420	$579 – $2,523	5.8×
PPO	764	$1,317	$662 – $2,517	5.4×
HMO	514	$888	$503 – $1,926	3.6×
EPO	124	$1,411	$502 – $3,086	5.8×
POS	56	$888	$468 – $2,089	3.6×
ACA Marketplace	471	$516	$361 – $1,242	2.1×
Medicare Advantage	670	$268	$237 – $945	1.1×
Medicare (as listed)	666	$252	$236 – $436	1.0×
Medicaid	746	$480	$266 – $1,099	2.0×
Federal employees (FEP)	22	$2,018	$1,330 – $3,438	8.3×
Workers' comp	133	$1,250	$505 – $2,574	5.1×

Plan types are grouped from each hospital's plan names. Each figure is a median of hospital-level medians; types with fewer than 20 hospitals are left out.

By state

State	Hospitals	Median	Middle half	× Medicare	Median cash
Alabama	13	$216	$213 – $223	0.9×	$1,624
Arizona	12	$271	$264 – $673	1.1×	$726
Arkansas	11	$398	$242 – $747	1.6×	$1,800
California	42	$384	$305 – $866	1.6×	$1,825
Colorado	7	$1,389	$367 – $1,582	5.7×	$977
Florida	47	$395	$272 – $504	1.6×	$2,482
Georgia	31	$386	$312 – $1,413	1.6×	$1,562
Hawaii	7	$294	$238 – $572	1.2×	$1,243
Idaho	12	$1,457	$969 – $1,766	6.0×	$1,788
Illinois	46	$1,221	$412 – $2,073	5.0×	$2,677
Indiana	27	$502	$458 – $932	2.1×	$1,377
Iowa	47	$1,464	$845 – $1,995	6.0×	$2,085
Kansas	46	$935	$667 – $1,459	3.8×	$1,148
Kentucky	40	$675	$365 – $1,084	2.8×	$1,560
Louisiana	24	$437	$282 – $819	1.8×	$1,133
Maine	9	$992	$312 – $1,725	4.1×	$973
Maryland	9	$532	$415 – $699	2.2×	$521
Massachusetts	9	$536	$338 – $1,233	2.2×	$2,374
Michigan	28	$258	$236 – $428	1.1×	$1,392
Minnesota	30	$1,506	$825 – $2,169	6.2×	$2,123
Mississippi	21	$221	$209 – $296	0.9×	$1,299
Missouri	29	$287	$239 – $786	1.2×	$1,885
Montana	18	$1,304	$389 – $1,737	5.3×	$1,748
Nebraska	31	$2,262	$489 – $3,524	9.3×	$3,246
Nevada	8	$396	$396 – $778	1.6×	$3,951
New Hampshire	6	$700	$384 – $1,111	2.9×	$5,708
New Jersey	23	$414	$285 – $414	1.7×	$595
New Mexico	16	$1,009	$394 – $1,617	4.1×	$1,569
New York	37	$390	$317 – $541	1.6×	$972
North Carolina	22	$574	$244 – $1,061	2.4×	$1,632
North Dakota	13	$1,737	$1,351 – $2,430	7.1×	$1,761
Ohio	58	$363	$246 – $617	1.5×	$1,771
Oklahoma	34	$379	$222 – $827	1.6×	$1,601
Oregon	22	$414	$321 – $707	1.7×	$1,776
Pennsylvania	59	$447	$293 – $963	1.8×	$1,742
Rhode Island	5	$365	$357 – $396	1.5×	$1,403
South Carolina	26	$240	$235 – $352	1.0×	$2,076
South Dakota	11	$3,367	$2,888 – $3,732	13.8×	$3,808
Tennessee	23	$235	$232 – $418	1.0×	$728
Texas	100	$799	$323 – $1,507	3.3×	$1,570
Utah	21	$3,427	$2,404 – $3,519	14.1×	$3,569
Vermont	8	$2,260	$1,131 – $2,647	9.3×	$3,072
Virginia	19	$679	$407 – $1,406	2.8×	$1,397
Washington	16	$1,187	$844 – $1,812	4.9×	$2,220
West Virginia	7	$1,965	$197 – $2,928	8.1×	$1,778
Wisconsin	27	$1,074	$503 – $1,499	4.4×	$2,110
Wyoming	8	$1,660	$1,612 – $2,446	6.8×	$1,371

middle half of hospitalsstate medianMedicare rate · a dotted end means the range runs past $2,500

States with at least 5 hospitals in our data (47 states). 4 smaller states are counted in the national figures but not listed — a median of two or three hospitals says more about those hospitals than about the state.

Get the data

Hospital-level and insurer-level rates for this procedure are in the full dataset. A free three-procedure sample (brain MRI, head CT, diagnostic colonoscopy) is open under CC BY 4.0: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23199844 · Kaggle.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an MRI of the neck (cervical spine) cost in the US?: Across 1,177 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $533, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $290 and $1,462. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $1,742 across the 922 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.
Why do Neck MRI prices vary so much?: Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 10.6 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $216 in Alabama to $3,427 in Utah.
Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?: Sometimes. At 214 of the 922 hospitals that list a cash price (23%), it is lower than that hospital's own median negotiated rate. If you have a high deductible, ask the hospital for its self-pay price before you book.
What is the Medicare rate shown here?: $244 is the CMS national outpatient (OPPS) payment rate for this service (July 2026). We show it as a government baseline: the national median negotiated rate is 2.2 times it.

Other imaging prices

Brain MRI

median $799 · 1,185 hospitals

Knee MRI

median $567 · 1,191 hospitals

Lower Back MRI

median $528 · 1,186 hospitals

Head CT Scan

median $303 · 1,227 hospitals

Chest CT Scan

median $448 · 1,215 hospitals

Abdomen & Pelvis CT Scan

median $676 · 1,225 hospitals

Sinus CT Scan

median $296 · 1,215 hospitals

Abdominal Ultrasound

median $217 · 1,213 hospitals

Chest X-Ray

median $112 · 1,210 hospitals

Lower Back X-Ray

median $157 · 1,206 hospitals

See all 30 procedures →