How much does a two-view chest X-ray cost in the US?

Across 1,210 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $112, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $86 and $205. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $224 across the 965 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.

Why do Chest X-Ray prices vary so much?

Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 4.6 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $32.00 in Puerto Rico to $363 in Vermont.

Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?

Sometimes. At 275 of the 965 hospitals that list a cash price (28%), 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?

$89 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 1.3 times it.

All procedures / Chest X-Ray

Chest X-Ray Cost in the US (2026): What 1,210 Hospitals NegotiatedNPI VERIFIED

Across 1,210 US hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate for a two-view chest X-ray is $112 — 1.3× the Medicare outpatient rate of $89. The middle half of hospitals negotiated between $86 and $205; the priciest tenth negotiated more than $333, 4.6× the cheapest tenth (under $73). Hospitals that list a self-pay price ask a median of $224 (965 hospitals).

Code CPT 71046 · 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

$112

all plan types · 1,210 hospitals

Middle half

$86–$205

25th–75th percentile of hospitals

Median cash price

$224

self-pay · 965 hospitals list one

Medicare baseline

$89

CMS OPPS national · July 2026

1,210 hospitals, one bar per price band

median $112Medicare $89

$0$250$500

Each bar counts hospitals whose median rate falls in that price band; the last, dashed bar holds the 25 at $500 or more. The cheapest tenth negotiated under $73, the priciest tenth over $333 — 4.6× 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: 1,210 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. 95 of these 1,210 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)	729	$207	$134 – $329	2.3×
PPO	771	$227	$127 – $340	2.5×
HMO	511	$186	$111 – $284	2.1×
EPO	125	$237	$165 – $406	2.7×
POS	57	$170	$78 – $293	1.9×
ACA Marketplace	472	$146	$115 – $196	1.6×
Medicare Advantage	701	$92	$84 – $124	1.0×
Medicare (as listed)	686	$91	$85 – $109	1.0×
Medicaid	772	$81	$37.37 – $146	0.9×
Federal employees (FEP)	22	$220	$211 – $366	2.5×
Workers' comp	136	$184	$115 – $345	2.1×

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	17	$78	$77 – $81	0.9×	$182
Arizona	12	$99	$95 – $114	1.1×	$109
Arkansas	15	$91	$84 – $108	1.0×	$220
California	44	$112	$104 – $125	1.3×	$263
Colorado	8	$169	$123 – $356	1.9×	$228
Florida	47	$102	$96 – $127	1.1×	$350
Georgia	33	$94	$90 – $147	1.1×	$176
Hawaii	8	$107	$87 – $172	1.2×	$262
Idaho	11	$268	$138 – $294	3.0×	$319
Illinois	46	$144	$95 – $318	1.6×	$286
Indiana	27	$237	$154 – $314	2.7×	$250
Iowa	47	$140	$91 – $186	1.6×	$201
Kansas	45	$210	$141 – $272	2.4×	$222
Kentucky	36	$125	$86 – $183	1.4×	$224
Louisiana	28	$89	$79 – $137	1.0×	$176
Maine	9	$98	$86 – $149	1.1×	$147
Maryland	10	$188	$163 – $244	2.1×	$184
Massachusetts	8	$136	$105 – $213	1.5×	$308
Michigan	32	$86	$81 – $91	1.0×	$116
Minnesota	30	$206	$124 – $256	2.3×	$243
Mississippi	23	$77	$64 – $81	0.9×	$173
Missouri	29	$86	$81 – $98	1.0×	$240
Montana	19	$184	$100 – $276	2.1×	$217
Nebraska	29	$199	$95 – $284	2.2×	$339
Nevada	8	$79	$79 – $162	0.9×	$724
New Hampshire	6	$164	$117 – $214	1.8×	$957
New Jersey	22	$126	$99 – $126	1.4×	$113
New Mexico	17	$270	$98 – $335	3.0×	$196
New York	39	$104	$87 – $112	1.2×	$159
North Carolina	23	$88	$85 – $159	1.0×	$234
North Dakota	14	$178	$121 – $231	2.0×	$173
Ohio	58	$120	$84 – $170	1.4×	$301
Oklahoma	36	$103	$69 – $172	1.2×	$175
Oregon	22	$112	$109 – $158	1.3×	$177
Pennsylvania	59	$91	$85 – $108	1.0×	$188
Puerto Rico	12	$32.00	$25.52 – $32.00	0.4×	$46.00
Rhode Island	5	$160	$60 – $160	1.8×	$184
South Carolina	27	$83	$82 – $88	0.9×	$306
South Dakota	11	$343	$285 – $394	3.9×	$413
Tennessee	23	$84	$80 – $87	0.9×	$77
Texas	99	$116	$87 – $203	1.3×	$202
Utah	21	$336	$306 – $365	3.8×	$358
Vermont	9	$363	$306 – $392	4.1×	$452
Virginia	19	$209	$92 – $264	2.3×	$165
Washington	16	$179	$129 – $227	2.0×	$292
West Virginia	7	$194	$58 – $317	2.2×	$333
Wisconsin	27	$139	$93 – $196	1.6×	$190
Wyoming	9	$328	$192 – $439	3.7×	$304

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

States with at least 5 hospitals in our data (48 states). 3 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 a two-view chest X-ray cost in the US?: Across 1,210 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $112, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $86 and $205. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $224 across the 965 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.
Why do Chest X-Ray prices vary so much?: Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 4.6 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $32.00 in Puerto Rico to $363 in Vermont.
Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?: Sometimes. At 275 of the 965 hospitals that list a cash price (28%), 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?: $89 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 1.3 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

Neck MRI

median $533 · 1,177 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

Lower Back X-Ray

median $157 · 1,206 hospitals

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