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Procedure price report · Tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy

Tonsil and adenoid removal, age 12 or older

CPT 42821the billing code this page is about

Surgical removal of both the tonsils and the adenoids in a patient 12 years of age or older.

Hospitals typically charge $2,633 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 846 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,870. Most fall between $651 and $7,625 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
846
States
48
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 846 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$456$747$2,633$5,821$11,148

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 24× what the cheapest tenth charges ($456 vs $11,148).

How the prices are spread

$332 – $486: 59 hospitals$332$486 – $712: 85 hospitals$712 – $1,043: 109 hospitals$712$1,043 – $1,528: 52 hospitals$1,528 – $2,239: 58 hospitals$1,528$2,239 – $3,279: 55 hospitals$3,279 – $4,803: 131 hospitals$3,279$4,803 – $7,036: 74 hospitals$7,036 – $10,306: 79 hospitals$7,036$10,306 – $15,095: 60 hospitals$10,306median $2,633price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (762 of 846 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$332$48659
$486$71285
$712$1,043109
$1,043$1,52852
$1,528$2,23958
$2,239$3,27955
$3,279$4,803131
$4,803$7,03674
$7,036$10,30679
$10,306$15,09560

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,387
Median cash price$2,633
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.78×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $2,633.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,150 across 16 hospitalsWA$1,150Idaho: median $7,224 across 13 hospitalsID$7,224Montana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,005 across 34 hospitalsMN$1,005Illinois: median $1,362 across 32 hospitalsIL$1,362Wisconsin: median $1,617 across 35 hospitalsWI$1,617Michigan: median $860 across 43 hospitalsMI$860New York: median $3,838 across 54 hospitalsNY$3,838Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $858 across 24 hospitalsOR$858Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $746 across 42 hospitalsIA$746Indiana: median $1,054 across 20 hospitalsIN$1,054Ohio: median $3,601 across 43 hospitalsOH$3,601Pennsylvania: median $3,802 across 27 hospitalsPA$3,802New Jersey: median $4,290 across 33 hospitalsNJ$4,290Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,456 across 53 hospitalsCA$1,456Utah: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $6,103 across 15 hospitalsCO$6,103Nebraska: median $1,106 across 22 hospitalsNE$1,106Missouri: median $2,089 across 22 hospitalsMO$2,089Kentucky: median $581 across 11 hospitalsKY$581West Virginia: median $818 across 23 hospitalsWV$818Virginia: median $3,289 across 13 hospitalsVA$3,289Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $2,187 across 21 hospitalsKS$2,187Arkansas: median $2,571 across 13 hospitalsAR$2,571Tennessee: median $3,903 across 11 hospitalsTN$3,903North Carolina: median $2,996 across 12 hospitalsNC$2,996South Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $643 across 20 hospitalsOK$643Louisiana: median $4,677 across 15 hospitalsLA$4,677Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $6,521 across 11 hospitalsAL$6,521Georgia: median $11,148 across 13 hospitalsGA$11,148Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,780 across 39 hospitalsTX$3,780Florida: median $4,197 across 15 hospitalsFL$4,197
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,633. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA13$11,148+323%$1,534 – $11,148
Idaho ID13$7,224+174%$2,714 – $8,795
Alabama AL11$6,521+148%$855 – $9,098
Colorado CO15$6,103+132%$1,656 – $8,292
Louisiana LA15$4,677+78%$1,999 – $5,496
New Jersey NJ33$4,290+63%$3,590 – $5,741
Florida FL15$4,197+59%$1,134 – $11,501
Tennessee TN11$3,903+48%$296 – $4,511
New York NY54$3,838+46%$770 – $22,972
Pennsylvania PA27$3,802+44%$198 – $6,944
Texas TX39$3,780+44%$3,110 – $9,667
Ohio OH43$3,601+37%$1,134 – $11,136
Virginia VA13$3,289+25%$207 – $11,981
North Carolina NC12$2,996+14%$692 – $9,407
Arkansas AR13$2,571−2%$524 – $3,557
Kansas KS21$2,187−17%$612 – $3,775
Missouri MO22$2,089−21%$459 – $8,179
Wisconsin WI35$1,617−39%$1,617 – $2,633
California CA53$1,456−45%$1,284 – $10,080
Illinois IL32$1,362−48%$526 – $10,957
Washington WA16$1,150−56%$581 – $8,664
Nebraska NE22$1,106−58%$621 – $3,410
Indiana IN20$1,054−60%$429 – $7,816
Minnesota MN34$1,005−62%$614 – $2,425
Michigan MI43$860−67%$477 – $4,776
Oregon OR24$858−67%$564 – $5,750
West Virginia WV23$818−69%$320 – $4,130
Iowa IA42$746−72%$711 – $1,539
Oklahoma OK20$643−76%$643 – $5,131
Kentucky KY11$581−78%$429 – $5,948
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $2,633.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care607$3,652$747 – $9,876
Children’s15fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access223$905$551 – $3,410
Ownership
For-profit101$4,552$1,617 – $9,606
Government162$1,350$614 – $4,197
Non-profit582$2,467$643 – $8,243
System affiliation
Part of a system657$3,044$691 – $8,795
Independent189$1,534$595 – $5,172

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,800
Median cash price$2,633
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

402 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,054 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,531; most fall between $477 and $4,572.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 402 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$343$564$1,054$3,638$8,795

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 26× what the cheapest tenth charges ($343 vs $8,795).

Of the 445 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 402 gave a usable cash price; 20 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 23 a list price only.

How complete is this

846 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (21%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 934 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted846
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here54
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded5
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded28
Hospitals that filed this code934

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Tonsillectomy & Adenoidectomy Age 12/>.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Tonsil and adenoid removal, age 12 or older (CPT 42821) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-42821-tonsil-and-adenoid-removal-age-12-or-older