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Procedure price report · Tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy

Tonsil removal, age 12 or older

CPT 42826the billing code this page is about

Surgical removal of the tonsils, whether a first operation or a repeat after earlier tonsil surgery, in a patient 12 or older.

Hospitals typically charge $2,378 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 881 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,683. Most fall between $556 and $7,224 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
881
States
50
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 881 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
$377$625$2,378$5,741$11,230

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 30× what the cheapest tenth charges ($377 vs $11,230).

How the prices are spread

$278 – $415: 66 hospitals$278$415 – $619: 95 hospitals$619 – $924: 114 hospitals$619$924 – $1,379: 49 hospitals$1,379 – $2,058: 57 hospitals$1,379$2,058 – $3,072: 70 hospitals$3,072 – $4,585: 113 hospitals$3,072$4,585 – $6,843: 89 hospitals$6,843 – $10,214: 85 hospitals$6,843$10,214 – $15,245: 56 hospitals$10,214median $2,378price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (794 of 881 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$278$41566
$415$61995
$619$924114
$924$1,37949
$1,379$2,05857
$2,058$3,07270
$3,072$4,585113
$4,585$6,84389
$6,843$10,21485
$10,214$15,24556

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,387
Median cash price$2,378
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.70×

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 $2,378.

Alaska: 4 hospitals 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 $950 across 15 hospitalsWA$950Idaho: median $7,224 across 13 hospitalsID$7,224Montana: 9 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 $782 across 38 hospitalsMN$782Illinois: median $836 across 36 hospitalsIL$836Wisconsin: median $1,359 across 36 hospitalsWI$1,359Michigan: median $751 across 44 hospitalsMI$751New York: median $3,838 across 58 hospitalsNY$3,838Massachusetts: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $658 across 23 hospitalsOR$658Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $622 across 46 hospitalsIA$622Indiana: median $688 across 19 hospitalsIN$688Ohio: median $6,654 across 37 hospitalsOH$6,654Pennsylvania: median $1,981 across 28 hospitalsPA$1,981New Jersey: median $4,327 across 34 hospitalsNJ$4,327Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $4,243 across 58 hospitalsCA$4,243Utah: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $5,265 across 15 hospitalsCO$5,265Nebraska: median $954 across 20 hospitalsNE$954Missouri: median $3,200 across 27 hospitalsMO$3,200Kentucky: median $563 across 12 hospitalsKY$563West Virginia: median $2,138 across 23 hospitalsWV$2,138Virginia: median $8,506 across 11 hospitalsVA$8,506Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $2,218 across 24 hospitalsKS$2,218Arkansas: median $2,416 across 13 hospitalsAR$2,416Tennessee: median $4,145 across 11 hospitalsTN$4,145North Carolina: median $2,996 across 12 hospitalsNC$2,996South Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $538 across 17 hospitalsOK$538Louisiana: median $4,410 across 12 hospitalsLA$4,410Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $3,300 across 11 hospitalsAL$3,300Georgia: median $9,791 across 15 hospitalsGA$9,791Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $4,424 across 41 hospitalsTX$4,424Florida: median $9,647 across 21 hospitalsFL$9,647
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,378. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA15$9,791+312%$1,360 – $9,791
Florida FL21$9,647+306%$3,255 – $33,427
Virginia VA11$8,506+258%$174 – $14,221
Idaho ID13$7,224+204%$2,714 – $8,795
Ohio OH37$6,654+180%$774 – $13,955
Colorado CO15$5,265+121%$380 – $8,292
Texas TX41$4,424+86%$2,736 – $8,266
Louisiana LA12$4,410+85%$1,863 – $6,505
New Jersey NJ34$4,327+82%$3,593 – $5,855
California CA58$4,243+78%$1,456 – $8,658
Tennessee TN11$4,145+74%$247 – $4,706
New York NY58$3,838+61%$734 – $4,595
Alabama AL11$3,300+39%$714 – $8,672
Missouri MO27$3,200+35%$394 – $6,924
North Carolina NC12$2,996+26%$1,729 – $5,804
Arkansas AR13$2,416+2%$655 – $2,948
Kansas KS24$2,218−7%$549 – $3,788
West Virginia WV23$2,138−10%$268 – $4,002
Pennsylvania PA28$1,981−17%$130 – $6,792
Wisconsin WI36$1,359−43%$1,309 – $2,511
Nebraska NE20$954−60%$523 – $2,519
Washington WA15$950−60%$475 – $4,836
Illinois IL36$836−65%$444 – $6,481
Minnesota MN38$782−67%$463 – $1,465
Michigan MI44$751−68%$406 – $5,296
Indiana IN19$688−71%$342 – $13,369
Oregon OR23$658−72%$475 – $751
Iowa IA46$622−74%$569 – $3,413
Kentucky KY12$563−76%$342 – $7,328
Oklahoma OK17$538−77%$538 – $4,874
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not 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 SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $2,378.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care636$3,618$656 – $8,658
Children’s13fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access231$751$452 – $2,511
Ownership
For-profit101$4,620$1,855 – $10,552
Government172$1,118$512 – $4,069
Non-profit607$2,077$539 – $7,268
System affiliation
Part of a system681$2,727$583 – $8,298
Independent200$1,212$496 – $4,586

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,212
Median cash price$2,378
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

407 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $869 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,363; most fall between $390 and $4,885.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 407 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
$291$475$869$3,439$8,658

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 30× what the cheapest tenth charges ($291 vs $8,658).

Of the 456 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 407 gave a usable cash price; 24 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 25 a list price only.

How complete is this

881 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (22%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 972 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted881
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here55
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded5
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded31
Hospitals that filed this code972

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 Primary/Secondary 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 removal, age 12 or older (CPT 42826) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-42826-tonsil-removal-age-12-or-older