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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the skull, complete set of views

CPT 70260the billing code this page is about

A skull X-ray study using four or more views.

Hospitals typically charge $355 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,174 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $371. Most fall between $178 and $651 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,174
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 3,174 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
$125$214$355$556$1,008

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($125 vs $1,008).

How the prices are spread

$100 – $132: 208 hospitals$100$132 – $175: 253 hospitals$175 – $232: 285 hospitals$175$232 – $308: 464 hospitals$308 – $408: 458 hospitals$308$408 – $540: 519 hospitals$540 – $715: 294 hospitals$540$715 – $948: 169 hospitals$948 – $1,255: 138 hospitals$948$1,255 – $1,663: 71 hospitals$1,255median $355price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,859 of 3,174 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$100$132208
$132$175253
$175$232285
$232$308464
$308$408458
$408$540519
$540$715294
$715$948169
$948$1,255138
$1,255$1,66371

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$355
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.3×

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 $355.

Alaska: median $420 across 15 hospitalsAK$420Maine: median $282 across 25 hospitalsME$282Vermont: median $664 across 12 hospitalsVT$664New Hampshire: median $334 across 19 hospitalsNH$334Washington: median $368 across 66 hospitalsWA$368Idaho: median $441 across 21 hospitalsID$441Montana: median $226 across 17 hospitalsMT$226North Dakota: median $202 across 28 hospitalsND$202Minnesota: median $270 across 77 hospitalsMN$270Illinois: median $454 across 122 hospitalsIL$454Wisconsin: median $304 across 99 hospitalsWI$304Michigan: median $246 across 84 hospitalsMI$246New York: median $275 across 102 hospitalsNY$275Massachusetts: median $494 across 50 hospitalsMA$494Oregon: median $324 across 45 hospitalsOR$324Nevada: median $446 across 20 hospitalsNV$446Wyoming: median $357 across 14 hospitalsWY$357South Dakota: median $482 across 24 hospitalsSD$482Iowa: median $281 across 77 hospitalsIA$281Indiana: median $299 across 86 hospitalsIN$299Ohio: median $377 across 142 hospitalsOH$377Pennsylvania: median $292 across 114 hospitalsPA$292New Jersey: median $146 across 57 hospitalsNJ$146Connecticut: median $366 across 21 hospitalsCT$366Rhode Island: median $288 across 10 hospitalsRI$288California: median $611 across 215 hospitalsCA$611Utah: median $472 across 39 hospitalsUT$472Colorado: median $393 across 63 hospitalsCO$393Nebraska: median $412 across 71 hospitalsNE$412Missouri: median $309 across 74 hospitalsMO$309Kentucky: median $427 across 66 hospitalsKY$427West Virginia: median $275 across 41 hospitalsWV$275Virginia: median $516 across 70 hospitalsVA$516Maryland: median $249 across 38 hospitalsMD$249Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $178 across 51 hospitalsAZ$178New Mexico: median $344 across 28 hospitalsNM$344Kansas: median $311 across 77 hospitalsKS$311Arkansas: median $166 across 29 hospitalsAR$166Tennessee: median $142 across 76 hospitalsTN$142North Carolina: median $339 across 93 hospitalsNC$339South Carolina: median $385 across 52 hospitalsSC$385Oklahoma: median $270 across 66 hospitalsOK$270Louisiana: median $184 across 53 hospitalsLA$184Mississippi: median $160 across 49 hospitalsMS$160Alabama: median $268 across 42 hospitalsAL$268Georgia: median $299 across 104 hospitalsGA$299Hawaii: median $423 across 19 hospitalsHI$423Texas: median $494 across 238 hospitalsTX$494Florida: median $910 across 167 hospitalsFL$910
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $355. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL167$910+157%$423 – $3,141
Vermont VT12$664+87%$444 – $949
California CA215$611+72%$267 – $1,008
Virginia VA70$516+46%$226 – $847
Massachusetts MA50$494+39%$360 – $611
Texas TX238$494+39%$271 – $1,294
South Dakota SD24$482+36%$443 – $622
Utah UT39$472+33%$356 – $636
Illinois IL122$454+28%$257 – $798
Nevada NV20$446+26%$197 – $718
Idaho ID21$441+24%$238 – $472
Kentucky KY66$427+20%$237 – $779
Hawaii HI19$423+19%$322 – $495
Alaska AK15$420+18%$128 – $725
Nebraska NE71$412+16%$318 – $527
Colorado CO63$393+11%$283 – $853
South Carolina SC52$385+9%$165 – $647
Ohio OH142$377+6%$281 – $534
Washington WA66$368+4%$292 – $511
Connecticut CT21$366+3%$215 – $500
Wyoming WY14$357+1%$91 – $690
New Mexico NM28$344−3%$245 – $630
North Carolina NC93$339−4%$221 – $492
New Hampshire NH19$334−6%$227 – $588
Oregon OR45$324−9%$189 – $469
Kansas KS77$311−12%$234 – $503
Missouri MO74$309−13%$178 – $523
Wisconsin WI99$304−14%$148 – $418
Indiana IN86$299−16%$212 – $427
Georgia GA104$299−16%$138 – $616
Pennsylvania PA114$292−18%$149 – $766
Rhode Island RI10$288−19%$149 – $349
Maine ME25$282−21%$117 – $535
Iowa IA77$281−21%$233 – $394
New York NY102$275−22%$126 – $595
West Virginia WV41$275−23%$207 – $374
Oklahoma OK66$270−24%$159 – $418
Minnesota MN77$270−24%$138 – $463
Alabama AL42$268−24%$141 – $540
Maryland MD38$249−30%$171 – $322
Michigan MI84$246−31%$177 – $518
Montana MT17$226−36%$204 – $386
North Dakota ND28$202−43%$158 – $349
Louisiana LA53$184−48%$111 – $311
Arizona AZ51$178−50%$121 – $690
Arkansas AR29$166−53%$102 – $404
Mississippi MS49$160−55%$107 – $273
New Jersey NJ57$146−59%$123 – $385
Tennessee TN76$142−60%$109 – $448
Delaware DE6not 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 $355.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,286$368$175 – $735
Children’s64$481$308 – $785
Critical access814$311$178 – $481
Ownership
For-profit471$532$212 – $1,863
Government566$305$158 – $492
Non-profit2,127$351$181 – $611
System affiliation
Part of a system2,610$367$190 – $671
Independent564$307$151 – $521

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$595
Median cash price$355
Cash as a share of list, median hospital64%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 36%. 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

2,180 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $373 and the average of the middle 60% is $389; most fall between $199 and $650.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,180 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
$133$228$373$567$899

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($133 vs $899).

Of the 2,428 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,180 gave a usable cash price; 141 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 107 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,174 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (80%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,521 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,174
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here228
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded118
Hospitals that filed this code3,521

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 July 20, 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 Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Radiologic Exam Skull Complete Minimum 4 Views|PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT.

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, “X-ray of the skull, complete set of views (CPT 70260) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70260-x-ray-of-the-skull-complete-set-of-views