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Procedure price report · Computerized axial tomography (CT) scan head

CT scan of the head with contrast

CPT 70460the billing code this page is about

A computed tomography scan of the head or brain performed after contrast dye is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,365 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,275 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,411. Most fall between $674 and $2,453 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,275
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 3,275 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
$411$798$1,365$2,139$3,708

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($411 vs $3,708).

How the prices are spread

$241 – $329: 62 hospitals$241$329 – $450: 157 hospitals$450 – $615: 203 hospitals$450$615 – $841: 278 hospitals$841 – $1,149: 449 hospitals$841$1,149 – $1,571: 610 hospitals$1,571 – $2,147: 540 hospitals$1,571$2,147 – $2,934: 328 hospitals$2,934 – $4,011: 209 hospitals$2,934$4,011 – $5,482: 113 hospitals$4,011median $1,365price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,949 of 3,275 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$241$32962
$329$450157
$450$615203
$615$841278
$841$1,149449
$1,149$1,571610
$1,571$2,147540
$2,147$2,934328
$2,934$4,011209
$4,011$5,482113

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$1,365
Cash as a multiple of Medicare7.6×

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 $1,365.

Alaska: median $2,323 across 17 hospitalsAK$2,323Maine: median $889 across 25 hospitalsME$889Vermont: median $2,160 across 12 hospitalsVT$2,160New Hampshire: median $1,332 across 21 hospitalsNH$1,332Washington: median $1,343 across 70 hospitalsWA$1,343Idaho: median $1,093 across 22 hospitalsID$1,093Montana: median $1,256 across 19 hospitalsMT$1,256North Dakota: median $1,267 across 30 hospitalsND$1,267Minnesota: median $1,203 across 90 hospitalsMN$1,203Illinois: median $2,040 across 132 hospitalsIL$2,040Wisconsin: median $1,392 across 106 hospitalsWI$1,392Michigan: median $1,184 across 84 hospitalsMI$1,184New York: median $802 across 111 hospitalsNY$802Massachusetts: median $1,358 across 51 hospitalsMA$1,358Oregon: median $1,214 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,214Nevada: median $1,750 across 20 hospitalsNV$1,750Wyoming: median $1,339 across 14 hospitalsWY$1,339South Dakota: median $2,447 across 28 hospitalsSD$2,447Iowa: median $1,530 across 81 hospitalsIA$1,530Indiana: median $746 across 95 hospitalsIN$746Ohio: median $1,016 across 140 hospitalsOH$1,016Pennsylvania: median $1,293 across 111 hospitalsPA$1,293New Jersey: median $390 across 58 hospitalsNJ$390Connecticut: median $1,201 across 22 hospitalsCT$1,201Rhode Island: median $1,260 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,260California: median $2,704 across 214 hospitalsCA$2,704Utah: median $1,574 across 40 hospitalsUT$1,574Colorado: median $1,674 across 66 hospitalsCO$1,674Nebraska: median $2,135 across 80 hospitalsNE$2,135Missouri: median $1,223 across 75 hospitalsMO$1,223Kentucky: median $1,256 across 66 hospitalsKY$1,256West Virginia: median $1,119 across 40 hospitalsWV$1,119Virginia: median $1,220 across 70 hospitalsVA$1,220Maryland: median $148 across 37 hospitalsMD$148Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,147 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,147New Mexico: median $1,728 across 29 hospitalsNM$1,728Kansas: median $1,094 across 80 hospitalsKS$1,094Arkansas: median $601 across 36 hospitalsAR$601Tennessee: median $840 across 78 hospitalsTN$840North Carolina: median $1,520 across 88 hospitalsNC$1,520South Carolina: median $1,717 across 52 hospitalsSC$1,717Oklahoma: median $1,193 across 70 hospitalsOK$1,193Louisiana: median $750 across 55 hospitalsLA$750Mississippi: median $795 across 49 hospitalsMS$795Alabama: median $1,037 across 42 hospitalsAL$1,037Georgia: median $1,125 across 106 hospitalsGA$1,125Hawaii: median $1,408 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,408Texas: median $1,726 across 240 hospitalsTX$1,726Florida: median $3,568 across 171 hospitalsFL$3,568
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,365. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL171$3,568+161%$1,270 – $10,590
California CA214$2,704+98%$1,234 – $4,718
South Dakota SD28$2,447+79%$2,233 – $3,214
Alaska AK17$2,323+70%$1,249 – $3,065
Vermont VT12$2,160+58%$1,206 – $2,446
Nebraska NE80$2,135+56%$1,406 – $2,544
Illinois IL132$2,040+49%$1,023 – $2,922
Nevada NV20$1,750+28%$584 – $2,806
New Mexico NM29$1,728+27%$1,238 – $2,416
Texas TX240$1,726+26%$1,077 – $4,136
South Carolina SC52$1,717+26%$1,120 – $2,264
Colorado CO66$1,674+23%$1,135 – $2,604
Utah UT40$1,574+15%$1,345 – $1,664
Iowa IA81$1,530+12%$1,117 – $2,049
North Carolina NC88$1,520+11%$1,062 – $1,887
Hawaii HI17$1,408+3%$1,011 – $1,865
Wisconsin WI106$1,392+2%$479 – $1,690
Massachusetts MA51$1,358−1%$902 – $1,991
Washington WA70$1,343−2%$866 – $1,762
Wyoming WY14$1,339−2%$812 – $2,271
New Hampshire NH21$1,332−2%$932 – $3,370
Pennsylvania PA111$1,293−5%$401 – $2,785
North Dakota ND30$1,267−7%$1,026 – $1,529
Rhode Island RI10$1,260−8%$415 – $1,881
Kentucky KY66$1,256−8%$743 – $2,034
Montana MT19$1,256−8%$938 – $1,825
Missouri MO75$1,223−10%$797 – $2,048
Virginia VA70$1,220−11%$853 – $2,964
Oregon OR46$1,214−11%$646 – $1,761
Minnesota MN90$1,203−12%$605 – $1,628
Connecticut CT22$1,201−12%$705 – $1,708
Oklahoma OK70$1,193−13%$823 – $1,823
Michigan MI84$1,184−13%$428 – $2,085
Arizona AZ53$1,147−16%$340 – $4,297
Georgia GA106$1,125−18%$597 – $1,941
West Virginia WV40$1,119−18%$674 – $1,964
Kansas KS80$1,094−20%$676 – $1,808
Idaho ID22$1,093−20%$899 – $1,474
Alabama AL42$1,037−24%$639 – $2,506
Ohio OH140$1,016−26%$798 – $1,496
Maine ME25$889−35%$462 – $1,741
Tennessee TN78$840−38%$411 – $1,459
New York NY111$802−41%$264 – $2,091
Mississippi MS49$795−42%$614 – $1,005
Louisiana LA55$750−45%$385 – $1,363
Indiana IN95$746−45%$470 – $1,566
Arkansas AR36$601−56%$384 – $1,312
New Jersey NJ58$390−71%$210 – $1,056
Maryland MD37$148−89%$103 – $198
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 $1,365.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,343$1,344$613 – $2,704
Children’s65$1,817$1,186 – $3,045
Critical access857$1,366$787 – $2,104
Ownership
For-profit477$1,961$882 – $6,838
Government589$1,300$672 – $2,077
Non-profit2,199$1,300$643 – $2,260
System affiliation
Part of a system2,701$1,381$685 – $2,580
Independent574$1,260$637 – $2,110

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,326
Median cash price$1,365
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

2,211 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,427 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,461; most fall between $745 and $2,447.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,211 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
$475$854$1,427$2,164$3,423

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($475 vs $3,423).

Of the 2,455 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,211 gave a usable cash price; 136 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,275 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,620 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,275
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here225
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 — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code3,620

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 Computerized axial tomography (CT) scan head family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC CT Head W Contrast.

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, “CT scan of the head with contrast (CPT 70460) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70460-ct-scan-of-the-head-with-contrast