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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the brain without contrast

CPT 70551the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, including the brain stem, performed without injected contrast dye.

Hospitals typically charge $1,765 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,266 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,835. Most fall between $818 and $3,171 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,266
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 3,266 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
$502$971$1,765$2,857$4,392

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($502 vs $4,392).

How the prices are spread

$321 – $436: 90 hospitals$321$436 – $591: 174 hospitals$591 – $802: 210 hospitals$591$802 – $1,087: 320 hospitals$1,087 – $1,475: 401 hospitals$1,087$1,475 – $2,000: 473 hospitals$2,000 – $2,713: 552 hospitals$2,000$2,713 – $3,680: 398 hospitals$3,680 – $4,991: 210 hospitals$3,680$4,991 – $6,770: 112 hospitals$4,991median $1,765price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,940 of 3,266 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$321$43690
$436$591174
$591$802210
$802$1,087320
$1,087$1,475401
$1,475$2,000473
$2,000$2,713552
$2,713$3,680398
$3,680$4,991210
$4,991$6,770112

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$244
Median cash price$1,765
Cash as a multiple of Medicare7.2×

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 $1,765.

Alaska: median $3,077 across 14 hospitalsAK$3,077Maine: median $1,124 across 24 hospitalsME$1,124Vermont: median $3,003 across 11 hospitalsVT$3,003New Hampshire: median $2,119 across 22 hospitalsNH$2,119Washington: median $1,663 across 70 hospitalsWA$1,663Idaho: median $1,857 across 22 hospitalsID$1,857Montana: median $1,735 across 16 hospitalsMT$1,735North Dakota: median $1,630 across 32 hospitalsND$1,630Minnesota: median $1,722 across 101 hospitalsMN$1,722Illinois: median $2,783 across 137 hospitalsIL$2,783Wisconsin: median $1,672 across 108 hospitalsWI$1,672Michigan: median $1,524 across 82 hospitalsMI$1,524New York: median $992 across 111 hospitalsNY$992Massachusetts: median $2,066 across 51 hospitalsMA$2,066Oregon: median $1,785 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,785Nevada: median $1,477 across 18 hospitalsNV$1,477Wyoming: median $1,646 across 12 hospitalsWY$1,646South Dakota: median $3,582 across 37 hospitalsSD$3,582Iowa: median $2,297 across 86 hospitalsIA$2,297Indiana: median $882 across 94 hospitalsIN$882Ohio: median $1,518 across 128 hospitalsOH$1,518Pennsylvania: median $1,331 across 116 hospitalsPA$1,331New Jersey: median $537 across 58 hospitalsNJ$537Connecticut: median $1,318 across 20 hospitalsCT$1,318Rhode Island: median $1,321 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,321California: median $2,802 across 216 hospitalsCA$2,802Utah: median $2,567 across 42 hospitalsUT$2,567Colorado: median $1,878 across 64 hospitalsCO$1,878Nebraska: median $3,368 across 84 hospitalsNE$3,368Missouri: median $1,382 across 76 hospitalsMO$1,382Kentucky: median $1,730 across 67 hospitalsKY$1,730West Virginia: median $1,468 across 40 hospitalsWV$1,468Virginia: median $1,797 across 71 hospitalsVA$1,797Maryland: median $482 across 38 hospitalsMD$482Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,264 across 49 hospitalsAZ$1,264New Mexico: median $1,739 across 29 hospitalsNM$1,739Kansas: median $1,350 across 85 hospitalsKS$1,350Arkansas: median $775 across 33 hospitalsAR$775Tennessee: median $816 across 78 hospitalsTN$816North Carolina: median $1,890 across 88 hospitalsNC$1,890South Carolina: median $2,375 across 52 hospitalsSC$2,375Oklahoma: median $1,003 across 62 hospitalsOK$1,003Louisiana: median $1,046 across 54 hospitalsLA$1,046Mississippi: median $910 across 49 hospitalsMS$910Alabama: median $1,697 across 38 hospitalsAL$1,697Georgia: median $1,343 across 104 hospitalsGA$1,343Hawaii: median $1,418 across 12 hospitalsHI$1,418Texas: median $2,190 across 233 hospitalsTX$2,190Florida: median $3,469 across 170 hospitalsFL$3,469
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,765. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD37$3,582+103%$3,007 – $4,203
Florida FL170$3,469+97%$1,343 – $7,834
Nebraska NE84$3,368+91%$2,013 – $4,050
Alaska AK14$3,077+74%$1,541 – $4,320
Vermont VT11$3,003+70%$2,218 – $3,750
California CA216$2,802+59%$1,431 – $5,209
Illinois IL137$2,783+58%$1,330 – $3,897
Utah UT42$2,567+45%$2,323 – $3,053
South Carolina SC52$2,375+35%$1,450 – $3,288
Iowa IA86$2,297+30%$1,702 – $2,805
Texas TX233$2,190+24%$971 – $3,767
New Hampshire NH22$2,119+20%$1,356 – $4,751
Massachusetts MA51$2,066+17%$1,142 – $3,160
North Carolina NC88$1,890+7%$1,321 – $3,277
Colorado CO64$1,878+6%$972 – $2,888
Idaho ID22$1,857+5%$1,527 – $1,979
Virginia VA71$1,797+2%$916 – $2,856
Oregon OR46$1,785+1%$1,487 – $2,332
New Mexico NM29$1,739−1%$993 – $2,599
Montana MT16$1,735−2%$1,342 – $2,426
Kentucky KY67$1,730−2%$971 – $3,258
Minnesota MN101$1,722−2%$753 – $2,677
Alabama AL38$1,697−4%$827 – $3,466
Wisconsin WI108$1,672−5%$642 – $2,360
Washington WA70$1,663−6%$951 – $2,275
Wyoming WY12$1,646−7%$801 – $3,168
North Dakota ND32$1,630−8%$1,400 – $2,226
Michigan MI82$1,524−14%$998 – $3,122
Ohio OH128$1,518−14%$1,084 – $2,217
Nevada NV18$1,477−16%$1,119 – $2,735
West Virginia WV40$1,468−17%$994 – $2,285
Hawaii HI12$1,418−20%$1,019 – $1,673
Missouri MO76$1,382−22%$826 – $2,459
Kansas KS85$1,350−24%$730 – $2,446
Georgia GA104$1,343−24%$902 – $2,785
Pennsylvania PA116$1,331−25%$344 – $3,294
Rhode Island RI10$1,321−25%$556 – $2,134
Connecticut CT20$1,318−25%$803 – $1,884
Arizona AZ49$1,264−28%$412 – $3,014
Maine ME24$1,124−36%$450 – $1,910
Louisiana LA54$1,046−41%$525 – $1,999
Oklahoma OK62$1,003−43%$680 – $2,083
New York NY111$992−44%$343 – $3,000
Mississippi MS49$910−48%$430 – $1,605
Indiana IN94$882−50%$523 – $2,058
Tennessee TN78$816−54%$514 – $1,849
Arkansas AR33$775−56%$393 – $1,484
New Jersey NJ58$537−70%$285 – $1,250
Maryland MD38$482−73%$272 – $753
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 $1,765.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,329$1,672$730 – $3,244
Children’s67$2,263$1,163 – $3,391
Critical access860$1,954$982 – $3,062
Ownership
For-profit475$2,560$1,026 – $7,666
Government574$1,735$861 – $2,854
Non-profit2,207$1,672$744 – $3,007
System affiliation
Part of a system2,688$1,790$827 – $3,277
Independent578$1,666$796 – $2,782

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,099
Median cash price$1,765
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

2,234 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,794 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,871; most fall between $885 and $3,092.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,234 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
$570$1,036$1,794$2,857$3,964

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($570 vs $3,964).

Of the 2,479 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,234 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 109 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,266 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 3,617 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,266
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here227
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded4
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded120
Hospitals that filed this code3,617

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 Magnetic resonance imaging family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as MRI Brain Brain Stem W/O Contrast Material.

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, “MRI of the brain without contrast (CPT 70551) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70551-mri-of-the-brain-without-contrast