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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the lower back, 2 or 3 views

CPT 72100the billing code this page is about

X-ray imaging of the lumbar and sacral spine (lower back and tailbone area) with two or three views taken.

Hospitals typically charge $295 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,361 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $308. Most fall between $148 and $514 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,361
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 3,361 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
$104$175$295$461$739

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($104 vs $739).

How the prices are spread

$73 – $97: 115 hospitals$73$97 – $129: 255 hospitals$129 – $171: 275 hospitals$129$171 – $226: 371 hospitals$226 – $299: 525 hospitals$226$299 – $396: 532 hospitals$396 – $525: 486 hospitals$396$525 – $695: 264 hospitals$695 – $920: 111 hospitals$695$920 – $1,219: 92 hospitals$920median $295price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,026 of 3,361 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$73$97115
$97$129255
$129$171275
$171$226371
$226$299525
$299$396532
$396$525486
$525$695264
$695$920111
$920$1,21992

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$295
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.8×

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 $295.

Alaska: median $468 across 17 hospitalsAK$468Maine: median $218 across 25 hospitalsME$218Vermont: median $664 across 12 hospitalsVT$664New Hampshire: median $290 across 22 hospitalsNH$290Washington: median $309 across 70 hospitalsWA$309Idaho: median $302 across 22 hospitalsID$302Montana: median $250 across 19 hospitalsMT$250North Dakota: median $174 across 34 hospitalsND$174Minnesota: median $238 across 101 hospitalsMN$238Illinois: median $419 across 126 hospitalsIL$419Wisconsin: median $271 across 109 hospitalsWI$271Michigan: median $214 across 86 hospitalsMI$214New York: median $186 across 110 hospitalsNY$186Massachusetts: median $391 across 52 hospitalsMA$391Oregon: median $296 across 46 hospitalsOR$296Nevada: median $287 across 21 hospitalsNV$287Wyoming: median $282 across 14 hospitalsWY$282South Dakota: median $509 across 43 hospitalsSD$509Iowa: median $276 across 87 hospitalsIA$276Indiana: median $246 across 90 hospitalsIN$246Ohio: median $291 across 143 hospitalsOH$291Pennsylvania: median $263 across 116 hospitalsPA$263New Jersey: median $135 across 58 hospitalsNJ$135Connecticut: median $274 across 22 hospitalsCT$274Rhode Island: median $274 across 10 hospitalsRI$274California: median $458 across 219 hospitalsCA$458Utah: median $371 across 42 hospitalsUT$371Colorado: median $322 across 66 hospitalsCO$322Nebraska: median $416 across 84 hospitalsNE$416Missouri: median $276 across 77 hospitalsMO$276Kentucky: median $348 across 67 hospitalsKY$348West Virginia: median $223 across 43 hospitalsWV$223Virginia: median $367 across 71 hospitalsVA$367Maryland: median $223 across 40 hospitalsMD$223Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $178 across 53 hospitalsAZ$178New Mexico: median $302 across 29 hospitalsNM$302Kansas: median $260 across 89 hospitalsKS$260Arkansas: median $107 across 37 hospitalsAR$107Tennessee: median $176 across 77 hospitalsTN$176North Carolina: median $283 across 95 hospitalsNC$283South Carolina: median $427 across 53 hospitalsSC$427Oklahoma: median $219 across 69 hospitalsOK$219Louisiana: median $152 across 56 hospitalsLA$152Mississippi: median $134 across 49 hospitalsMS$134Alabama: median $208 across 42 hospitalsAL$208Georgia: median $356 across 109 hospitalsGA$356Hawaii: median $317 across 19 hospitalsHI$317Texas: median $444 across 240 hospitalsTX$444Florida: median $673 across 174 hospitalsFL$673
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $295. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL174$673+128%$353 – $2,578
Vermont VT12$664+125%$350 – $806
South Dakota SD43$509+73%$389 – $704
Alaska AK17$468+59%$252 – $660
California CA219$458+55%$216 – $709
Texas TX240$444+51%$225 – $732
South Carolina SC53$427+45%$201 – $505
Illinois IL126$419+42%$185 – $652
Nebraska NE84$416+41%$269 – $504
Massachusetts MA52$391+33%$245 – $541
Utah UT42$371+26%$325 – $419
Virginia VA71$367+24%$221 – $868
Georgia GA109$356+21%$130 – $500
Kentucky KY67$348+18%$185 – $490
Colorado CO66$322+9%$225 – $601
Hawaii HI19$317+8%$258 – $384
Washington WA70$309+5%$145 – $434
New Mexico NM29$302+2%$178 – $445
Idaho ID22$302+2%$183 – $441
Oregon OR46$296+1%$144 – $376
Ohio OH143$291−1%$202 – $473
New Hampshire NH22$290−2%$219 – $615
Nevada NV21$287−3%$113 – $638
North Carolina NC95$283−4%$220 – $450
Wyoming WY14$282−4%$84 – $476
Missouri MO77$276−6%$166 – $425
Iowa IA87$276−6%$174 – $369
Connecticut CT22$274−7%$215 – $444
Rhode Island RI10$274−7%$149 – $286
Wisconsin WI109$271−8%$130 – $374
Pennsylvania PA116$263−11%$131 – $470
Kansas KS89$260−12%$183 – $432
Montana MT19$250−15%$182 – $318
Indiana IN90$246−17%$173 – $343
Minnesota MN101$238−19%$132 – $341
Maryland MD40$223−24%$149 – $287
West Virginia WV43$223−25%$158 – $359
Oklahoma OK69$219−26%$162 – $362
Maine ME25$218−26%$103 – $330
Michigan MI86$214−27%$144 – $382
Alabama AL42$208−29%$125 – $419
New York NY110$186−37%$115 – $517
Arizona AZ53$178−40%$112 – $611
Tennessee TN77$176−40%$78 – $302
North Dakota ND34$174−41%$135 – $278
Louisiana LA56$152−48%$83 – $249
New Jersey NJ58$135−54%$116 – $243
Mississippi MS49$134−55%$81 – $202
Arkansas AR37$107−64%$103 – $249
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 $295.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,364$310$143 – $576
Children’s66$307$249 – $541
Critical access921$276$158 – $440
Ownership
For-profit491$416$184 – $1,614
Government608$278$140 – $428
Non-profit2,252$288$147 – $484
System affiliation
Part of a system2,759$304$153 – $535
Independent602$264$128 – $448

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$492
Median cash price$295
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

2,315 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $323 and the average of the middle 60% is $327; most fall between $161 and $512.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,315 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
$109$196$323$470$666

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($109 vs $666).

Of the 2,577 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,315 gave a usable cash price; 151 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 111 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,361 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (85%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,739 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,361
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here254
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 — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,739

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 Radex Spine Lumbosacral 2/3 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 lower back, 2 or 3 views (CPT 72100) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72100-x-ray-of-the-lower-back-2-or-3-views