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Procedure price report · Other CT scan

CT scan of the lower back without contrast

CPT 72131the billing code this page is about

A computed tomography scan of the lumbar spine (lower back vertebrae) performed without injected contrast dye.

Hospitals typically charge $1,308 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,367 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,369. Most fall between $599 and $2,427 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,367
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 3,367 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
$343$707$1,308$2,167$3,505

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($343 vs $3,505).

How the prices are spread

$198 – $278: 75 hospitals$198$278 – $391: 139 hospitals$391 – $550: 248 hospitals$391$550 – $772: 301 hospitals$772 – $1,085: 425 hospitals$772$1,085 – $1,525: 610 hospitals$1,525 – $2,144: 544 hospitals$1,525$2,144 – $3,013: 377 hospitals$3,013 – $4,234: 227 hospitals$3,013$4,234 – $5,950: 85 hospitals$4,234median $1,308price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,031 of 3,367 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$198$27875
$278$391139
$391$550248
$550$772301
$772$1,085425
$1,085$1,525610
$1,525$2,144544
$2,144$3,013377
$3,013$4,234227
$4,234$5,95085

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$1,308
Cash as a multiple of Medicare12.2×

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 $1,308.

Alaska: median $2,078 across 17 hospitalsAK$2,078Maine: median $737 across 25 hospitalsME$737Vermont: median $2,137 across 12 hospitalsVT$2,137New Hampshire: median $1,296 across 22 hospitalsNH$1,296Washington: median $1,294 across 70 hospitalsWA$1,294Idaho: median $819 across 22 hospitalsID$819Montana: median $1,314 across 19 hospitalsMT$1,314North Dakota: median $1,298 across 32 hospitalsND$1,298Minnesota: median $1,234 across 101 hospitalsMN$1,234Illinois: median $2,158 across 135 hospitalsIL$2,158Wisconsin: median $1,232 across 108 hospitalsWI$1,232Michigan: median $1,084 across 86 hospitalsMI$1,084New York: median $745 across 111 hospitalsNY$745Massachusetts: median $1,382 across 52 hospitalsMA$1,382Oregon: median $1,148 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,148Nevada: median $1,383 across 21 hospitalsNV$1,383Wyoming: median $1,632 across 14 hospitalsWY$1,632South Dakota: median $2,686 across 43 hospitalsSD$2,686Iowa: median $1,517 across 88 hospitalsIA$1,517Indiana: median $724 across 96 hospitalsIN$724Ohio: median $1,108 across 142 hospitalsOH$1,108Pennsylvania: median $900 across 115 hospitalsPA$900New Jersey: median $396 across 57 hospitalsNJ$396Connecticut: median $1,037 across 22 hospitalsCT$1,037Rhode Island: median $970 across 10 hospitalsRI$970California: median $2,525 across 217 hospitalsCA$2,525Utah: median $1,863 across 43 hospitalsUT$1,863Colorado: median $1,312 across 66 hospitalsCO$1,312Nebraska: median $2,311 across 83 hospitalsNE$2,311Missouri: median $1,020 across 76 hospitalsMO$1,020Kentucky: median $1,386 across 67 hospitalsKY$1,386West Virginia: median $972 across 42 hospitalsWV$972Virginia: median $1,448 across 71 hospitalsVA$1,448Maryland: median $177 across 38 hospitalsMD$177Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,148 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,148New Mexico: median $1,613 across 29 hospitalsNM$1,613Kansas: median $1,093 across 87 hospitalsKS$1,093Arkansas: median $527 across 38 hospitalsAR$527Tennessee: median $749 across 78 hospitalsTN$749North Carolina: median $1,465 across 95 hospitalsNC$1,465South Carolina: median $1,731 across 53 hospitalsSC$1,731Oklahoma: median $1,025 across 71 hospitalsOK$1,025Louisiana: median $764 across 56 hospitalsLA$764Mississippi: median $787 across 49 hospitalsMS$787Alabama: median $1,087 across 42 hospitalsAL$1,087Georgia: median $912 across 108 hospitalsGA$912Hawaii: median $1,000 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,000Texas: median $2,042 across 244 hospitalsTX$2,042Florida: median $3,241 across 172 hospitalsFL$3,241
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,308. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL172$3,241+148%$1,127 – $11,034
South Dakota SD43$2,686+105%$2,076 – $3,850
California CA217$2,525+93%$1,115 – $4,338
Nebraska NE83$2,311+77%$1,419 – $2,700
Illinois IL135$2,158+65%$855 – $3,084
Vermont VT12$2,137+63%$1,045 – $2,418
Alaska AK17$2,078+59%$1,154 – $3,147
Texas TX244$2,042+56%$800 – $3,741
Utah UT43$1,863+42%$1,426 – $2,059
South Carolina SC53$1,731+32%$1,120 – $2,262
Wyoming WY14$1,632+25%$642 – $2,356
New Mexico NM29$1,613+23%$934 – $2,094
Iowa IA88$1,517+16%$1,152 – $1,967
North Carolina NC95$1,465+12%$923 – $1,965
Virginia VA71$1,448+11%$893 – $3,151
Kentucky KY67$1,386+6%$703 – $2,389
Nevada NV21$1,383+6%$569 – $2,038
Massachusetts MA52$1,382+6%$477 – $1,996
Montana MT19$1,3140%$1,014 – $1,764
Colorado CO66$1,3120%$945 – $2,298
North Dakota ND32$1,298−1%$1,011 – $1,469
New Hampshire NH22$1,296−1%$943 – $2,984
Washington WA70$1,294−1%$643 – $1,874
Minnesota MN101$1,234−6%$498 – $1,824
Wisconsin WI108$1,232−6%$447 – $1,716
Oregon OR46$1,148−12%$920 – $1,776
Arizona AZ53$1,148−12%$430 – $7,448
Ohio OH142$1,108−15%$657 – $1,669
Kansas KS87$1,093−16%$668 – $1,744
Alabama AL42$1,087−17%$489 – $2,427
Michigan MI86$1,084−17%$360 – $1,812
Connecticut CT22$1,037−21%$467 – $1,339
Oklahoma OK71$1,025−22%$661 – $1,595
Missouri MO76$1,020−22%$695 – $1,934
Hawaii HI17$1,000−24%$717 – $1,598
West Virginia WV42$972−26%$630 – $1,649
Rhode Island RI10$970−26%$285 – $1,230
Georgia GA108$912−30%$525 – $1,949
Pennsylvania PA115$900−31%$286 – $2,532
Idaho ID22$819−37%$737 – $1,452
Mississippi MS49$787−40%$508 – $1,087
Louisiana LA56$764−42%$381 – $1,541
Tennessee TN78$749−43%$532 – $1,618
New York NY111$745−43%$249 – $1,931
Maine ME25$737−44%$292 – $1,430
Indiana IN96$724−45%$406 – $1,493
Arkansas AR38$527−60%$384 – $1,450
New Jersey NJ57$396−70%$125 – $684
Maryland MD38$177−86%$123 – $246
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 $1,308.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,369$1,269$530 – $2,621
Children’s62$2,185$1,222 – $3,537
Critical access926$1,380$756 – $2,171
Ownership
For-profit489$2,055$737 – $7,757
Government608$1,258$625 – $2,078
Non-profit2,260$1,258$548 – $2,264
System affiliation
Part of a system2,769$1,339$594 – $2,516
Independent598$1,179$629 – $2,163

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,288
Median cash price$1,308
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

2,300 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,360 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,405; most fall between $652 and $2,398.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,300 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
$417$786$1,360$2,161$3,283

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($417 vs $3,283).

Of the 2,546 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,300 gave a usable cash price; 134 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 112 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,367 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 3,723 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,367
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here233
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 — excluded122
Hospitals that filed this code3,723

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 CT scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR CT Scan,Lumbar Spine,W/O 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 lower back without contrast (CPT 72131) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72131-ct-scan-of-the-lower-back-without-contrast