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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the abdomen without contrast

CPT 74181the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the abdominal organs performed without contrast dye.

Hospitals typically charge $1,795 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,212 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,844. Most fall between $863 and $3,126 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,212
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 3,212 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
$545$998$1,795$2,786$4,410

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($545 vs $4,410).

How the prices are spread

$350 – $469: 87 hospitals$350$469 – $627: 176 hospitals$627 – $838: 197 hospitals$627$838 – $1,121: 311 hospitals$1,121 – $1,498: 382 hospitals$1,121$1,498 – $2,003: 466 hospitals$2,003 – $2,679: 569 hospitals$2,003$2,679 – $3,582: 381 hospitals$3,582 – $4,790: 208 hospitals$3,582$4,790 – $6,405: 115 hospitals$4,790median $1,795price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,892 of 3,212 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$350$46987
$469$627176
$627$838197
$838$1,121311
$1,121$1,498382
$1,498$2,003466
$2,003$2,679569
$2,679$3,582381
$3,582$4,790208
$4,790$6,405115

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$244
Median cash price$1,795
Cash as a multiple of Medicare7.4×

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 $1,795.

Alaska: median $3,051 across 13 hospitalsAK$3,051Maine: median $1,124 across 24 hospitalsME$1,124Vermont: median $2,712 across 11 hospitalsVT$2,712New Hampshire: median $1,867 across 21 hospitalsNH$1,867Washington: median $1,676 across 69 hospitalsWA$1,676Idaho: median $1,601 across 22 hospitalsID$1,601Montana: median $1,992 across 16 hospitalsMT$1,992North Dakota: median $1,960 across 30 hospitalsND$1,960Minnesota: median $1,853 across 99 hospitalsMN$1,853Illinois: median $2,730 across 135 hospitalsIL$2,730Wisconsin: median $2,096 across 107 hospitalsWI$2,096Michigan: median $1,722 across 82 hospitalsMI$1,722New York: median $959 across 110 hospitalsNY$959Massachusetts: median $1,985 across 50 hospitalsMA$1,985Oregon: median $1,776 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,776Nevada: median $1,430 across 18 hospitalsNV$1,430Wyoming: median $2,157 across 12 hospitalsWY$2,157South Dakota: median $3,581 across 24 hospitalsSD$3,581Iowa: median $2,072 across 80 hospitalsIA$2,072Indiana: median $1,005 across 96 hospitalsIN$1,005Ohio: median $1,790 across 128 hospitalsOH$1,790Pennsylvania: median $1,656 across 115 hospitalsPA$1,656New Jersey: median $537 across 57 hospitalsNJ$537Connecticut: median $1,229 across 15 hospitalsCT$1,229Rhode Island: median $1,321 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,321California: median $2,652 across 216 hospitalsCA$2,652Utah: median $2,633 across 42 hospitalsUT$2,633Colorado: median $1,847 across 64 hospitalsCO$1,847Nebraska: median $3,122 across 79 hospitalsNE$3,122Missouri: median $1,442 across 74 hospitalsMO$1,442Kentucky: median $1,691 across 66 hospitalsKY$1,691West Virginia: median $1,381 across 40 hospitalsWV$1,381Virginia: median $1,626 across 71 hospitalsVA$1,626Maryland: median $799 across 37 hospitalsMD$799Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,115 across 49 hospitalsAZ$1,115New Mexico: median $1,812 across 29 hospitalsNM$1,812Kansas: median $1,260 across 82 hospitalsKS$1,260Arkansas: median $847 across 33 hospitalsAR$847Tennessee: median $846 across 78 hospitalsTN$846North Carolina: median $1,908 across 88 hospitalsNC$1,908South Carolina: median $2,238 across 52 hospitalsSC$2,238Oklahoma: median $1,078 across 61 hospitalsOK$1,078Louisiana: median $913 across 52 hospitalsLA$913Mississippi: median $1,091 across 49 hospitalsMS$1,091Alabama: median $1,504 across 37 hospitalsAL$1,504Georgia: median $1,520 across 102 hospitalsGA$1,520Hawaii: median $1,716 across 12 hospitalsHI$1,716Texas: median $2,198 across 232 hospitalsTX$2,198Florida: median $3,503 across 171 hospitalsFL$3,503
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,795. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD24$3,581+100%$2,902 – $4,170
Florida FL171$3,503+95%$1,360 – $7,163
Nebraska NE79$3,122+74%$2,219 – $3,750
Alaska AK13$3,051+70%$1,286 – $5,197
Illinois IL135$2,730+52%$1,226 – $3,700
Vermont VT11$2,712+51%$2,247 – $3,666
California CA216$2,652+48%$1,371 – $5,143
Utah UT42$2,633+47%$2,147 – $3,098
South Carolina SC52$2,238+25%$1,214 – $3,476
Texas TX232$2,198+22%$1,095 – $4,465
Wyoming WY12$2,157+20%$959 – $3,305
Wisconsin WI107$2,096+17%$903 – $2,657
Iowa IA80$2,072+15%$1,439 – $2,786
Montana MT16$1,992+11%$1,158 – $2,315
Massachusetts MA50$1,985+11%$918 – $2,945
North Dakota ND30$1,960+9%$1,609 – $2,620
North Carolina NC88$1,908+6%$1,399 – $2,926
New Hampshire NH21$1,867+4%$1,356 – $4,751
Minnesota MN99$1,853+3%$758 – $2,772
Colorado CO64$1,847+3%$941 – $2,521
New Mexico NM29$1,812+1%$1,165 – $2,528
Ohio OH128$1,7900%$1,084 – $2,285
Oregon OR46$1,776−1%$1,266 – $2,482
Michigan MI82$1,722−4%$998 – $3,207
Hawaii HI12$1,716−4%$1,300 – $2,299
Kentucky KY66$1,691−6%$971 – $3,015
Washington WA69$1,676−7%$1,044 – $2,539
Pennsylvania PA115$1,656−8%$401 – $3,676
Virginia VA71$1,626−9%$982 – $3,776
Idaho ID22$1,601−11%$1,492 – $1,923
Georgia GA102$1,520−15%$844 – $3,058
Alabama AL37$1,504−16%$660 – $2,676
Missouri MO74$1,442−20%$782 – $2,271
Nevada NV18$1,430−20%$1,119 – $2,614
West Virginia WV40$1,381−23%$1,041 – $2,386
Rhode Island RI10$1,321−26%$373 – $2,134
Kansas KS82$1,260−30%$760 – $2,510
Connecticut CT15$1,229−32%$803 – $1,699
Maine ME24$1,124−37%$453 – $2,070
Arizona AZ49$1,115−38%$405 – $4,462
Mississippi MS49$1,091−39%$749 – $1,535
Oklahoma OK61$1,078−40%$784 – $2,051
Indiana IN96$1,005−44%$516 – $2,202
New York NY110$959−47%$300 – $2,694
Louisiana LA52$913−49%$581 – $1,848
Arkansas AR33$847−53%$584 – $1,317
Tennessee TN78$846−53%$569 – $1,692
Maryland MD37$799−55%$451 – $1,250
New Jersey NJ57$537−70%$285 – $1,240
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 $1,795.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,312$1,678$799 – $3,245
Children’s63$2,385$1,512 – $3,577
Critical access827$1,964$1,012 – $2,943
Ownership
For-profit471$2,394$998 – $7,599
Government563$1,716$844 – $2,786
Non-profit2,168$1,703$835 – $2,922
System affiliation
Part of a system2,641$1,837$876 – $3,208
Independent571$1,660$799 – $2,787

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,132
Median cash price$1,795
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

2,206 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,839 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,877; most fall between $940 and $3,076.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,206 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
$589$1,063$1,839$2,749$3,978

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($589 vs $3,978).

Of the 2,439 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,206 gave a usable cash price; 125 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

3,212 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,558 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,212
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here220
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded5
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded121
Hospitals that filed this code3,558

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 Abdomen 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 abdomen without contrast (CPT 74181) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74181-mri-of-the-abdomen-without-contrast