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Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Rapid antigen test for COVID-19

CPT 87426the billing code this page is about

A laboratory immunoassay that looks for coronavirus (including SARS-CoV-2) antigen in a respiratory sample such as a nasal swab.

Hospitals typically charge $60 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,049 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $62. Most fall between $35 and $105 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,049
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 2,049 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
$27$38$60$91$150

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($27 vs $150).

How the prices are spread

$19 – $24: 66 hospitals$19$24 – $30: 94 hospitals$30 – $37: 248 hospitals$30$37 – $47: 243 hospitals$47 – $59: 231 hospitals$47$59 – $75: 346 hospitals$75 – $94: 234 hospitals$75$94 – $119: 179 hospitals$119 – $149: 99 hospitals$119$149 – $188: 106 hospitals$149median $60price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,846 of 2,049 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$19$2466
$24$3094
$30$37248
$37$47243
$47$59231
$59$75346
$75$94234
$94$119179
$119$14999
$149$188106

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $60.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $40 across 15 hospitalsME$40Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $60 across 11 hospitalsNH$60Washington: median $68 across 34 hospitalsWA$68Idaho: median $90 across 17 hospitalsID$90Montana: median $74 across 13 hospitalsMT$74North Dakota: median $86 across 19 hospitalsND$86Minnesota: median $86 across 41 hospitalsMN$86Illinois: median $68 across 67 hospitalsIL$68Wisconsin: median $68 across 52 hospitalsWI$68Michigan: median $87 across 66 hospitalsMI$87New York: median $62 across 50 hospitalsNY$62Massachusetts: median $75 across 19 hospitalsMA$75Oregon: median $56 across 17 hospitalsOR$56Nevada: median $34 across 13 hospitalsNV$34Wyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $83 across 26 hospitalsSD$83Iowa: median $42 across 40 hospitalsIA$42Indiana: median $29 across 55 hospitalsIN$29Ohio: median $59 across 76 hospitalsOH$59Pennsylvania: median $35 across 77 hospitalsPA$35New Jersey: median $39 across 43 hospitalsNJ$39Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $67 across 98 hospitalsCA$67Utah: median $89 across 38 hospitalsUT$89Colorado: median $81 across 29 hospitalsCO$81Nebraska: median $97 across 48 hospitalsNE$97Missouri: median $54 across 64 hospitalsMO$54Kentucky: median $42 across 39 hospitalsKY$42West Virginia: median $57 across 38 hospitalsWV$57Virginia: median $35 across 55 hospitalsVA$35Maryland: median $41 across 33 hospitalsMD$41Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $55 across 26 hospitalsAZ$55New Mexico: median $90 across 13 hospitalsNM$90Kansas: median $68 across 60 hospitalsKS$68Arkansas: median $58 across 27 hospitalsAR$58Tennessee: median $39 across 68 hospitalsTN$39North Carolina: median $62 across 49 hospitalsNC$62South Carolina: median $46 across 48 hospitalsSC$46Oklahoma: median $62 across 56 hospitalsOK$62Louisiana: median $45 across 33 hospitalsLA$45Mississippi: median $42 across 52 hospitalsMS$42Alabama: median $53 across 30 hospitalsAL$53Georgia: median $66 across 82 hospitalsGA$66Hawaii: median $84 across 10 hospitalsHI$84Texas: median $60 across 164 hospitalsTX$60Florida: median $55 across 113 hospitalsFL$55
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $60. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Nebraska NE48$97+61%$55 – $131
Idaho ID17$90+49%$56 – $157
New Mexico NM13$90+49%$42 – $110
Utah UT38$89+48%$37 – $105
Michigan MI66$87+44%$51 – $149
Minnesota MN41$86+43%$67 – $179
North Dakota ND19$86+43%$46 – $107
Hawaii HI10$84+39%$81 – $155
South Dakota SD26$83+37%$49 – $131
Colorado CO29$81+33%$43 – $147
Massachusetts MA19$75+25%$54 – $198
Montana MT13$74+22%$31 – $124
Wisconsin WI52$68+13%$30 – $159
Washington WA34$68+13%$56 – $131
Kansas KS60$68+13%$40 – $104
Illinois IL67$68+12%$30 – $124
California CA98$67+10%$51 – $114
Georgia GA82$66+9%$42 – $161
Oklahoma OK56$62+3%$37 – $90
North Carolina NC49$62+3%$38 – $214
New York NY50$62+3%$35 – $116
Texas TX164$600%$34 – $90
New Hampshire NH11$60−1%$33 – $100
Ohio OH76$59−2%$47 – $93
Arkansas AR27$58−4%$29 – $70
West Virginia WV38$57−6%$57 – $105
Oregon OR17$56−7%$52 – $108
Florida FL113$55−9%$35 – $92
Arizona AZ26$55−9%$35 – $216
Missouri MO64$54−11%$38 – $69
Alabama AL30$53−13%$33 – $143
South Carolina SC48$46−24%$42 – $70
Louisiana LA33$45−26%$30 – $93
Iowa IA40$42−30%$39 – $70
Kentucky KY39$42−30%$29 – $61
Mississippi MS52$42−31%$32 – $70
Maryland MD33$41−32%$13 – $73
Maine ME15$40−34%$16 – $44
New Jersey NJ43$39−36%$35 – $47
Tennessee TN68$39−36%$24 – $72
Pennsylvania PA77$35−42%$32 – $85
Virginia VA55$35−42%$18 – $52
Nevada NV13$34−44%$15 – $88
Indiana IN55$29−52%$18 – $69
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $60.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,474$56$34 – $100
Children’s34$74$53 – $94
Critical access537$72$41 – $114
Ownership
For-profit358$48$34 – $108
Government352$67$38 – $116
Non-profit1,335$62$35 – $101
System affiliation
Part of a system1,675$60$35 – $105
Independent374$65$38 – $106

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$106
Median cash price$60
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

1,342 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $62 and the average of the middle 60% is $66; most fall between $36 and $113.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,342 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
$26$41$62$100$159

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($26 vs $159).

Of the 1,473 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,342 gave a usable cash price; 75 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 56 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,049 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (52%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,218 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,049
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here93
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded74
Hospitals that filed this code2,218

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as SARSCOV CORONAVIRUS AG IA.

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, “Rapid antigen test for COVID-19 (CPT 87426) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87426-rapid-antigen-test-for-covid-19