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

Rapid strep throat test

CPT 87880the billing code this page is about

A quick in-office test that checks a throat swab for group A strep bacteria by looking for a visible color change on a test device.

Hospitals typically charge $55 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,816 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $58. Most fall between $27 and $105 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,816
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 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 2,816 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
$19$32$55$93$149

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $149).

How the prices are spread

$15 – $20: 174 hospitals$15$20 – $26: 205 hospitals$26 – $34: 261 hospitals$26$34 – $45: 347 hospitals$45 – $60: 404 hospitals$45$60 – $79: 406 hospitals$79 – $105: 300 hospitals$79$105 – $138: 237 hospitals$138 – $183: 143 hospitals$138$183 – $241: 60 hospitals$183median $55price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,537 of 2,816 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$15$20174
$20$26205
$26$34261
$34$45347
$45$60404
$60$79406
$79$105300
$105$138237
$138$183143
$183$24160

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $55.

Alaska: median $61 across 16 hospitalsAK$61Maine: median $39 across 28 hospitalsME$39Vermont: median $67 across 12 hospitalsVT$67New Hampshire: median $47 across 23 hospitalsNH$47Washington: median $59 across 62 hospitalsWA$59Idaho: median $58 across 20 hospitalsID$58Montana: median $57 across 26 hospitalsMT$57North Dakota: median $82 across 25 hospitalsND$82Minnesota: median $53 across 80 hospitalsMN$53Illinois: median $60 across 110 hospitalsIL$60Wisconsin: median $54 across 93 hospitalsWI$54Michigan: median $47 across 97 hospitalsMI$47New York: median $41 across 111 hospitalsNY$41Massachusetts: median $64 across 50 hospitalsMA$64Oregon: median $44 across 48 hospitalsOR$44Nevada: median $53 across 14 hospitalsNV$53Wyoming: median $46 across 15 hospitalsWY$46South Dakota: median $84 across 34 hospitalsSD$84Iowa: median $48 across 71 hospitalsIA$48Indiana: median $48 across 80 hospitalsIN$48Ohio: median $54 across 128 hospitalsOH$54Pennsylvania: median $35 across 102 hospitalsPA$35New Jersey: median $18 across 53 hospitalsNJ$18Connecticut: median $50 across 18 hospitalsCT$50Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $111 across 126 hospitalsCA$111Utah: median $117 across 37 hospitalsUT$117Colorado: median $62 across 62 hospitalsCO$62Nebraska: median $59 across 57 hospitalsNE$59Missouri: median $44 across 67 hospitalsMO$44Kentucky: median $41 across 62 hospitalsKY$41West Virginia: median $39 across 41 hospitalsWV$39Virginia: median $65 across 67 hospitalsVA$65Maryland: median $66 across 32 hospitalsMD$66Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $54 across 34 hospitalsAZ$54New Mexico: median $64 across 27 hospitalsNM$64Kansas: median $60 across 73 hospitalsKS$60Arkansas: median $25 across 29 hospitalsAR$25Tennessee: median $35 across 56 hospitalsTN$35North Carolina: median $58 across 85 hospitalsNC$58South Carolina: median $99 across 49 hospitalsSC$99Oklahoma: median $49 across 70 hospitalsOK$49Louisiana: median $28 across 45 hospitalsLA$28Mississippi: median $30 across 51 hospitalsMS$30Alabama: median $38 across 32 hospitalsAL$38Georgia: median $72 across 87 hospitalsGA$72Hawaii: median $82 across 17 hospitalsHI$82Texas: median $78 across 188 hospitalsTX$78Florida: median $159 across 95 hospitalsFL$159
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $55. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL95$159+192%$22 – $632
Utah UT37$117+114%$86 – $137
California CA126$111+103%$40 – $171
South Carolina SC49$99+81%$43 – $140
South Dakota SD34$84+54%$56 – $127
Hawaii HI17$82+50%$29 – $112
North Dakota ND25$82+50%$58 – $106
Texas TX188$78+42%$37 – $236
Georgia GA87$72+32%$24 – $134
Vermont VT12$67+23%$42 – $140
Maryland MD32$66+21%$52 – $78
Virginia VA67$65+19%$44 – $125
Massachusetts MA50$64+18%$46 – $104
New Mexico NM27$64+17%$30 – $95
Colorado CO62$62+14%$35 – $142
Alaska AK16$61+12%$36 – $111
Illinois IL110$60+10%$36 – $105
Kansas KS73$60+9%$35 – $83
Washington WA62$59+8%$34 – $83
Nebraska NE57$59+7%$33 – $104
Idaho ID20$58+7%$28 – $74
North Carolina NC85$58+6%$26 – $104
Montana MT26$57+5%$43 – $81
Arizona AZ34$54−1%$24 – $336
Ohio OH128$54−1%$36 – $81
Wisconsin WI93$54−2%$41 – $81
Minnesota MN80$53−2%$28 – $80
Nevada NV14$53−3%$21 – $81
Connecticut CT18$50−8%$34 – $74
Oklahoma OK70$49−11%$27 – $85
Indiana IN80$48−12%$24 – $101
Iowa IA71$48−12%$39 – $87
Michigan MI97$47−13%$23 – $73
New Hampshire NH23$47−14%$20 – $108
Wyoming WY15$46−16%$31 – $95
Oregon OR48$44−19%$28 – $56
Missouri MO67$44−20%$27 – $67
Kentucky KY62$41−25%$19 – $107
New York NY111$41−26%$17 – $74
West Virginia WV41$39−28%$22 – $61
Maine ME28$39−29%$21 – $71
Alabama AL32$38−30%$23 – $99
Pennsylvania PA102$35−35%$19 – $93
Tennessee TN56$35−35%$21 – $74
Mississippi MS51$30−46%$20 – $72
Louisiana LA45$28−48%$16 – $65
Arkansas AR29$25−55%$21 – $37
New Jersey NJ53$18−67%$17 – $37
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $55.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,917$54$26 – $119
Children’s60$90$35 – $125
Critical access830$54$30 – $86
Ownership
For-profit343$83$28 – $304
Government533$51$27 – $87
Non-profit1,931$54$28 – $102
System affiliation
Part of a system2,293$57$28 – $112
Independent523$50$25 – $84

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$91
Median cash price$55
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

1,917 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $60 and the average of the middle 60% is $64; most fall between $31 and $113.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,917 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
$20$35$60$100$149

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $149).

Of the 2,110 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,917 gave a usable cash price; 98 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 94 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,816 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (71%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,059 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,816
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here130
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded112
Hospitals that filed this code3,059

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 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 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 Iaadiadoo Streptococcus Group A.

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 strep throat test (CPT 87880) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87880-rapid-strep-throat-test