Imaging Price Index — Q3 2026

The Imaging Price Index tracks what people actually pay in cash for common imaging procedures across the United States — nationally and metro by metro. It is built each quarter from the self-pay prices clinics publish on Expected Health, aggregated so no single facility can skew a number. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite these figures with attribution; the full table is downloadable below.

Q3 2026 highlights

Cheapest metro for a cash-pay MRI: Phoenix (median $360).
Priciest metro: San Francisco Bay Area (median $700) — 1.9× the cheapest metro for the same scan.
National median MRI cash price: $600.

National median cash prices

Procedure	Median	Typical range	Clinics	vs. last quarter
MRI	$600	$500–$700	362	new
CT scan	$375	$300–$535	167	new
X-ray	$65	$58–$80	236	new
Ultrasound	$150	$105–$200	277	new
Mammogram	$200	$140–$270	64	new
DEXA / bone density	$140	$99–$160	35	new
PET	$1,900	$1,900–$2,800	19	new
Nuclear medicine	$500	$500–$500	13	new

Median cash price by metro

Each figure is the clinic-weighted median cash price across that metro's clinics. A dash means fewer than 5 clinics report a price there yet. Metro names link to the clinic finder.

Metro	MRI	CT scan	X-ray	Ultrasound	Mammogram	DEXA / bone density	PET	Nuclear medicine
New York	$500	$300	—	$165	—	—	—	—
Los Angeles	$615	—	$63	—	—	—	—	—
Phoenix	$360	$235	$39	—	—	—	—	—
Philadelphia	$545	—	$50	—	—	—	—	—
Washington, D.C.	$620	$375	$45	$150	—	—	—	—
Boston	$600	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
San Francisco Bay Area	$700	—	$80	$250	$200	—	—	—
San Diego	$575	$270	$100	$250	$270	$160	$1,900	$500

Download the full table (CSV) Includes typical ranges, national sample sizes, and quarter-over-quarter changes for every published figure.

Methodology

Every figure in the index is computed the same way:

Cash prices only. The index uses the self-pay (cash) prices clinics publish — not insurance-negotiated rates, billed charges, or estimates.
Clinic-weighted medians. Each clinic is first reduced to a single representative price per procedure (its own median), so a facility that lists many price variants can't dominate a market. The published figure is the median across clinics: the typical clinic's price, not the typical price row.
Minimum sample. A figure is only published where at least five distinct clinics report a price. Cells below that threshold show a dash.
Standardized procedures. Raw procedure names are folded into standard buckets (e.g. "CT" and "CT Scan" are one bucket) so the same scan is compared like-for-like.
Junk filtering. Prices under $10 are treated as placeholders and excluded.
Quarterly snapshots. Each calendar quarter we snapshot the price book as clinics publish it at that time, and quarter-over-quarter change compares each figure to the same figure in the prior quarter's snapshot. A figure marked "new" has no prior-quarter baseline yet. The underlying prices are collected on an ongoing basis; the full collection window is stated in the dataset metadata.

Metro areas are defined as a core city plus its major suburbs. Prices come from the same database that powers every clinic profile and cost guide on this site.

Cite this index

Cite as: Expected Health Imaging Price Index. Please link to this page so readers can see the current quarter and methodology.

Source: Expected Health — Imaging Price Index (Q3 2026)

Frequently asked questions

Where do these prices come from?

From the cash (self-pay) prices published on clinic profiles on Expected Health — the same figures patients see when they compare and book. They are collected from clinics, not modeled from insurance claims.

Why do some metros or procedures show a dash?

We only publish a figure where at least five distinct clinics in that market report a cash price for that procedure. A dash means the sample is below that bar — not that care is unavailable there.

Can I republish or cite this data?

Yes. You are welcome to cite the index figures with attribution and a link to this page, and to use the downloadable table in reporting or research. The underlying clinic-level price records are proprietary and not included.

How often is the index updated?

Quarterly. Each calendar quarter gets a fresh snapshot, and quarter-over-quarter changes compare against the prior snapshot.

Prices near you may be lower than your metro's median. Compare clinics and book in minutes.

Find a clinic near you

These are self-reported cash (self-pay) prices collected from clinics and standardized to a common procedure so the same scan is compared like-for-like; they may have changed since collection. They are estimates for general guidance, not quotes — you can confirm current pricing by contacting the clinic directly. Insurance pricing differs from cash pricing. This page is not medical or financial advice.