How much does a CT scan cost without insurance?

A CT scan is typically cheaper than an MRI and faster to obtain, but the same hospital-versus-outpatient price gap applies. Contrast, the body region, and whether the scan happens in an emergency department all move the number substantially.

We are not going to make up an average

Nearly every “average cost” figure you will find for this procedure traces back to sites citing each other rather than to data. This one does not publish a number it cannot source. What it does instead is better: below is how to get the actual price your provider has already published — federal rules require it to exist, and it is specific to the facility that will bill you.

How to find the real price for you

1
Get the code from your order
CT codes follow the same with/without-contrast pattern as MRI — an abdomen and pelvis CT with contrast is 74177, for example. Emergency department CTs carry the same procedure code but arrive alongside a facility fee that outpatient imaging does not have.
2
Open the hospital's standard charges file
Every hospital must publish one, usually linked from a page called “price transparency” or “standard charges.” Search it for the code — not the words — and look for the column marked discounted cash price. Ignore the gross charge: that is the chargemaster figure almost nobody pays.
3
Watch for this specifically
Check whether your order is for a combined study — abdomen and pelvis together have their own code, and being billed two separate regional codes for one scan is a specific, checkable billing error rather than a pricing question.
4
Ask for it in writing, in advance
If you are uninsured or self-pay, ask for a Good Faith Estimate before scheduling. That document is what a later bill gets measured against — and if the bill lands $400 or more above it, a federal dispute process opens for 120 calendar days. How that works.

CMS — Hospital price transparency ↗

What drives the price

Where it happens. A CT ordered during an ER visit is bundled into an emergency encounter with a facility fee; the same scan booked as outpatient imaging is a standalone charge.
Contrast, and whether it is oral, IV, or both — each is a separate line and oral contrast is usually the cheaper of the two.
The region scanned. Abdomen-and-pelvis is a single combined code; ordering them separately can cost more than the combined study.
Urgency. A same-day or after-hours scan is priced differently from a scheduled one at some facilities.

If the bill has already arrived

If the CT was part of an emergency visit, the facility fee is usually the larger number and the whole encounter is what to negotiate, not the scan. For an outpatient scan billed above the published rate, the cash-price letter applies.

Billed above the cash price →

Before anything else, though: request the itemized bill and check it for errors. If the amount is simply unaffordable and the hospital is a nonprofit, the charity care screener is usually the more productive route.

Frequently asked questions

Is a CT scan cheaper than an MRI?

Usually, and it is also faster — minutes rather than up to an hour. They answer different clinical questions, though, so the choice is the ordering doctor's. Where you have the scan is the part you may have a say in.

Why was my ER CT scan so expensive?

Because it was not billed as a scan; it was billed as part of an emergency encounter, which carries a facility fee reflecting the department's standing capacity. The scan's own code is often a modest share of the total. Request the itemized bill to see the split.

What is the difference between codes for one region and two?

Some combinations — abdomen and pelvis most commonly — have a single combined code precisely because they are performed together. Being billed two separate codes for one combined study is the kind of unbundling worth querying line by line.

Can I bring a disc of my scan somewhere else?

Usually, and it can avoid paying for a repeat. Ask the imaging facility for the study on disc or via an image-sharing portal before any follow-up appointment. Repeat imaging because prior images were not available is a real and avoidable cost.

Other procedures

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