A self-pay MRI at the four centers on this page is published between $299 and $1,560, and the spread is not noise. It tracks three things: whether contrast is used, which part of the body is in the scanner, and whether the radiologist who reads the images is inside the number or bills separately afterwards. None of the three is hidden, and knowing which applies to your referral turns a range into a price.
Ask providers for a written price
How much does an MRI cost at these four centers?
Excel Medical Imaging lists a general MRI without contrast at $299 as a promotional self-pay price against a normal $349, with contrast only at $379, with and without contrast at $399, and a specialty MRI at $549. California Medical Imaging publishes a flat cash rate of $499 without contrast and $599 with. MH Imaging publishes $650 to $725 for any single MRI regardless of contrast, radiologist's reading included. Radiology Consultants of Iowa prices by body part: $880 for a lower extremity joint without contrast, $940 for a lumbar spine without contrast and $1,560 for a head with and without contrast, all including the reading fee.
Contrast adds about a hundred dollars, where it is priced at all
Read across these four and the contrast premium is consistent and small. Excel Medical Imaging goes from $299 without to $399 with and without; California Medical Imaging from $499 to $599. MH Imaging refuses the distinction entirely and charges one band whether contrast is used or not, which is simpler and means a contrast study there costs the same as a plain one. So contrast is worth perhaps a hundred dollars in this record, which is less than most people expect and far less than the gap between centers.
The radiologist's fee is the question that decides whether a price is a price
A quoted imaging figure can mean the scan alone or the scan plus the doctor who reads it, and those are different products at the same number. MH Imaging states that its prices include the radiologist's reading. Radiology Consultants of Iowa is explicit in the same direction: all of our fees include both the exam and the radiologist's reading fee. California Medical Imaging heads its list FLAT RATE CASH PRICING without saying what sits inside the flat rate, and Excel Medical Imaging's list does not state it either. A separately billed professional fee arriving weeks later is the commonest way a self-pay price stops being the price.
How much is an MRI across the country? What the research says
The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker put the average price of an outpatient lower-back MRI in the United States at $861 in 2018, up from $784 in 2008, a figure that includes the radiologist's interpretation. The same analysis found the average in the Houston metro area at $1,106 against $404 in Las Vegas for the same exam, roughly triple. That geographic spread is wider than the spread between the four lists on this page, which is the useful thing to take from it: where you have the scan moves the price more than which scan it is.
Why a published number exists to read at all
Since 1 January 2021 every hospital in the United States has had to publish its standard charges, and 45 CFR 180.20 defines one of them as the discounted cash price: the charge that applies to an individual who pays cash, or cash equivalent, for a hospital item or service. The same section defines a shoppable service as one that can be scheduled by a healthcare consumer in advance, which is exactly what a scan is. Independent imaging centers are not hospitals and are not bound by that rule; several publish a cash list anyway, because it is how they compete for the patient who is paying.
What this page is not
A price record, and nothing more. It does not say whether you need a scan, which scan you need, what a result means or what any center's imaging is like. Those belong to the clinician who ordered the test, and this site states no clinical claim on any page. Every figure here is quoted from the center's own published list, read on 10 September 2026.
Questions people ask about mri cost
Is $299 really what an MRI costs?
It is what Excel Medical Imaging publishes for a general MRI without contrast, as a promotional price against a normal $349. It is a real list price at one center rather than a national figure, and the same list charges $549 for a specialty MRI. Read it as the floor of this record, not as what you will be quoted.
Does the price include the radiologist reading the scan?
At two of these four it is stated: MH Imaging and Radiology Consultants of Iowa both say their fees include the reading. The other two lists do not say either way, so ask. A separate professional fee is the usual reason a quoted price turns out not to have been the whole price.
Why does a lumbar MRI cost more than a knee MRI at the same place?
Because the exams are priced separately rather than as one product. Radiology Consultants of Iowa publishes a lower extremity joint without contrast at $880 and a lumbar spine without contrast at $940, both including the reading fee. Ask for the price of the specific exam your referral names.
Is a national average any use?
Not much on its own. The Peterson-KFF average outpatient lower-back MRI was $861 in 2018 while Houston averaged $1,106 and Las Vegas $404. An average that sits between two markets differing by nearly three times describes nobody in particular.
How much does MRI cost with contrast?
About a hundred dollars more where contrast is priced separately: Excel Medical Imaging goes from $299 without to $399 with and without, and California Medical Imaging from $499 to $599.
How much are MRI scans of a joint or a spine?
On Radiology Consultants of Iowa's list, a lower extremity joint without contrast is $880 and a lumbar spine without contrast is $940. The exams are priced separately rather than as one product.
Sources
- Excel Medical Imaging, published self-pay prices
- California Medical Imaging, flat-rate cash pricing
- MH Imaging, self-pay pricing
- Radiology Consultants of Iowa, cash pricing
- Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, how costly are common health services in the United States
- 45 CFR 180.20, definitions including discounted cash price