The median emergency department visit in the US lasted 162 minutes in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, according to federal CMS data released in August 2026, with Washington, D.C. at 303 minutes and North Dakota at 110 minutes. About 2% of patients left before a clinician saw them, and 53.6% of admitted general-medicine patients in a 56-hospital JAMA study waited four hours or longer in the emergency department for an inpatient bed.
Emergency Room Wait Times in America 2026
Emergency Room Wait Times in the US 2026 look flat on paper and worse in practice. The national median visit held at 162 minutes for the second straight year, yet visit lengths rose in 24 states and Washington, D.C. and fell in 20. More than 20% of patients wait longer than the recommended time for their triage level, based on the latest CDC data. The hardest delay sits behind the front door. Patients who need a hospital bed often stay in the emergency department for hours after the admit decision.
Three forces push the numbers. Demand sits near 155 million visits a year. Nursing turnover in emergency units runs above the hospital average. Inpatient beds fill, so admitted patients board in hallways and bays. Medicaid funding changes and hospital closures add pressure in 2026. This report covers visit volume, state-by-state times, boarding, staffing, costs, and patient outcomes. Each table names its data period, because several federal series now run on different calendars.
Interesting Facts About Emergency Room Wait Times in the US 2026
| Fact | Data (Period) |
|---|---|
| National median ED visit time | 162 minutes (Oct 2024 to Sep 2025) |
| Longest state or district | Washington, D.C., 303 minutes |
| Shortest state | North Dakota, 110 minutes |
| Patients who left before being seen | 2% nationally |
| States with longer visits than prior year | 24 states plus D.C. (20 states improved) |
| Patients waiting longer than recommended for triage level | More than 20% (latest CDC data) |
| Total ED visits in the US | 155 million (2022, last CDC survey year) |
| Admitted patients boarding 4+ hours | 53.6% (Jun 2024 to May 2025, 56 EDs) |
| Emergency RN turnover | 20.7% (calendar 2025) |
| Average ED visit cost, large employer plans | $2,453 total, $646 out of pocket (2019 claims) |
Every figure above carries its own date. The CMS median excludes psychiatric patients and transfers to other facilities. It also reflects a mix of hospitals, so a state with many small, low-acuity emergency departments scores faster than a state with large trauma centers. A state ranking measures how a system is built as much as how well it runs.
The facts table also shows why one number never tells the full story. The 162-minute median covers everyone, from a sprained ankle to a stroke. The 53.6% boarding figure covers only admitted patients, and the 2% walkout rate counts only people who left. Read together, they describe a system where the first wait is modest for most patients and the second wait, for a bed, is the one that backs up the whole department.
Emergency Room Visit Volume Behind Wait Times in the US 2026
ED visit rate per 100 people by group, 2022 (scale: longest bar = 99)
Infants under 1 ████████████████████████████████████████ 99
Adults 75+ ███████████████████████████████ 76
Females █████████████████████ 51
All patients ███████████████████ 47
Males ██████████████████ 44
| Group or Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Total ED visits | 155 million | 2022 |
| Visits per 100 people (all patients) | 47 | 2022 |
| Visits per 100 infants under 1 | 99 | 2022 |
| Visits per 100 adults 75 and older | 76 | 2022 |
| Visits per 100 females | 51 | 2022 |
| Visits per 100 males | 44 | 2022 |
| Visits by adults 65 and older | 32.9 million (21.2% of all visits) | 2022 |
| Visits with a mental health diagnosis | 12.1 million (7.8% of all visits) | 2022 |
Data source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2022 data brief.
The 155 million visits in 2022 equal 47 visits per 100 people, up from 140 million and 43 per 100 in 2021. Infants and the oldest adults drive the rate. Babies under one visit at a rate of 99 per 100, and adults 75 and older follow at 76 per 100. Adults 65 and older made 32.9 million visits, or 21.2% of the total. Older patients arrive sicker, need more tests, and more often need admission, so each visit holds a bed longer.
Mental health adds another layer. Patients with a mental health diagnosis made 12.1 million visits in 2022, and these patients often wait longest for a psychiatric placement. CDC retired the survey after the 2022 data year, so no newer federal count exists. Trade-group estimates for 2023 range from 142.2 million (reporting AHA hospitals) to 160 million (a national emergency department benchmarking registry). Treat 2022 as the last firm federal anchor.
Emergency Room Wait Times by State in the US 2026
Median ED visit time by state, minutes
District of Columbia ████████████████████████████████████████ 303
Maryland ████████████████████████████████ 246
Rhode Island █████████████████████████████ 223
Delaware █████████████████████████████ 217
Massachusetts ████████████████████████████ 214
New York ██████████████████████████ 194
North Carolina █████████████████████████ 187
California ███████████████████████ 174
US median █████████████████████ 162
Florida █████████████████████ 156
Texas ███████████████████ 145
Colorado ██████████████████ 134
Oklahoma ███████████████ 117
North Dakota ███████████████ 110
| State | Median ED Visit Time (Minutes) | Versus US Median (162) |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 303 | +141 |
| Maryland | 246 | +84 |
| Rhode Island | 223 | +61 |
| Delaware | 217 | +55 |
| Massachusetts | 214 | +52 |
| New York | 194 | +32 |
| North Carolina | 187 | +25 |
| California | 174 | +12 |
| Florida | 156 | -6 |
| Texas | 145 | -17 |
| Colorado | 134 | -28 |
| Oklahoma | 117 | -45 |
| North Dakota | 110 | -52 |
Data source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Timely and Effective Care data, October 2024 to September 2025, as compiled by Becker’s Hospital Review and Axios in August 2026.
The gap between the top and bottom is 193 minutes. A patient in Washington, D.C. spends nearly three times as long in the department as a patient in North Dakota. The top five places are all in the Mid-Atlantic and New England: D.C., Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Massachusetts. Dense populations, busy academic centers, and tight inpatient capacity explain much of that pattern. Visit lengths rose by 15 minutes in both Oregon and Arkansas, the largest jumps Axios found.
The bottom of the table tells a different story. Rural and low-volume states post the shortest times, including North Dakota (110), Nebraska (113), Hawaii (114), and South Dakota (115). CMS notes that state figures do not adjust for acuity. A small critical access hospital that stabilizes and transfers a patient looks fast on this measure, while a trauma center that treats the same patient to completion looks slow. Use these rankings to compare patterns, not to grade individual hospitals.
Emergency Room Boarding & Admission Delays in the US 2026
Boarding measures, % of group
Admitted, of all ED visits ███████████ 15.0%
Boarded 4+ hours, of admitted ████████████████████████████████████████ 53.6%
Waited 4+ hours for inpatient team █████████████████ 23%
| Boarding Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| ED visits studied | 3,271,585 |
| Emergency departments | 56 in 17 health systems |
| Study period | June 2024 to May 2025 |
| Admitted to general medicine | 492,135 (15.0% of visits) |
| Boarded 4 hours or longer | 263,666 (53.6% of admitted) |
| Waited 4+ hours for inpatient management | 23% of boarding patients |
| Longest waits for inpatient management | 12 to 24 hours for many patients |
| CMS ECAT boarding gap threshold | More than 240 minutes |
Data source: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Janke et al., University of Michigan Department of Emergency Medicine, published online August 17, 2026; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Emergency Care Access and Timeliness measure.
Boarding means an admitted patient stays in the emergency department while waiting for an inpatient bed. The JAMA team found that 263,666 of 492,135 admitted patients, or 53.6%, boarded at least four hours. Four hours matters because the Joint Commission treats boarding beyond that mark as a patient safety issue. CMS now writes the same limit into its new Emergency Care Access and Timeliness measure, which flags any boarding gap over 240 minutes.
A second finding separates hospitals from each other. Among boarding patients, 23% waited at least four hours before an inpatient team took over their care, and many waited 12 to 24 hours. Some hospitals hand off in under four hours, and others take more than a day. Lead author Alex Janke said the spread points to how a hospital organizes the work, not only how full it is. A full building does not explain every delay.
Emergency Room Staffing & Nurse Turnover Behind Wait Times in the US 2026
RN turnover by unit, calendar 2025
Behavioral health ████████████████████████████████████████ 22.5%
Emergency █████████████████████████████████████ 20.7%
Telemetry ███████████████████████████████████ 19.5%
Step down ██████████████████████████████████ 19.0%
Med/surg ████████████████████████████████ 18.1%
All staff RNs ███████████████████████████████ 17.6%
Critical care ███████████████████████████████ 17.6%
Pediatrics ████████████████████████ 13.4%
| Staffing Metric | Value (Period) |
|---|---|
| Emergency RN turnover | 20.7% (2025), up from 19.1% (2024) |
| All hospital staff RN turnover | 17.6% (2025), up 1.2 points |
| Emergency RN five-year cumulative turnover | 113.6% |
| Average time to fill an emergency RN job | 70 days |
| Average time to fill any experienced RN job | 78 days |
| Hospital RN vacancy rate | 8.6% (43 unfilled RN positions per average hospital) |
| Estimated national RN shortage | 158,600 |
| Hospitals reporting 10%+ vacancy | 33.1% |
Data source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report (527 hospitals in 40 states, calendar 2025 data), published March 2026.
Emergency nurses leave faster than the hospital average. Turnover reached 20.7% in 2025, 3.1 points above the 17.6% average for all staff RNs. Over five years, emergency units turned over 113.6% of their RN staff, which means they replace the whole team in under four and a half years. Each new hire takes 70 days to land, and new nurses need weeks more before they run a pod alone. A department that loses experience faster than it rebuilds it sees slower triage and fewer open treatment spaces.
Research links staffing to delay directly. An analysis of CMS boarding data found mean boarding of 128 minutes in hospitals with worse nurse ratios, against 108 minutes in better-staffed hospitals. That study used 2015 and 2016 data, so treat it as a pattern and not a 2026 measure. A 2024 systematic review reached the same direction: lower nurse staffing goes with longer waits, more walkouts, and longer stays. For the wider workforce picture, see the national nurse shortage statistics in the US in our full report.
Emergency Room Capacity & Hospital Closures Behind Wait Times in the US 2026
Hospital closure risk and counts
Rural hospitals at risk of closure ██████████████████████████████ 734
Rural hospitals at immediate risk (2-3 y) ██████████████████ 323
Closures, FY 2019 to 2023 (GAO) ██████ 118
Closures in 2024 █ 25
| Capacity Metric | Value (Period) |
|---|---|
| Rural hospitals at risk of closure | 734 (January 2026), about 1 in 3 |
| Rural hospitals at immediate risk | About 323 (within 2 to 3 years) |
| Hospital closures, urban and rural | 118 (fiscal 2019 to 2023) |
| Hospital closures in 2024 | 25 |
| Projected Medicaid and CHIP cuts | $911 billion over 10 years (2025 law, CBO estimate) |
| Medicaid enrollees who could lose coverage | Up to 10 million (CBO estimate) |
| Rural ER travel time after a closure | 12 minutes to 72 minutes (2025 industry report) |
Data source: Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform analysis of CMS cost reports through December 2025; U.S. Government Accountability Office report GAO-25-106473; Congressional Budget Office estimates, 2025.
Closures remove emergency capacity, and the remaining departments absorb the patients. About 734 rural hospitals, roughly one in three, face closure risk, and about 323 face it within two to three years. The Government Accountability Office counted 118 closures from fiscal 2019 through 2023, and 25 more closed in 2024. A rural closure can stretch a 12-minute trip to the emergency room into a 72-minute trip. Nearby departments then see more visits and longer waits. Readers who want the state-level breakdown can open hospital closure statistics in the US.
Funding pressure points the same way. The Congressional Budget Office estimated $911 billion in Medicaid and CHIP cuts over 10 years from the 2025 law, and up to 10 million people could lose coverage. Axios warned in August 2026 that new eligibility and cost rules could lead people to delay care until a crisis sends them to the emergency department. Axios also reported that the federal health services research agency that convened a 2024 boarding summit has been cut back, and HHS did not say whether that work continues. Hospital leaders expect delays in access and a loss of services.
Emergency Room Visit Costs in the US 2026
Average emergency visit cost, USD
Lowest-complexity visit ██████ $592
Baltimore average visit █████████████████ $1,645
Average visit, all levels ██████████████████████████ $2,453
Highest-complexity (plan paid) ████████████████████████████████ $3,015
San Diego average visit ████████████████████████████████████████ $3,761
| Cost Metric | Value (2019 Claims) |
|---|---|
| Average total visit cost, large employer plans | $2,453 |
| Average patient out-of-pocket cost | $646 |
| Evaluation and management share of cost | $1,134 (about half) |
| Imaging share of visit charges | 19% ($483 on average) |
| Lowest-complexity visit, total | $592 (patient pays $205) |
| Highest-complexity visit, paid by plan | $3,015 |
| Most expensive metro studied (San Diego) | $3,761 |
| Least expensive metro studied (Baltimore) | $1,645 |
Data source: Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, analysis of large employer plan claims (2019 data, the most recent published benchmark).
The $2,453 average hides a wide range. A low-complexity visit costs $592, and a high-complexity visit costs five times more in plan payments alone. Patients carry $646 of the average bill out of pocket, which exceeds what many households can pay on short notice. Facility and evaluation fees make up roughly half the total. Imaging adds 19%, or $483. The metro gap is steep too: San Diego averaged $3,761 per visit and Baltimore $1,645, a difference of more than $2,100.
These figures use 2019 claims because no newer public benchmark matches their scope. Prices have risen since, so current bills run higher. Long waits raise costs on their own: a patient who boards for hours consumes monitoring, nursing time, and bed space before the inpatient stay even starts. Patients facing a large emergency bill can compare it against the national figures in average hospital bill statistics in the US before they call the billing office.
Emergency Room Wait Times & Patient Outcomes in the US 2026
In-hospital mortality by boarding time
Boarded under 2 hours ██████████████████████ 2.5%
Boarded 12+ hours ████████████████████████████████████████ 4.5%
| Outcome Measure | Finding | Study Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Mortality, boarded under 2 hours | 2.5% | Academic ED, 41,256 admissions, 2005 to 2008 |
| Mortality, boarded 12+ hours | 4.5% | Same cohort |
| Hospital stay, boarded under 2 hours | 5.6 days | Same cohort |
| Hospital stay, boarded over 24 hours | 8.7 days | Same cohort |
| Visits with boarding over 4 hours | 25.2% of 68,632 | Single-center propensity analysis |
| Mortality, boarding 5.2+ hours vs under 1.5 | 24% higher | Cancer center emergency department |
| ICU mortality, ventilated patients | 30.1%, 40.5%, 46.7% by rising boarding time | Single center, small sample |
Data source: Peer-reviewed cohort studies indexed by the National Library of Medicine (PubMed and PubMed Central), covering emergency department boarding and mortality, 2005 to 2025.
Longer boarding goes with worse outcomes in every study above. In one academic emergency department, in-hospital mortality rose from 2.5% for patients boarded under two hours to 4.5% for those boarded 12 hours or more. Average hospital stays grew from 5.6 days to 8.7 days. A cancer center study found 24% higher in-hospital mortality for patients boarding 5.2 hours or more. Most of this evidence comes from single hospitals and older data, so it shows association and cannot prove that waiting alone caused the deaths. Sicker patients also board longer.
Walkouts form the other outcome. Nationally, 2% of patients leave before being seen. Research shows that inpatient boarding drives that rate up, because a department with fewer functional beds sees fewer patients quickly. Those patients receive no care at that visit, and the department still logs the arrival. Crowding also spreads: when one hospital runs out of beds, ambulances and walk-ins move to the next one, and that department’s wait grows too.
Frequently Asked Questions About Emergency Room Wait Times in the US 2026
What is the average emergency room wait time in the US in 2026?
The national median emergency department visit lasted 162 minutes, about 2 hours and 42 minutes, in the year ending September 30, 2025. That figure measures total time in the department, not time to see a doctor.
How long do you wait to see a doctor in the ER?
CMS measures total visit length, so no single federal number covers door-to-doctor time. CDC data show that more than 20% of patients wait longer than the recommended time for their triage level.
Which state has the longest ER wait times?
Washington, D.C. has the longest median visit at 303 minutes. Maryland (246), Rhode Island (223), Delaware (217), and Massachusetts (214) follow.
Which state has the shortest ER wait times?
North Dakota has the shortest median visit at 110 minutes. Nebraska (113), Hawaii (114), and South Dakota (115) also post fast times.
Are ER wait times getting longer?
The national median stayed at 162 minutes, unchanged from the prior year. Visit lengths rose in 24 states and D.C. and fell in 20 states.
What is ER boarding?
Boarding means an admitted patient stays in the emergency department while waiting for an inpatient bed. In a 2026 JAMA study, 53.6% of admitted general-medicine patients boarded four hours or longer.
How many people leave the ER without being seen?
About 2% of patients nationwide leave before a clinician sees them, according to CMS data for the year ending September 2025.
How many people visit the emergency room each year?
The CDC counted about 155 million emergency department visits in 2022, or 47 visits per 100 people. That was the last year of the federal survey.
Why are ER wait times so long?
The main causes are crowded inpatient units, boarding of admitted patients, staffing gaps, and high demand from older adults and mental health patients. Emergency RN turnover reached 20.7% in 2025.
How much does an ER visit cost?
Large employer plans paid an average of $2,453 per visit in 2019 claims, and patients paid $646 out of pocket. Costs ranged from $592 for a low-complexity visit to well over $3,000 for complex care.
Does a long ER wait increase the risk of death?
Several studies link longer boarding to higher in-hospital mortality. One academic cohort found 2.5% mortality for boarding under two hours and 4.5% for 12 hours or more. These studies show association, not proof of cause.
How long is too long to wait in the ER?
CMS flags boarding longer than 240 minutes from the admit decision to departure as a timeliness gap. CDC data show more than 20% of patients wait longer than recommended for their triage level.
How many hospitals are at risk of closing in 2026?
About 734 rural hospitals, roughly 1 in 3, were at risk of closure as of January 2026, and about 323 faced immediate risk within two to three years.
What is the turnover rate for emergency room nurses?
Emergency RN turnover reached 20.7% in calendar 2025, up from 19.1% in 2024. Hospital staff RNs overall averaged 17.6%.
Why did ER visit times rise in some states?
CMS data do not state a cause. Visit lengths rose in 24 states and D.C., including 15-minute jumps in Oregon and Arkansas. Research points to boarding, staffing gaps, and inpatient bed capacity as the leading drivers.
How can you shorten an ER visit?
Call ahead for non-life-threatening problems and use urgent care or telehealth when the condition allows it. Call 911 for chest pain, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding, or trouble breathing. Triage level, not arrival order, decides who is seen first.
Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.