facebook tracking Maryland has the longest ER visits: 4 hr 1 min at the typical hospital

Maryland has the longest ER visits: 4 hr 1 min at the typical hospital

Published October 25, 2026CMS data released July 2026Hospitals In Each State

As of the July 2026 CMS release, the typical hospital in Maryland reported a median ER visit of 4 hr 1 min for patients treated and sent home, the longest of 48 states ranked; in North Dakota it was 1 hr 45 min, the shortest. Across all 4,100 reporting U.S. hospitals, the median was 2 hr 28 min.

U.S. median visit 2 hr 28 min 4,100 hospitals reporting
Longest state 4 hr 1 min Maryland
Shortest state 1 hr 45 min North Dakota
States ranked 48 10+ reporting hospitals
Typical hospital's median ER visit, by state (minutes) - highest and lowest 10 of 48
U.S. median 148 min Maryland 241 min Rhode Island 218 min Massachusetts 209 min New York 204 min Connecticut 199 min Pennsylvania 188 min North Carolina 187 min New Jersey 185 min Arizona 176 min California 174 min 28 more Minnesota 126 min Mississippi 124 min Oklahoma 122 min Iowa 120 min Wyoming 120 min Kansas 117 min Montana 115 min Nebraska 114 min South Dakota 112 min North Dakota 105 min

What the data shows

  • The longest median visits: Maryland (4 hr 1 min), Rhode Island (3 hr 38 min) and Massachusetts (3 hr 29 min).
  • The shortest: North Dakota (1 hr 45 min), South Dakota (1 hr 52 min) and Nebraska (1 hr 54 min).
  • 8 states have a typical hospital median of 3 hours or longer: Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Jersey.
  • 262 hospitals report a median ER visit of 4 hours or longer; California has the most (37).
  • Delaware and Vermont have fewer than 10 reporting hospitals and are not ranked here; their figures are on the state pages.

Every ranked state

RankStateHospitals reportingMedian visitvs. U.S. median
1 Maryland 40 4 hr 1 min +93 min
2 Rhode Island 10 3 hr 38 min +70 min
3 Massachusetts 55 3 hr 29 min +61 min
4 New York 140 3 hr 24 min +56 min
5 Connecticut 26 3 hr 19 min +51 min
6 Pennsylvania 138 3 hr 8 min +40 min
7 North Carolina 96 3 hr 7 min +39 min
8 New Jersey 60 3 hr 5 min +37 min
9 Arizona 63 2 hr 56 min +28 min
10 California 273 2 hr 54 min +26 min
11 Illinois 156 2 hr 53 min +25 min
12 New Mexico 32 2 hr 48 min +20 min
13 Washington 76 2 hr 46 min +18 min
14 Georgia 124 2 hr 44 min +16 min
15 Virginia 80 2 hr 43 min +15 min
16 Tennessee 92 2 hr 41 min +13 min
17 Michigan 118 2 hr 38 min +10 min
18 Oregon 55 2 hr 37 min +9 min
19 Maine 30 2 hr 36 min +8 min
20 Ohio 140 2 hr 36 min +8 min
21 South Carolina 53 2 hr 36 min +8 min
22 Nevada 35 2 hr 32 min +4 min
23 Missouri 97 2 hr 31 min +3 min
24 Florida 179 2 hr 29 min +1 min
25 New Hampshire 26 2 hr 28 min 0 min
26 Alabama 79 2 hr 27 min −1 min
27 Indiana 108 2 hr 20 min −8 min
28 Kentucky 82 2 hr 20 min −8 min
29 Texas 336 2 hr 18 min −10 min
30 West Virginia 44 2 hr 18 min −10 min
31 Wisconsin 118 2 hr 16 min −12 min
32 Colorado 78 2 hr 14 min −14 min
33 Alaska 17 2 hr 10 min −18 min
34 Arkansas 66 2 hr 10 min −18 min
35 Utah 44 2 hr 9 min −19 min
36 Hawaii 20 2 hr 8 min −20 min
37 Idaho 38 2 hr 6 min −22 min
38 Louisiana 89 2 hr 6 min −22 min
39 Minnesota 120 2 hr 6 min −22 min
40 Mississippi 68 2 hr 4 min −24 min
41 Oklahoma 101 2 hr 2 min −26 min
42 Iowa 112 2 hr −28 min
43 Wyoming 22 2 hr −28 min
44 Kansas 117 1 hr 57 min −31 min
45 Montana 56 1 hr 55 min −33 min
46 Nebraska 83 1 hr 54 min −34 min
47 South Dakota 50 1 hr 52 min −36 min
48 North Dakota 43 1 hr 45 min −43 min

How this was measured

CMS measure OP-18b: the median time patients spent in the emergency department, from arrival to leaving, for patients treated and sent home (not admitted or transferred). Each hospital reports its own median; a state's figure here is the median across its reporting hospitals, not across all visits. Campuses CMS reports under one facility number count once. States with fewer than 10 reporting hospitals are not ranked.

Source: CMS Timely and Effective Care - Hospital (Provider Data Catalog, dataset yv7e-xc69), CMS release July 2026. Figures are a snapshot of that release and are not updated; a later release gets its own report. Not affiliated with CMS.

Use these figures

You're welcome to use and chart these numbers. Please credit and link to this page:

Hospitals In Each State analysis of CMS data (July 2026 release), https://www.hospitalsineachstate.com/reports/er-visit-times-by-state-july-2026/

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