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

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

Published November 13, 2026CMS data released October 2026Hospitals In Each State

According to HospitalsInEachState.com's analysis of the October 2026 CMS release, the typical hospital in Maryland reported a median ER visit of 4 hr for patients treated and sent home, the longest of 49 states ranked; in North Dakota it was 1 hr 44 min, the shortest. Across all 4,073 reporting U.S. hospitals, the median was 2 hr 29 min.

U.S. median visit 2 hr 29 min 4,073 hospitals reporting
Longest state 4 hr Maryland
Shortest state 1 hr 44 min North Dakota
States ranked 49 10+ reporting hospitals
Typical hospital's median ER visit, by state
Maryland 4 hr
Rhode Island 3 hr 38 min
Massachusetts 3 hr 31 min
New York 3 hr 27 min
Connecticut 3 hr 14 min
New Jersey 3 hr 8 min
Pennsylvania 3 hr 6 min
North Carolina 3 hr 4 min
Illinois 2 hr 58 min
Arizona 2 hr 54 min
··· 29 more in the table below ···
Mississippi 2 hr 5 min
Idaho 2 hr 4 min
Iowa 2 hr
Wyoming 1 hr 59 min
Montana 1 hr 58 min
Nebraska 1 hr 57 min
Oklahoma 1 hr 57 min
Kansas 1 hr 56 min
South Dakota 1 hr 54 min
North Dakota 1 hr 44 min

Showing the highest and lowest 10 of 49.

What the data shows

  • The longest median visits: Maryland (4 hr), Rhode Island (3 hr 38 min) and Massachusetts (3 hr 31 min).
  • The shortest: North Dakota (1 hr 44 min), South Dakota (1 hr 54 min) and Kansas (1 hr 56 min).
  • 8 states have a typical hospital median of 3 hours or longer: Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
  • 254 hospitals report a median ER visit of 4 hours or longer; California has the most (32).
  • Delaware has fewer than 10 reporting hospitals and is not ranked here; its figures are on the state pages.
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Every ranked state

RankStateHospitals reportingMedian visitvs. U.S. median
1 Maryland 40 4 hr +91 min
2 Rhode Island 10 3 hr 38 min +69 min
3 Massachusetts 54 3 hr 31 min +62 min
4 New York 139 3 hr 27 min +58 min
5 Connecticut 25 3 hr 14 min +45 min
6 New Jersey 60 3 hr 8 min +39 min
7 Pennsylvania 136 3 hr 6 min +37 min
8 North Carolina 95 3 hr 4 min +35 min
9 Illinois 153 2 hr 58 min +29 min
10 Arizona 62 2 hr 54 min +25 min
11 California 267 2 hr 54 min +25 min
12 Georgia 123 2 hr 47 min +18 min
13 Vermont 10 2 hr 46 min +17 min
14 Washington 74 2 hr 45 min +16 min
15 New Mexico 32 2 hr 42 min +13 min
16 Virginia 80 2 hr 42 min +13 min
17 Oregon 54 2 hr 41 min +12 min
18 Tennessee 90 2 hr 40 min +11 min
19 South Carolina 52 2 hr 38 min +9 min
20 Michigan 118 2 hr 36 min +7 min
21 New Hampshire 26 2 hr 36 min +7 min
22 Ohio 137 2 hr 36 min +7 min
23 Maine 30 2 hr 35 min +6 min
24 Missouri 97 2 hr 34 min +5 min
25 Alabama 80 2 hr 29 min 0 min
26 Florida 175 2 hr 29 min 0 min
27 Nevada 35 2 hr 27 min −2 min
28 West Virginia 44 2 hr 26 min −3 min
29 Kentucky 82 2 hr 23 min −6 min
30 Texas 335 2 hr 19 min −10 min
31 Indiana 107 2 hr 18 min −11 min
32 Wisconsin 118 2 hr 15 min −14 min
33 Colorado 77 2 hr 14 min −15 min
34 Arkansas 65 2 hr 13 min −16 min
35 Hawaii 20 2 hr 12 min −17 min
36 Utah 44 2 hr 12 min −17 min
37 Alaska 20 2 hr 10 min −19 min
38 Louisiana 90 2 hr 10 min −19 min
39 Minnesota 120 2 hr 6 min −23 min
40 Mississippi 68 2 hr 5 min −24 min
41 Idaho 38 2 hr 4 min −25 min
42 Iowa 111 2 hr −29 min
43 Wyoming 24 1 hr 59 min −30 min
44 Montana 57 1 hr 58 min −31 min
45 Nebraska 83 1 hr 57 min −32 min
46 Oklahoma 101 1 hr 57 min −32 min
47 Kansas 116 1 hr 56 min −33 min
48 South Dakota 50 1 hr 54 min −35 min
49 North Dakota 43 1 hr 44 min −45 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 October 2026. Figures are a snapshot of that release and are not updated; a later release gets its own report. Not affiliated with CMS.

Cite this data

You're welcome to use and chart these numbers under CC BY 4.0. Please credit HospitalsInEachState.com and link to this page:

Source: HospitalsInEachState.com analysis of CMS data (October 2026 release), https://www.hospitalsineachstate.com/reports/er-visit-times-by-state-october-2026/

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