MRI Cost in San Antonio: The Cheapest Big-Metro Prices in Texas (2026)
Of the five Texas metros we track, San Antonio has the lowest published MRI rates: common scans from $239.95 all-in. It also has the strangest hospital filing we found anywhere: at eight of Methodist's ten San Antonio area campuses a single file lists the same brain MRI twice, once at $2,743.79 and once at $9,342.89, with nothing in the file to separate the two lines.
Key insight: A brain MRI is published at $246.79 through San Antonio's imaging programme, $1,379.73 cash at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Westover Hills, and as much as $9,342.89 on the higher of the two lines Methodist files for it. Where you book is a 38x decision.
Published Cash Prices in San Antonio
The only per-scan San Antonio rates we found actually published, verified 3 August 2026. They apply at participating centres booked through the RadiologyAssist programme, all-inclusive with the radiologist report; programme terms apply.
| Exam | Published cash price |
|---|---|
| MRI Cervical Spine (no contrast) | $239.95 |
| MRI Lumbar Spine (no contrast) | $240.75 |
| MRI Abdomen (no contrast) | $246.34 |
| MRI Brain (no contrast) | $246.79 |
| MRI Knee (no contrast) | $254.53 |
Source: radiologyassist.com San Antonio MRI rates page, retrieved 3 August 2026. Contrast scans cost more; without-contrast rates shown.
San Antonio Hospital Cash Prices: Brain MRI (CPT 70551)
Every figure below was parsed by us directly from the hospital's own federal Hospital Price Transparency machine-readable file, dated as shown against each row, retrieved August 2026. Where a hospital's current file carries no cash price for CPT 70551, the row says so rather than quoting a number from anywhere else.
| Hospital | Listed cash price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Westover Hills | $1,379.73 | File dated 13 January 2026. The only CHRISTUS campus whose file carries a cash price for CPT 70551 |
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Alamo Heights | No cash price in file | File dated 13 January 2026 lists MRI only as revenue-code payer lines with no CPT code, no gross and no cash figure |
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa New Braunfels | No cash price in file | File dated 12 January 2026, same pattern |
| CHRISTUS Children's | No cash price in file | File dated 12 January 2026, same pattern |
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center | File unavailable | The file link CHRISTUS publishes in its own CMS index returns a 404, rechecked 28 August 2026 |
| Methodist Hospital, Stone Oak, Texsan, Metropolitan, Northeast, Atascosa, Landmark and Specialty & Transplant | $2,743.79 or $9,342.89 | Both lines sit in each of those eight files, dated 1 May 2026, with nothing to tell them apart |
| Methodist Hill Country and Methodist Westover Hills | $9,342.89 | Files dated 1 May 2026 carry only the higher of the two lines |
Sources: christushealth.org machine-readable standard-charges files for the four CHRISTUS campuses (dated 12 and 13 January 2026) and the Methodist Healthcare posting files on HCA's transparency host for all ten Methodist campuses (all dated 1 May 2026), each parsed by us directly and retrieved August 2026. On lumbar spine (CPT 72148) the CHRISTUS Westover Hills file lists three lines for the same chargemaster code at $537.57, $2,115.96 and $2,924.46; the Methodist files list both $5,746.37 and $10,716.35 at the main hospital, Stone Oak, Metropolitan, Northeast, Atascosa, Landmark and Specialty & Transplant, and only $10,716.35 at Texsan, Hill Country and Methodist Westover Hills. On every Methodist MRI row the file's discounted cash price equals its gross charge, so these are undiscounted list prices, not a cash discount. List prices change; treat these as the published spread, not a quote. University Health, San Antonio's public system, also publishes transparency files and a price estimator; we quote only figures we retrieved.
The two-line trap: at eight of Methodist's ten campuses, the hospital's own file lists a brain MRI at $2,743.79 on one chargemaster line and $9,342.89 on another. Both are marked outpatient, both are described as MRI brain without contrast, and the file gives no way to tell which one a walk-in cash patient gets. If you are set on a hospital scan, ask for the cash price against the specific chargemaster line and get it in writing before you book.
San Antonio Imaging Centers: Who to Call
All quote-only, none publishes a cash rate card we could verify (checked 3 August 2026). Call with your exact scan and ask for the self-pay rate; the $240 to $255 published programme rates are your benchmark.
American Health Imaging
Quote-onlySix San Antonio locations including downtown, MedCenter and Westover Hills. States its exams cost up to 60% less than hospital imaging; no published rate card, quotes on request.
Longhorn Imaging
Quote-onlySeveral San Antonio sites within its 14-location Austin/San Antonio network. No pricing published; call the San Antonio main line for cash rates.
Single-site independents
Quote-onlySan Antonio has numerous independent centres beyond the chains. Ask for the cash-pay rate on your exact CPT code and whether the radiologist read is included in the number quoted.
Open MRI note: open and wide-bore units exist in the San Antonio market but none we checked publishes open-MRI pricing. Ask for the specific machine type when booking and see our open MRI cost guide for what a fair premium looks like.
75 NPI registry records (18 with the MRI-specific code) across 7 cities, with registry phone numbers and nearest alternatives. Texas listing, August 2026 file.
Cash-Pay Networks Serving San Antonio
Green Imaging
Quote per orderGreen Imaging, a Texas-founded (Houston, 2011), physician-owned cash-pay network, coordinates scans at partner facilities across the state, San Antonio included. It quotes one bundled price per imaging order, facility fee and radiologist read included, paid upfront with no bill afterwards. No public rate card, so it is quote-only like the local chains, but bundled quotes are easy to compare directly against the $240 to $255 published benchmark.
How Green Imaging's pricing worksMRI in San Antonio, Frequently Asked Questions
San Antonio has the lowest published MRI rates of Texas's five big metros: from $239.95 (cervical spine, no contrast) through the RadiologyAssist booking programme, with brain, lumbar, abdomen and knee scans all listed between $240 and $255, radiologist report included. Local chains, including American Health Imaging and Longhorn Imaging, publish no rate cards and quote by phone; typical freestanding-centre quotes land in our national $400 to $2,000 sourced range. Hospital cash prices for the same brain MRI run from $1,379.73 at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Westover Hills to $9,342.89 at Methodist, whose own transparency files list the identical scan at both $2,743.79 and $9,342.89.
Sources: radiologyassist.com/facility-locations-rates/locations-by-city/mri/san-antonio-tx-mri/ (published programme rates from $239.95, radiologist report included, retrieved 3 August 2026); every hospital cash figure on this page parsed by us directly from the hospital's own federal Hospital Price Transparency machine-readable file, retrieved August 2026, namely the christushealth.org machine-readable-files postings 741109665_santarosahospitalwestoverhills, 741109665_santarosahospitalalamoheights, 741109665_santarosahospitalnewbraunfels and 741109665_christuschildrenshospital (files dated 12 and 13 January 2026; the santarosahospitalmedicalcenter posting listed in the same CMS index returns a 404) and the ten Methodist Healthcare postings 74-2730328_METHODIST-HOSPITAL, METHODIST-HOSPITAL-STONE-OAK, METHODIST-TEXSAN-HOSPITAL, METROPOLITAN-METHODIST, NORTHEAST-METHODIST, METHODIST-HOSPITAL--ATASCOSA, METHODIST-HOSPITAL-HILL-COUNTRY, METHODIST-HOSPITAL--LANDMARK, METHODIST-HOSPITAL-WESTOVER-HILLS and METHODIST-SPECIALTY-AND-TRANSPLANT on HCA's transparency host (all dated 1 May 2026); cms.gov Hospital Price Transparency rule; americanhealthimaging.com (six San Antonio locations, up-to-60%-less claim, no rate card); longhornimaging.com (no published prices); greenimaging.net (quote-per-order model), all three retrieved 3 August 2026. National ranges: our methodology.