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 one of the strangest hospital quirks we found anywhere, the same health system listing the same scan at $2,744 on five campuses and $9,343 on five others.
Key insight: A brain MRI is published at $246.79 through San Antonio's imaging programme, $1,379.73 cash at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa campuses, and $9,342.89 at half of Methodist's campuses. 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)
From the machine-readable files hospitals must publish under the federal Hospital Price Transparency rule, as parsed by ClearHospitalCosts (data accessed 13 April 2026; retrieved by us 3 August 2026).
| Hospital | Listed cash price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa (Alamo, New Braunfels, Westover Hills) | $1,379.73 | Same listed figure at three campuses |
| CHRISTUS Children's | $1,594.56 | |
| CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center | $1,594.35 | |
| Methodist Hospital (main, Stone Oak, Texsan, Metropolitan, Northeast) | $2,743.79 | |
| Methodist campuses (Atascosa, Hill Country, Landmark, Westover Hills, Specialty) | $9,342.89 | 3.4x the other Methodist campuses |
Source: clearhospitalcosts.com/mri-cost-san-antonio/. Lumbar spine (CPT 72148) shows the same two-tier pattern: CHRISTUS campuses $2,924.46 to $3,987.90, Methodist campuses $5,746.37 or $10,716.35. 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 campus trap: the Methodist figures show the same system listing the same scan at $2,743.79 or $9,342.89 depending on which campus your referral lands at. If you are set on a hospital scan, confirm the cash price for your specific campus, not just the system name.
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.
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 campuses to $9,342.89 at several Methodist campuses per federal transparency filings.
Sources, all retrieved 3 August 2026: radiologyassist.com/facility-locations-rates/locations-by-city/mri/san-antonio-tx-mri/ (published programme rates from $239.95, radiologist report included); clearhospitalcosts.com/mri-cost-san-antonio/ (CHRISTUS and Methodist cash prices parsed from CMS-mandated transparency files, accessed 13 Apr 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). National ranges: our methodology.