New Data Reveals Average U.S. Emergency Department Wait Times

Americans spend more than two and a half hours in hospital emergency departments on average — but some leave without ever being treated, new data has revealed.

Patients visiting U.S. ERs spent an average of 162 minutes receiving or waiting for care from September 2024- 2025, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the same amount of time as the year prior.

Washington, D.C., - though not a state - had the highest median visit length at 303 minutes, followed by the states of Maryland at 246 minutes and Rhode Island at 223 minutes.

North Dakota got patients in and out of the hospital fastest with an average visit length of just 101 minutes.

About 2 percent of patients nationwide left the emergency room before even being seen by a healthcare provider, according to the data.

The median visit length increased in 24 states and D.C. compared to the year before, according to an Axios analysis of the health care data.

Average visit lengths in Oregon and Arkansas each increased by 15 minutes. However, 20 states saw decreases in visit lengths.

Reducing ER wait times is one component of a federal effort to improve health care across the U.S. by 2030.

Despite this goal, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that over 20 percent of patients spend more time waiting in the ER than health professionals recommend for their level of required care.

Even after patients are seen, they can still face long wait times if they need to be admitted to hospital, as most ERs are experiencing overcrowding.

Nearly a quarter of all patients requiring hospital admittance have to wait at least four hours before a bed becomes available, according to a new study published in the medical journal, JAMA.

This is the average number of minutes of an ER stay in each state and D.C.: