Emergency room (ER) wait times can vary significantly depending on the hospital, time of day, staffing, patient volume, and the severity of patients arriving at the hospital.
CMS data shows that the national median emergency department (ED) visit time was approximately 161 minutes during the 12-month period ending June 2025. Wait times varied considerably across the country, with reported state-level medians ranging from approximately 110 minutes in North Dakota to 310 minutes in Washington, D.C.
These figures are useful for comparing hospitals and understanding general wait-time patterns, but they do not predict exactly how long an individual patient will wait.
What Affects Your Emergency Room Wait Time?
Several factors can affect how quickly you are seen and treated:
- Triage urgency: Patients with life-threatening conditions are treated first, regardless of when they arrive.
- Time of day: Emergency departments may be especially busy during evenings, nights, and weekends.
- Seasonal surges: Flu, respiratory illnesses, and other seasonal conditions can increase patient volume.
- Hospital size and staffing: Larger hospitals may see more patients but may also have more resources and specialists.
- Arrival of higher-priority patients: A patient arriving after you may be treated first if that person’s condition is more serious.
- Testing and treatment needs: Your total ED visit can be much longer if you need laboratory tests, imaging, specialist consultation, or observation.
Important: The time you spend in the ED is not necessarily the same as the time you spend waiting to see a clinician. A patient may be evaluated quickly but remain in the department while tests are completed or while waiting for admission or discharge.
When Should You Use the Emergency Department?
The emergency department is appropriate for serious or potentially life-threatening conditions, including:
- Chest pain or possible heart attack
- Severe difficulty breathing
- Stroke symptoms, such as sudden weakness, numbness, confusion, or difficulty speaking
- Severe bleeding
- Serious injuries or trauma
- Loss of consciousness
- Severe allergic reactions
- Other symptoms that could represent a medical emergency
For a life-threatening emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Do not delay emergency care because of concerns about wait times or cost.
When Other Care May Be More Appropriate
For conditions that are not life-threatening, other healthcare options may be faster and less expensive.
Depending on your symptoms, consider:
- Primary care: Routine illnesses, preventive care, chronic-condition management, and prescription needs.
- Urgent care: Minor injuries, infections, fever, sprains, cuts, and other conditions requiring prompt attention but not emergency treatment.
- Telehealth: Some minor illnesses, follow-up visits, and prescription-related concerns may be handled virtually.
- Nurse advice lines: Your health plan or healthcare system may provide telephone guidance about where to seek care.
Choosing an alternative to the ER when medically appropriate can potentially reduce both your waiting time and your healthcare costs.
How Consumers Can Check Emergency Room Wait Times
Because emergency department conditions change constantly, real-time information is generally more useful than an average or historical wait-time figure.
Consumers can research hospital performance and ED measures through:
- CMS Provider Data Catalog and its hospital quality datasets
- Care Compare, CMS’s consumer-oriented hospital comparison resource
- State and hospital websites that publish emergency department information
- Hospital or health-system apps and websites that provide current information, when available
Remember that a published wait time is only an estimate or historical measure. A hospital’s current wait can change within minutes as patient volume and emergency conditions change.
Key Takeaway
Emergency room wait times vary—and the most serious patients are treated first.
For life-threatening emergencies, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. For non-life-threatening conditions, primary care, urgent care, or telehealth may provide faster and potentially less expensive care when medically appropriate.
As a healthcare consumer, knowing the difference between emergency care, urgent care, primary care, and telehealth can help you choose the appropriate level of care, save time, and potentially reduce unnecessary healthcare expenses.
