Emergency room wait times in the Us depend on several factors — like hospital resources, patient volume and staffing levels — and can vary widely from state to state.

Using 2024 data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services, Visual Capitalist mapped the average time patients spend in the emergency department before leaving, by Us state (plus Puerto Rico and DC).

Nationwide, the median emergency room visit time was two hours and 42 minutes — but there are 20 states where the average time spent in the ER exceeded this.

The District of Columbia topped the ranking, with patients waiting an average of five hours, 14 minutes before leaving the ER. Following behind were Puerto Rico and Maryland, where the average emergency department visits lasted four hours, 41 minutes and four hours 10 minutes, respectively.

Patients faced shorter visit times in smaller, rural states like North Dakota (one hour, 50 minutes), south Dakota (one hour, 53 minutes) and Nebraska (one hour, 54 minutes).

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Via Visual Capitalist.