n MRI is the same scan wherever you get it. In Austin, the cash price for an MRI of the knee runs from $279 at a standalone center to $2,100 at a hospital, for identical images, often from the same radiologist. This is a verified, cheapest-first list of where to get imaging cash-pay, and the one rule that saves the most: book a standalone center, not a hospital outpatient department.
Cheapest first: verified cash, MRI knee
- RadiologyAssist (Austin booking partner): $279. Online self-pay booking into Austin-area centers; the lowest verified cash price.
- Central Park Imaging: $425. Independent Austin imaging center.
- Texas Orthopedics, Cash-Pay Clinic: $500. In-house MRI at an Austin orthopedic group.
- ARA / Austin Radiological Association: about $540. The large Austin network (locations including Mueller and Cedar Park), with sub-specialty reads.
- Touchstone Imaging, South Austin: $930. Higher than the others here, still well under hospital rates.
Why hospital outpatient is the gamble
Hospital outpatient imaging is the wild card. In our verified data the same knee MRI runs anywhere from about $500 at some Ascension Seton locations to $2,100 at Baylor Scott & White, for the identical scan. The standalone centers above sit reliably in the $279-$930 band; the hospital number is unpredictable and frequently the highest. Your referring doctor's system will often default the order to a hospital department, so ask to send it to a standalone center instead.
Verified cash prices, sorted low to high. From $279.
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