The cost of childbirth in the U.S. varies widely by state, from $8,361 in Arkansas to $19,771 in New York, according to data from the Health Care Cost Institute.
The institute found the primary driver of geographic variation in spending per childbirth is the cost of vaginal births.
For its analysis, researchers used diagnostic information to compile a pooled sample of 351,272 deliveries in 35 states. The data is from 2016-17. Researchers measured the cost of childbirth admissions using the sum of all insurer and patient out-of-pocket spending. They combined all facility and professional claims for each inpatient admission.
Here is the distribution of total spending per birth by state for 2016-17. The states are listed by lowest mean total spending per birth to highest:
$8,000
Arkansas
$9,000
Louisiana
Missouri
Mississippi
Oklahoma
$10,000
Iowa
Kansas
Utah
$11,000
District of Columbia
Kentucky
Maryland
Michigan
Nevada
Ohio
Tennessee
$12,000
Arizona
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
North Carolina
Texas
Virginia
$13,000
Minnesota
Pennsylvania
$14,000
Colorado
Washington
Wisconsin
$15,000
Florida
New Jersey
South Carolina
$16,000
Connecticut
Massachusetts
$18,000
California
$19,000
New York
Oregon
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