ER Wait Times in Austin, TX: 8 Hospitals Compared
8 hospitals in Austin, TX report how long their emergency room patients stay. The middle value here is 161.5 minutes; Texas: 138 minutes; national (Medicare): 162 minutes.
What this time means
Each hospital’s number is Medicare measure OP-18b: the median (middle) time from arriving at the emergency room to leaving it, for patients who were treated and went home. Half of these patients left sooner, half later. It is not the time before seeing a doctor, and it leaves out patients who were admitted to the hospital, transferred, or seen for mental health.
Medicare’s name for the measure: “Average (median) time patients spent in the emergency department before leaving from the visit, excluding patients transferred to another facility or psychiatric care/mental health patients. A lower number of minutes is better”. Patients seen October 2024 to September 2025.
Emergency rooms in Austin, TX, shortest time first
Ranked by Medicare's median time (OP-18b), shortest first; hospitals with the same time share a rank. Left without being seen: share of ER patients who left before a doctor or nurse saw them (January 2024 to December 2024; national 2%). ER volume: patients per year, as Medicare groups it.
| # | Hospital | Median time in the ER | Left without being seen | ER volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baylor Scott & White Medical Center- Austin | 117 min (1 h 57 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 2 | Ascension Seton Southwest | 130 min (2 h 10 min) | Not reported | — |
| 3 | St David's South Austin Medical Center | 138 min (2 h 18 min) | 1% | Very high (60,000 or more) |
| 4 | St David's Medical Center | 160 min (2 h 40 min) | 1% | Very high (60,000 or more) |
| 5 | North Austin Medical Center | 163 min (2 h 43 min) | 1% | Very high (60,000 or more) |
| 6 | Ascension Seton Northwest | 173 min (2 h 53 min) | Not reported | — |
| 7 | Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin | 184 min (3 h 4 min) | Not reported | — |
| 8 | Dell Seton Med Center at the University of TX | 249 min (4 h 9 min) | Not reported | — |
Other cities in Texas
- Amarillo173.5 min
- Arlington140.5 min
- Baytown159 min
- Beaumont201 min
- Brownsville156 min
- Bryan134 min
- Corpus Christi161.5 min
- Dallas203 min
- Denton130 min
- Edinburg114 min
- El Paso160 min
- Fort Worth186 min
- Frisco157 min
- Harlingen150.5 min
- Houston172 min
- Humble199.5 min
- Irving134 min
- Jacksonville93 min
- Laredo152 min
- Longview140.5 min
- Lubbock164 min
- Lufkin155.5 min
- Mansfield184.5 min
- McKinney144 min
- Nacogdoches165 min
- Odessa151.5 min
- Pasadena146 min
- Plano164 min
- Round Rock156 min
- San Antonio168 min
- Sherman142 min
- Southlake125 min
- Sugar Land177 min
- The Woodlands166 min
- Tyler152.5 min
- Victoria164 min
- Waco239 min
- Webster144 min
Common questions
Which ER in Austin, TX has the shortest wait?
In Medicare's data for October 2024 to September 2025, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center- Austin had the shortest median time patients spent in the emergency room before going home: 117 minutes. This is the total time of the visit, not the time before seeing a doctor, and it is an average of past patients, not a promise for your visit.
What is the average ER wait time in Austin, TX?
The middle value of the 8 hospitals listed here is 161.5 minutes; for all of Texas it is 138 minutes. The national figure published by Medicare is 162 minutes. Each hospital's number is the median time from arriving at the emergency room to leaving it, for patients who were treated and went home.
Should I drive to a farther ER to wait less?
No. In an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. These times are past averages; emergency rooms see the sickest patients first, and minutes lost on the road can matter more than minutes in a waiting room.
Does a shorter time mean a better emergency room?
Not by itself. Busier emergency rooms and hospitals that treat more serious cases usually have longer times, so the ER volume is shown next to each time. The time is one measure among many on each hospital’s page.
Sources and dates
- Timely and Effective Care - Hospital — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), data updated July 22, 2026, retrieved October 31, 2026. Times: patients seen October 2024 to September 2025; left without being seen: January 2024 to December 2024.
- Timely and Effective Care - National — CMS, data updated July 22, 2026 (the national figures).
Only open hospitals that list an emergency room and report this time are included. The state and city figures are the median of the hospitals listed, calculated by us from the same CMS hospital file. Wording last revised November 11, 2026. Not medical advice.