Hospital statistics show the scale and changing use of health care facilities in the United States. The American Hospital Association (AHA) counted 6,100 total U.S. hospitals and 907,216 staffed beds in 2026, while the CDC’s Health, United States table records how admissions, length of stay, outpatient visits, and surgery patterns changed across earlier measurement years.
Contents
- How many hospitals operate in the United States?
- What types of hospitals and communities are represented?
- How many beds and admissions do hospitals handle?
- How hospital capacity compares across years
- What historical admission statistics show
- Length of stay and outpatient care
- Hospital expenses and changing surgery patterns
How many hospitals operate in the United States?
The AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2026 lists 6,100 total U.S. hospitals. That total includes several categories of facilities, so it is broader than the count of community hospitals. The same AHA source lists 5,121 U.S. community hospitals in 2026.
The 2026 AHA figures also identify 656 nonfederal psychiatric hospitals and 113 other hospitals. Federal government hospitals numbered 210. These categories help explain why a national hospital total should not be treated as a count of general community facilities alone.
The AHA 2020 annual survey sample, as reported in Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2022, contained 6,093 total U.S. hospitals and 5,139 U.S. community hospitals. These are survey-sample figures for 2020, not a claim that the older sample is a current count.
The two AHA snapshots are useful for context, but they should be read as separately dated source figures. The 2026 count is from the AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2026, while the earlier figures describe the 2020 AHA annual survey sample in the 2022 Fast Facts publication.
What types of hospitals and communities are represented?
Among 2026 community hospitals, the AHA counted 2,984 nongovernment not-for-profit hospitals, 1,224 investor-owned for-profit hospitals, and 913 state and local government hospitals. The AHA also separately listed 210 federal government hospitals in its 2026 U.S. hospital figures.
Community hospital location and organization were also measured in 2026. Rural community hospitals numbered 1,797, while urban community hospitals numbered 3,324. Community hospitals in a system numbered 3,567.
The earlier AHA survey sample recorded 2,960 nongovernment not-for-profit community hospitals, 1,228 investor-owned for-profit community hospitals, and 951 state and local government community hospitals in 2020. It recorded 1,796 rural community hospitals, 3,343 urban community hospitals, and 3,483 community hospitals in a system.
| AHA measure | 2020 annual survey sample | 2026 figure |
|---|---|---|
| Total U.S. hospitals | 6,093 | 6,100 |
| U.S. community hospitals | 5,139 | 5,121 |
| Rural community hospitals | 1,796 | 1,797 |
| Urban community hospitals | 3,343 | 3,324 |
| Community hospitals in a system | 3,483 | 3,567 |
Source: [AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2022] and [AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2026]. The 2020 column is the 2020 AHA annual survey sample; the 2026 column is the 2026 AHA figure.
These figures describe organizational and geographic categories, not patient outcomes or quality ratings. A rural or urban designation indicates the category used in the AHA figures, while “in a system” describes the reported organizational status.
How many beds and admissions do hospitals handle?
The AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2026 lists 907,216 staffed beds in all U.S. hospitals. Community hospitals accounted for 775,297 staffed beds. The same source reports 35,658,583 admissions in all U.S. hospitals and 33,553,725 admissions in community hospitals.
For the 2020 AHA annual survey sample, total staffed beds in all U.S. hospitals were 920,531, and community hospitals had 789,354 staffed beds. Total admissions were 33,356,853, including 31,393,318 admissions in community hospitals.
The AHA 2020 source also reports several types of intensive care beds in community hospitals. Medical-surgical intensive care beds totaled 59,281. Cardiac intensive care beds totaled 15,778, neonatal intensive care beds totaled 23,096, pediatric intensive care beds totaled 5,037, burn care beds totaled 1,280, and other intensive care beds totaled 7,887.
Those intensive care figures are bed counts for the 2020 AHA annual survey sample. They should not be read as a 2026 estimate, and they do not describe occupancy, staffing levels, or the number of patients treated in each bed category.
How hospital capacity compares across years
The two AHA snapshots place hospital capacity in different dated contexts. The 2026 AHA figure is 907,216 staffed beds across all U.S. hospitals, compared with 920,531 staffed beds in the 2020 annual survey sample. Community-hospital staffed beds were 775,297 in the 2026 figure and 789,354 in the 2020 sample.
The 2026 AHA figure lists 35,658,583 total admissions, compared with 33,356,853 admissions in the 2020 survey sample. Community-hospital admissions were 33,553,725 in 2026 and 31,393,318 in the 2020 sample.
| Measure | 2020 AHA annual survey sample | 2026 AHA figure |
|---|---|---|
| Staffed beds, all hospitals | 920,531 | 907,216 |
| Staffed beds, community hospitals | 789,354 | 775,297 |
| Admissions, all hospitals | 33,356,853 | 35,658,583 |
| Admissions, community hospitals | 31,393,318 | 33,553,725 |
Source: [AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2022] and [AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2026]. Because the source descriptions and measurement periods differ, these values are best presented as dated snapshots rather than as a calculated trend line.
The AHA data also show that the number of total hospitals changed only modestly between the reported snapshots: 6,093 in the 2020 sample and 6,100 in the 2026 figure. The community-hospital count was 5,139 in the 2020 sample and 5,121 in 2026. These comparisons are descriptive and do not establish why the reported counts differ.
What historical admission statistics show
The CDC Health, United States HospAdmis table reports all-hospital admissions in thousands for selected years. Admissions were 38,892 thousand in 1980, 33,774 thousand in 1990, and 34,891 thousand in 2000. The table reports 37,480 thousand in 2009 and 36,915 thousand in 2010.
More recent entries in the supplied CDC series are 36,510 thousand in 2017, 36,354 thousand in 2018, and 36,242 thousand in 2019. Because these values are expressed in thousands, they should be read as the table reports them rather than treated as exact single-patient counts.
| Year | All-hospital admissions, thousands |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 38,892 |
| 1990 | 33,774 |
| 2000 | 34,891 |
| 2009 | 37,480 |
| 2010 | 36,915 |
| 2017 | 36,510 |
| 2018 | 36,354 |
| 2019 | 36,242 |
Source: [CDC Health, United States HospAdmis table]. The entries are measurements for the years shown, not a forecast for later years.
The historical series places admissions in a long-term utilization context. It includes years separated by a decade or more as well as consecutive years from 2017 through 2019. It does not, by itself, explain changes in population, hospital structure, illness patterns, insurance coverage, or care setting.
Length of stay and outpatient care
The CDC Health, United States HospAdmis table reports an average length of stay in all hospitals of 10.0 days in 1980, 9.1 days in 1990, and 6.8 days in 2000. For 2009, the table reports an average length of stay of 6.2 days.
The same CDC table reports outpatient visits at all hospitals in thousands. There were 262,951 thousand outpatient visits in 1980, 368,184 thousand in 1990, and 592,673 thousand in 2000.
These measures describe different parts of hospital activity. Average length of stay refers to the reported average duration for hospital stays, while outpatient visits count visits that do not represent an inpatient admission in the same way. Neither measure should be used as a substitute for the other.
The available CDC entries show both inpatient and outpatient activity in selected historical years. They provide a concise way to see that hospital use includes more than admissions alone, while the source labels and dates remain essential for interpreting each statistic.
Hospital expenses and changing surgery patterns
The AHA Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals 2022 reports total expenses for all U.S. hospitals of $1,213,881,001,000 in the 2020 annual survey sample. Expenses for community hospitals were $1,102,282,383,000 in that same sample and measurement context.
These are reported expense totals, not prices for an individual stay and not a measure of household medical spending. The source describes them for the 2020 AHA annual survey sample, so they should not be presented as current 2026 expenses or as a forecast.
The CDC Health, United States HospAdmis table reports outpatient surgery as a share of total surgeries in community hospitals for selected years. Outpatient surgery represented 16.3% of total surgeries in 1980, 50.5% in 1990, and 62.7% in 2000.
| Year | Outpatient surgery share of total community-hospital surgeries |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 16.3% |
| 1990 | 50.5% |
| 2000 | 62.7% |
Source: [CDC Health, United States HospAdmis table]. The percentages are for the years shown and refer specifically to community-hospital surgeries.
Taken together, the expense figures and surgery percentages describe two distinct dimensions of hospital statistics: the scale of reported hospital costs in a dated AHA survey sample and the changing distribution of surgeries in the CDC historical table. They do not establish a causal relationship between expenses and outpatient surgery.