Hospital finances

Non-profit hospitals: charity care next to what they earn

Updated November 11, 2026

2.1%of costs goes to charity care at the typical non-profit hospital

$20.9Bcharity care at 1,868 non-profit hospitals

$74.2Btheir net income, all sources, the same year

363non-profit hospitals spend under 1% of costs on charity care

Non-profit hospitals pay no income or property tax. In return they are expected to benefit their communities, and free or discounted care for patients who cannot pay, called charity care, is the most direct way. Each hospital reports its cost to Medicare every year. Here it is as a share of all the hospital's costs, next to what the hospital earned.

Charity care as a share of costs, typical hospital by ownership

Non-profit hospitals

2.1%

For-profit hospitals

3.0%

Government hospitals

2.2%

Typical non-profit hospital: charity care as a share of costs

0.4%–1.3%
1.3%–1.8%
1.8%–2.5%
2.5%–3.4%
3.4%–7.8%

State differences are large and mostly about who is uninsured. Where Medicaid covers more low-income adults, fewer patients need charity care; where it doesn't, hospitals give more of it.

The 25 non-profit hospitals giving the most charity care, as a share of costs (100 beds or more)

#	Hospital	City	State	Charity care, share of costs	Charity care	Net income
1	Dell Seton Med Center at the University of Tx	Austin	TX	34.7%	$139.2M	$14.3M
2	Queens Hospital Center	Jamaica	NY	25.4%	$152.1M	−$98.9M
3	Bergen New Bridge Medical Center	Paramus	NJ	25.1%	$62.2M	$6.6M
4	Ascension Seton Hays	Kyle	TX	18.1%	$40.0M	$30.8M
5	Grady Memorial Hospital	Atlanta	GA	16.7%	$279.6M	$257.1M
6	Medical City Alliance	Fort Worth	TX	15.3%	$22.2M	$66.8M
7	Capital Health Regional Medical Center	Trenton	NJ	14.9%	$51.4M	$2.4M
8	South Brooklyn Health	Brooklyn	NY	14.9%	$98.6M	$218.2M
9	HCA Healthone Mountain Ridge	Thornton	CO	14.8%	$25.8M	$30.1M
10	Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi	Corpus Christi	TX	14.4%	$103.6M	$23.0M
11	Baylor Scott & White Medical Center at Irving	Irving	TX	13.9%	$35.1M	$80.9M
12	Methodist Charlton Medical Center	Dallas	TX	13.6%	$43.8M	$3.7M
13	Palisades Medical Center	North Bergen	NJ	13.3%	$24.1M	−$3.5M
14	Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin	Austin	TX	13.3%	$85.1M	$87.1M
15	Medical City Lewisville	Lewisville	TX	13.1%	$19.9M	$38.0M
16	Homestead Hospital	Homestead	FL	13.0%	$35.2M	−$6.3M
17	Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center	Cartersville	GA	13.0%	$24.2M	$31.3M
18	Tristar Skyline Medical Center	Nashville	TN	12.9%	$36.6M	$135.3M
19	The Corpus Christi Medical Center	Corpus Christi	TX	11.6%	$42.2M	$161.9M
20	University Medical Center New Orleans	New Orleans	LA	11.4%	$72.2M	−$71.6M
21	Mt Sinai Hospital Medical Center	Chicago	IL	11.3%	$36.6M	−$41.4M
22	Southern Regional Medical Center	Riverdale	GA	11.3%	$13.8M	$10.9M
23	Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital	Saint Petersburg	FL	11.1%	$40.8M	$44.6M
24	Ascension Seton Williamson	Round Rock	TX	10.8%	$24.5M	$29.7M
25	Christus Southeast Texas- St Elizabeth	Beaumont	TX	10.7%	$42.7M	$17.2M

The 25 non-profit hospitals with the highest net income, and their charity care

#	Hospital	City	State	Charity care, share of costs	Charity care	Net income
1	AdventHealth Orlando	Orlando	FL	5.6%	$268.9M	$1.6B
2	New York-Presbyterian Hospital	New York	NY	1.4%	$111.4M	$1.6B
3	Ns/Lij Hs Huntington Hospital	Huntington	NY	0.8%	$3.3M	$1.3B
4	Mayo Clinic Hospital Rochester	Rochester	MN	1.0%	$33.1M	$1.2B
5	Stanford Health Care	Stanford	CA	0.4%	$19.6M	$1.2B
6	Indiana University Health	Indianapolis	IN	2.5%	$82.9M	$1.2B
7	Inova Fairfax Hospital	Falls Church	VA	3.7%	$87.7M	$947.9M
8	Baylor University Medical Center	Dallas	TX	7.3%	$85.0M	$779.4M
9	Nyu Langone Hospitals	New York	NY	3.6%	$283.3M	$779.0M
10	Baptist Health Medical Center - Jacksonville	Jacksonville	FL	7.2%	$129.9M	$718.5M
11	Willis Knighton Medical Center	Shreveport	LA	2.1%	$19.5M	$695.3M
12	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	Los Angeles	CA	2.1%	$67.8M	$660.9M
13	Lehigh Valley Hospital	Allentown	PA	1.4%	$31.0M	$592.5M
14	Baptist Hospital of Miami	Miami	FL	1.7%	$27.5M	$548.0M
15	Spectrum Health	Grand Rapids	MI	0.8%	$15.7M	$525.4M
16	Ochsner Medical Center Acute	New Orleans	LA	1.6%	$32.4M	$511.4M
17	Emory University Hospital Midtown	Atlanta	GA	2.4%	$37.8M	$496.4M
18	Northside Hospital	Atlanta	GA	5.7%	$135.5M	$492.5M
19	Morristown Medical Center	Morristown	NJ	1.5%	$27.0M	$486.1M
20	Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center	Baton Rouge	LA	3.2%	$36.0M	$467.8M
21	Saint Francis Hospital, Inc	Tulsa	OK	4.3%	$50.1M	$458.7M
22	Orlando Health	Orlando	FL	8.0%	$215.0M	$438.2M
23	Tampa General Hospital	Tampa	FL	5.6%	$118.6M	$437.5M
24	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	Nashville	TN	3.8%	$138.3M	$429.7M
25	Wellspan York Hospital	York	PA	0.9%	$10.6M	$428.8M

If you can't pay a hospital bill. Ask for the hospital's financial assistance policy and application. Non-profit hospitals must have one, must tell you about it, and may not send a bill to collections before checking whether you qualify.

Sources: CMS hospital cost reports (HCRIS), 2024: cost of charity care and total costs, general (acute care) hospitals. Net income is from all sources, including investments. Shares above 50% are left out as reporting errors. Charity care is one part of community benefit; hospitals also report unpaid Medicaid costs, training and research elsewhere. How the numbers work.