Blood culture cost in San Francisco, CA
In San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, 12 hospitals list a cash price for blood culture for bacteria: from $126.32 to $315.00, with a median of $272.16. The lowest listed price is at Hayward Sisters Hospital — $145.84 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $272.16 at 94 hospitals.
Cash prices at 12 facilities across 11 cities for code 87040, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Feb 23, 2026 and Jul 22, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayward Sisters Hospital lowest Hayward, CA · (510) 782-6200 CULTBLOOD | $126.32 | $421.05 | $9.60–$357.89 | 70% | Feb 23, 2026 source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - South San Francisco South San Francisco, CA · (650) 742-3200 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Antioch Antioch, CA · (925) 813-6500 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Leandro San Leandro, CA · (510) 454-1000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Francisco San Francisco, CA · (415) 833-2646 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Oakland/Richmond Oakland, CA · (510) 752-1000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Walnut Creek Walnut Creek, CA · (925) 295-4000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Fremont Fremont, CA · (510) 784-4000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Redwood City Redwood City, CA · (650) 299-2000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Rafael San Rafael, CA · (415) 444-2000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley Pleasanton, CA · (925) 847-3000 HC Blood Culture | $301.60 | $754.00 | — | 60% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Chinese Hospital Association San Francisco, CA · (415) 677-2480 Bacterial blood culture | $315.00 | $315.00 | $10.32–$567.00 | — | Jul 22, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $126.32, median $272.16, highest $315.00 — a 2.5× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 11 facilities here, median $272.16. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
Cash or insurance?
At 2 of 11 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at none is it below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What it is
A blood culture checks for bacteria or yeast in the blood. It is ordered for fever with signs of a serious infection, such as sepsis.
What the price covers
The price is usually for one culture set. The blood draw (36415) is often billed as a separate line.
1 row held back from this comparison
It is priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 87040 ($100.75). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.
| Hayward Sisters Hospital Hayward, CALC-BLOOD CULTURE ROUTINE | $3.47 | file |