US hospital median operating margin
Kaufman Hall median operating margin, %, full year.
About this data
Hospital finances recovered sharply in 2024 to a 4.9% median operating margin — December alone hit 7.6%, the best month of that year — before falling back to 1.3% for 2025 on an adjusted year-to-date basis. The 2024 peak looks like the outlier, not the new baseline.
US hospital median operating margin
Kaufman Hall median operating margin, %, full year.
Data table
| pct | year | series | source_ref | value_basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.9 | 2024 | operating_margin | advisory-margins | Median operating margin 4.9% across full-year 2024 |
| 1.3 | 2025 | operating_margin | kh-flash-dec2025 | Kaufman Hall adjusted year-to-date operating margin closed 2025 at 1.3% |
Methodology & sources
Last updated: Aug 14, 2026Methodology
Operating margin is the Kaufman Hall National Hospital Flash Report median, which excludes non-operating income (investment returns) and therefore differs from bottom-line net margin. Where a figure is "adjusted year-to-date" that is stated in the value_basis. The median and the share-in-the-red are different measures and can move independently: a strong quarter at large systems lifts the median without pulling the loss-making tail above zero. CAVEAT: 2020–2023 full-year medians are not published in the cited releases (2021 is available only as a single March monthly reading, and a monthly value is not comparable to an annual one), so the margin chart carries only 2024 and 2025. Re-verified 2026-08-10.
Sources
Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.