Fertility treatment costs range from roughly $800 per cycle for basic interventions to $50,000 or more for complex procedures involving donor material. The total you’ll pay depends on which treatment you need, how many cycles it takes, and whether your insurance covers any of it. Here’s what to expect at each level.
Diagnostic Testing
Before any treatment begins, most clinics run a diagnostic workup to identify what’s causing difficulty conceiving. This typically includes blood panels to check hormone levels, pelvic ultrasounds, and a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), which is an X-ray that checks whether the fallopian tubes are open. An HSG alone averages around $554 nationally, with prices ranging from $393 to $1,125 depending on location and facility. A semen analysis for a male partner usually runs $100 to $300. Combined with consultation fees and additional bloodwork, the initial diagnostic phase can cost $1,000 to $3,000 before treatment even starts.
IUI: The Lower-Cost Starting Point
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is often the first treatment doctors recommend. It involves placing sperm directly into the uterus around the time of ovulation. The average cost is about $1,363 per cycle, though the price swings significantly based on how much monitoring your doctor includes.
A simple cycle where you track ovulation at home with test strips can cost as little as $858. Add in ultrasound monitoring and the price rises to around $1,250 to $1,290. The most intensive protocol, with ultrasounds plus a full ovulation blood panel, averages $2,169. If your doctor prescribes oral or injectable medications to stimulate egg production, that adds to the total. Most people try two to four IUI cycles before moving on to IVF, so the cumulative cost typically falls between $2,000 and $8,000.
IVF: What a Single Cycle Costs
A single IVF cycle in the United States runs between $10,000 and $21,500 for the core procedure. That base price covers ovarian stimulation monitoring, the egg retrieval, fertilization in the lab, and embryo transfer. It does not include medications, which are one of the biggest variables in your final bill.
Fertility medications for IVF typically add $2,000 to $7,000 per cycle, with many standard protocols landing around $2,500. The total dosage your body needs is the main cost driver. Higher doses of injectable hormones push the price toward the upper end, while a straightforward protocol with lower doses keeps it closer to $2,000. Some clinics offer discounted medication packages that can save $2,000 to $3,000 compared to retail pharmacy pricing.
All in, a single IVF cycle with medications usually costs $12,000 to $28,000.
Common Add-Ons That Raise the Price
The base IVF quote rarely includes optional lab procedures that many clinics recommend. Two of the most common are ICSI and genetic testing.
ICSI is a technique where a single sperm is injected directly into each egg rather than letting fertilization happen on its own. It’s standard for male factor infertility and increasingly used in other situations. Most clinics charge $1,500 to $3,000 for ICSI on top of the base IVF fee.
Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-A) screens embryos for chromosomal abnormalities before transfer. This can improve the chance of a successful pregnancy per transfer, particularly for people over 35. The cost ranges from $4,000 to $10,000 depending on the clinic and how many embryos are tested. A typical fee structure might be $6,000 for up to five embryos, with additional embryos at $300 each.
Other potential add-ons include assisted hatching ($500 to $1,500) and embryo glue or other transfer aids ($200 to $500). These extras can push a single IVF cycle well past $30,000.
Egg Freezing and Embryo Storage
If you’re freezing eggs or embryos for future use, the retrieval and freezing procedure costs roughly the same as the stimulation and retrieval portion of IVF, typically $5,000 to $15,000 including medications. After that, you’ll pay annual storage fees to keep them cryopreserved.
Storage fees average $500 to $1,000 per year, with clinics in major cities sometimes charging $1,200 or more. Signing a longer-term storage contract can bring the yearly cost down to $400 to $700. These fees continue for as long as you want your eggs or embryos stored, so five or ten years of storage adds $2,500 to $10,000 to the total investment.
Donor Eggs and Donor Sperm
Using donor material increases costs substantially, especially for donor eggs. The average cost of a donor egg IVF cycle in the U.S. is $25,000 to $45,000. That range depends on the source:
- Lower-cost clinic programs: $11,500 to $15,000, typically including a smaller number of guaranteed eggs
- Fertility clinic donor programs: $25,000 to $45,000
- Frozen egg banks: $25,000 to $35,000
- Donor egg agencies: $35,000 to $55,000, which includes donor compensation, screening, legal fees, and the IVF procedure itself
Donor sperm is far less expensive. A single vial from a sperm bank typically costs $500 to $1,100, and most IUI or IVF cycles require one or two vials. The sperm cost is added on top of whatever procedure you’re using it with.
Why the Total Is Usually Higher Than One Cycle
The per-cycle prices above are what you’ll pay each time. But most people need more than one cycle. IVF success rates vary widely by age. For women under 35, the chance of a live birth from a single egg retrieval (including any frozen embryo transfers within the following year) is roughly 50 to 55%. That rate drops with age, falling below 20% for women over 40.
This means many people go through two or three full IVF cycles, or multiple frozen embryo transfers, before achieving a pregnancy. Frozen embryo transfers are less expensive than a full cycle since they skip the stimulation and retrieval phase, typically costing $3,000 to $6,000 each. Still, the cumulative cost of reaching a live birth often lands between $30,000 and $60,000 for people who need multiple attempts.
Insurance Coverage Varies Widely by State
As of late 2025, 23 states mandate that private insurance plans cover some form of infertility treatment. These states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and others. However, the details matter enormously. Some mandates cover IVF directly, while others only cover diagnosis or exclude IVF entirely. Many mandates exempt self-insured employer plans, small businesses, and religious employers.
Even in states with strong mandates, coverage limits vary. Some plans cap the number of IVF cycles (commonly two or three), while others set a lifetime dollar maximum. If your employer self-insures its health plan, state mandates generally don’t apply regardless of where you live. Checking your specific policy’s fertility benefits is the single most important financial step before starting treatment.
Grants and Financial Assistance
Several nonprofit organizations offer grants and interest-free loans to help cover fertility treatment costs. The Baby Quest Foundation awards grants of $2,000 to $16,000 (a combination of cash and medications) twice a year and is open to all U.S. permanent residents regardless of gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. The ANEDEN Gives program provides grants of at least $5,000 per family, though it’s currently limited to patients at specific clinics in Houston and Seattle.
Other programs are geographically restricted. The Nest Egg Foundation serves residents of Connecticut and New York. The Fertility Foundation of Texas covers Central Texas residents. The Filotimo Foundation assists first-time parents who don’t yet have biological or adopted children and coordinates directly with participating clinics.
RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association, maintains a comprehensive list of these programs at resolve.org. Many clinics also offer multi-cycle discount packages and financing plans that spread payments over 12 to 60 months, sometimes with promotional interest-free periods. Pharmacy discount programs and fertility-specific medication services can shave thousands off the medication portion of a cycle.