Fertility treatment in the United States ranges from about $1,400 per cycle for the simplest procedures to over $50,000 for complex options involving donor eggs or surrogacy. The total you’ll pay depends on the type of treatment, how many cycles you need, whether you add genetic testing, and how much your insurance covers. Here’s what each option actually costs.
Diagnostic Testing Comes First
Before any treatment begins, you’ll need baseline testing to identify what’s causing the difficulty. For self-pay patients, a hysterosalpingogram (an X-ray that checks whether the fallopian tubes are open) runs $478 to $800. A semen analysis costs $225 to $250. Blood work to measure ovarian reserve, the test that estimates how many eggs remain, is $78 to $108. Most clinics will also order hormonal panels, ultrasounds, and sometimes genetic carrier screening, so the full diagnostic workup often lands between $1,000 and $2,500 before treatment even starts.
IUI: The Lower Cost Starting Point
Intrauterine insemination is typically the first treatment doctors recommend. The procedure involves placing sperm directly into the uterus around the time of ovulation. The average cost is $1,363 per cycle, but the price swings depending on how much monitoring your clinic does. A simple cycle where you track ovulation at home with test strips averages around $858. Add ultrasound monitoring and a trigger injection, and the cost climbs to roughly $1,250. The most intensive monitoring protocols push costs above $2,100 per cycle.
Most people try three to six IUI cycles before moving to IVF. At the lower end, that’s about $2,500 to $5,000 total. At the higher end, you could spend $7,000 to $13,000 on IUI alone before switching approaches.
IVF: What One Cycle Actually Costs
A single IVF cycle in the United States averages $12,000 to $18,000. That base price typically covers initial consultations, ultrasound monitoring during ovarian stimulation, the egg retrieval procedure, laboratory fertilization, and embryo transfer.
What it usually does not cover is medication. Injectable hormones that stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs add $2,000 to $7,000 per cycle, with most standard protocols costing around $2,500. So a realistic all-in price for one IVF cycle is closer to $15,000 to $25,000.
Genetic Testing Adds Significantly
Many clinics recommend testing embryos for chromosomal abnormalities before transfer. This involves biopsying each embryo and sending samples to a genetics lab. The biopsy itself costs roughly $1,400 to $1,500, and the genetic analysis adds another $6,000 to $7,000. For patients under 35, the average total cost of IVF with full genetic testing comes to about $30,000 per successful pregnancy. For those 35 and older, it’s around $31,400.
The Real Cost: Multiple Cycles
One cycle of IVF doesn’t guarantee a baby. Success rates vary sharply by age, and most people need more than one attempt. Research tracking thousands of women through IVF found the following cumulative chances of taking home a baby:
- Under 35: About 40 to 48% after one cycle, rising to 61 to 67% after three cycles
- 36 to 37: 32% after one cycle, 50% after three
- 38 to 39: 22% after one cycle, 38% after three
- 40 to 41: 13% after one cycle, 25% after three
- 42 and older: 6% or less after one cycle, around 11% after three
For someone under 35 who needs two cycles at $15,000 to $20,000 each, the total lands between $30,000 and $40,000. For someone over 40 who may need three or more attempts, costs can exceed $60,000 to $75,000 with no guarantee of success. These numbers make planning for multiple cycles, not just one, essential when budgeting.
Egg Freezing
If you’re preserving eggs for future use rather than trying to conceive now, one retrieval cycle costs $6,000 to $8,000, not including medications. Add $2,000 to $7,000 for the injectable drugs, and the total per cycle is roughly $8,000 to $15,000. Annual storage fees run $500 to $1,000 per year. If you store eggs for five years, that’s an additional $2,500 to $5,000 in storage alone before you ever use them.
When you’re ready to use frozen eggs, you’ll still need to pay for the IVF fertilization and transfer process, which adds several thousand dollars more.
Donor Eggs and Third Party Options
When IVF with your own eggs isn’t viable, donor egg IVF averages $25,000 to $45,000 per cycle. That price typically includes donor compensation ($5,000 to $10,000), donor screening and testing ($3,000 to $6,000), the donor’s medications ($3,000 to $6,000), egg retrieval ($5,000 to $10,000), lab fertilization ($5,000 to $15,000), and embryo transfer ($3,000 to $5,000). If you use a donor agency to coordinate the process, total costs can exceed $50,000 per cycle.
What Insurance Covers
Coverage varies enormously depending on where you live and who employs you. As of late 2025, roughly 20 states have some form of infertility insurance mandate. States with broader coverage requirements include Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, and California (with large group plan coverage starting in 2026). Arkansas, Texas, Montana, and West Virginia also have mandates in place.
There are important limitations. Nearly every state exempts self-insured employers, which is how many large companies structure their health plans. Several states also exempt religious employers and businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Some states, like Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, only mandate coverage for fertility preservation related to cancer treatment, not for general infertility. Ohio’s mandate applies only to HMOs.
Even in states with mandates, coverage often has caps, such as a maximum number of IVF cycles or a dollar limit. Call your insurance company and ask specifically what fertility services are covered, what the lifetime maximum is, and whether preauthorization is required. The difference between good coverage and none can be tens of thousands of dollars.
Grants and Financial Assistance
Several nonprofit organizations offer grants that can offset a meaningful portion of treatment costs. The Cade Foundation awards up to $10,000 per family for fertility treatment or adoption. Fertile Dreams gives three grants of $10,000 each year toward IVF at any U.S. clinic. The Baby Quest Foundation, Nest Egg Foundation, Parental Hope, and Pay It Forward Fertility Foundation all offer similar grant programs. The HealthWell Foundation provides up to $15,000 annually to help cover medication copays.
Most of these grants have income requirements and application deadlines, and competition is significant. Many fertility clinics also offer multi-cycle discount packages or refund programs where you pay a higher upfront fee but receive a partial refund if treatment doesn’t result in a pregnancy. Some clinics partner with fertility-specific lenders for payment plans, though interest rates on medical financing can be steep.