In 2018, the state of Wyoming had the longest average stay in community hospitals, with a patient staying an average of **** days. Utah, on the other hand, had the shortest average length of stay in community hospitals with just *** days.

Hospital stays

The percentage of people in the U.S. with one or more hospitals stays in the past year has gradually decreased over the past couple decades. In 2017, around *** percent of the U.S. population had one or more hospital stays in the past year. Females report more hospital stays than males, and unsurprisingly, those aged 65 years and older are much more likely to be hospitalized than younger people.

Hospitals

Just as the percentage of people in the U.S. who have been hospitalized each year has decreased, so has the number of hospitals. In 1975, there were around ***** hospitals in the U.S., compared to ***** hospitals in the year 2018. Predictably, the number of available hospital beds in the U.S. has also decreased. In 2018, there were ******* hospital beds in the United States.

In 2023, the average U.S. hospital length of stay (LOS) varied from as high as *** days in the District of Columbia to just *** days in Utah and South Dakota. A lot of factors contribute to a patient's LOS such as comorbidity, staffing levels, and patient mix. Therefore, LOS is not just a measure of hospital efficiency but is complicated by case complexity.