In 2017, there were about 139 million, or 43 visits for every 100 Americans.. And more than 22 million ER visits — over 16 percent of all visits — involved more than an hour of … But this data point doesn't reveal the wide range of average wait times across the country. American patients spend about two hours on average in the Emergency Department (ED) and more than half an hour in the waiting area. In part three … The average ER wait time in the United States is about 40 minutes. Each year, there are well over 100 million hospital emergency department visits in the U.S. Maryland has the longest average wait time before patients are seen by a doctor in the emergency room … The average hospital emergency department (ED) patient in the United States waits more than an hour and half to be taken to his or her room and 2.25 hours before being discharged.