How many radiology clinics are in each Australian city? (2026)

By Dr. Mark Bekhit, Radiologist · Last updated July 2026

Short answer: Our directory lists about 270 radiology clinics across greater Sydney, about 251 in Melbourne, about 133 in Brisbane, about 97 in Perth and about 78 in Adelaide, out of 1,184 listed nationwide as at July 2026. All five metros were audited against the Department of Health registers and suburb-by-suburb searching in July 2026 and the clinics those checks found missing have been added — so read the figures as verified counts, never as a city-versus-city scoreboard. The tables below break the listings down by city, by MRI and PET-CT availability, and by the networks that run each market.

• How many radiology clinics does each Australian city have?
• How many MRI and PET-CT clinics does each city have?
• Which imaging networks dominate each city?
• Where do clinics cluster inside each city?
• How to use these numbers when you book a scan
• Common questions about Australia’s radiology clinic numbers
• How we know

How many radiology clinics does each Australian city have?

Counts are the clinics published in our directory as at July 2026, taken across each greater metro area. A “clinic” here is one imaging location a patient can attend — a suburban private practice, a hospital imaging department or a specialist site such as a PET centre all count once each. The full lists behind each number are on the city pages for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

These figures follow a five-city audit and expansion completed in July 2026. Each metro’s listings were checked against the Department of Health’s Medicare-eligible MRI and PET registers, swept suburb-by-suburb through Google’s places data and compared with each major network’s own site list, and the clinics those checks found missing were then added — 126 around Sydney, 80 around Melbourne, 33 around Perth and 24 around Adelaide. The counts are still floors rather than a census: the sweeps sampled suburbs rather than covering every street, a handful of clinics from Brisbane’s audit are still queued for adding, and small practices open and close. Use them to find clinics near you, not to crown a best-supplied city.

The five biggest cities hold about 829 of the 1,184 listed clinics — call it seven in ten. The rest sit in smaller capitals and regional centres; the smaller-capitals guide covers Canberra, Hobart and Darwin alongside Adelaide.

How many MRI and PET-CT clinics does each city have?

Total clinic numbers hide the gap between routine and advanced imaging, so the two advanced services are worth their own tables. First, MRI (as at July 2026):

A clinic listing MRI doesn’t guarantee every MRI item is rebatable there. Medicare only contributes when the scan happens at a location on the Department of Health’s Medicare-eligible MRI register, and the register is the shorter list — it holds 70 locations inside greater Sydney against the roughly 143 clinics above, because plenty of machines still sit outside it. That gap is closing by law: since 1 July 2025, every MRI machine at a registered location can provide all MRI services listed on the MBS, and from 1 July 2027 that extends to every MRI machine in the country. You can browse each city’s list on pages such as MRI clinics in Melbourne.

MRI is also where our lists are easiest to check from outside. New South Wales has 144 locations on the Medicare-eligible MRI register, 70 of them inside greater Sydney, and the July 2026 audit diffed every metro’s listings against its state register before the missing clinics were added — so a registered MRI site missing from these pages is now the exception, not the rule.

PET-CT is the scarcest of the major services (as at July 2026):

Brisbane’s PET-CT page lists all of its sites. As a cross-check, the Department of Health’s register of Medicare-eligible PET units lists 140 units nationally (page updated 22 May 2026): 43 in New South Wales, 40 in Queensland, 25 in Victoria, 14 in Western Australia and 7 in South Australia. The register counts eligible units across whole states, including regional centres, while the table above counts metro clinics — read together, they line up. Queensland runs 40 eligible PET units to Victoria’s 25, which is why Brisbane’s 20 PET-CT clinics sit level with Melbourne’s in a city half the size.

Which imaging networks dominate each city?

The totals also hide who runs the clinics, and that varies more between cities than the counts do. Figures below are listed sites per network, as at July 2026; the provider-groups guide profiles each network nationally. These shares are the firmest numbers on the page — the big operators publish their own site lists, so their footprints are straightforward to verify.

Brisbane has no dominant network. Lumus Imaging (25 sites), 24 hospital imaging departments, I-MED (23), Qscan (19) and Queensland X-Ray (19) sit within a few sites of each other. Five near-equal players is unusual — in most cities one or two names pull clear — and it gives Brisbane patients genuine choice between networks for almost any scan.

Perth’s private market is led by two local groups. SKG Radiology (18 sites) and Perth Radiological Clinic (15) are the biggest networks among the city’s roughly 97 listed clinics, ahead of 11 hospital imaging departments, I-MED (8), Western Radiology (7) and Lumus (4). Both leaders are Western Australian groups; the national networks that lead the east-coast cities run only small Perth footprints. The July 2026 expansion also added most of Perth’s 26 independent practices, previously the least visible part of the market.

Melbourne is led by I-MED and Capital Radiology. I-MED (45 sites) runs more listed clinics in Melbourne than any network runs in any other of the five largest cities, with Capital Radiology (33) and 32 hospital imaging departments behind it, then Vision Radiology (19), Lumus (16), Marina Radiology (12) and Imaging Associates (10) in the mid-tier.

Sydney is the most distributed market. Its largest single block is not a company: 75 of its listed clinics are independent single-site practices, most of them added in the July 2026 expansion, ahead of 31 hospital imaging departments. Among private networks, I-MED (27), Lumus (25) and PRP Diagnostic Imaging (24) run close together — PRP being the one major network that is strongest in Sydney — followed by Precision Imaging Partners (17), Spectrum Medical Imaging (11), Castlereagh Imaging (10), Synergy Radiology (9) and Sydney Ultrasound for Women (9), a mid-tier no other city matches.

Adelaide belongs to its local groups. Benson Radiology (20 sites) leads, with Jones Radiology (13) and Radiology SA (13) level behind it, then 12 independent practices, 9 hospital imaging departments, Lumus (5) and Light Radiology (5). Like Perth, Adelaide shows that Australian radiology is not one national market: in two of the five biggest cities, the top providers are state-based groups.

The mix matters more than the totals when you’re paying. Billing policies are usually set network-wide, so in Perth two phone calls — one to SKG, one to Perth Radiological Clinic — price the city’s two biggest private networks in one pass, while in Brisbane a third or fourth call can genuinely turn up a cheaper quote or an earlier slot. Networks also decide how far your old images travel with you: within one group, a prior scan from another suburb is usually already in the viewing system when the radiologist reports your new one, which is worth real money in avoided repeat imaging.

Where do clinics cluster inside each city?

Within every metro, clinics bunch around hospital precincts and major suburban centres rather than the CBD. Knowing your nearest cluster is usually worth more than the citywide total.

In Sydney, the big clusters are Westmead, Kogarah, Liverpool and Blacktown — hospital precincts that anchor imaging for their whole regions. Brisbane’s equivalents are Chermside on the northside, Ipswich in the west and North Lakes for the northern growth corridor. Melbourne’s spread runs through Box Hill in the east, Epping in the north and Dandenong in the south-east. In Perth, Murdoch, Midland and Joondalup mark the three hospital hubs south, east and north of the river city’s centre.

For repeat appointments — follow-up scans, injections, surveillance imaging — the suburb page for your nearest cluster is the faster starting point, because travel time ends up mattering more than choice of brand.

How to use these numbers when you book a scan

For a plain X-ray or ultrasound, the counts barely matter: every cluster in every city has multiple options, so pick by travel time and appointment availability. The numbers start working for you when the scan is scarcer.

If you need MRI or PET-CT, start from the service tables above. In Perth, 12 PET-CT clinics citywide means your specialist’s preferred site may be the only practical one near you; in Brisbane, 20 sites means it is reasonable to phone two or three and take the earliest slot. Healthdirect confirms you need a doctor’s referral for an MRI, and the referral — not the clinic — largely decides whether Medicare contributes.

Costs follow the same logic. Some providers bulk bill imaging, meaning you pay nothing; otherwise you claim part of the cost back and wear the gap. Billing policies differ between the networks above even within one suburb, so when you phone, ask the clinic two things: is the item on my referral Medicare-eligible here, and what will I pay on the day?

Treat every count on this page as “at least this many”. If a suburb page shows one clinic, that means one we have verified, not one in existence — small independent practices are the clinics most likely to be missing from any list, ours included, so it is always worth asking your GP which local provider they usually refer to.

One number the tables can’t give you is time-to-appointment — a city with more clinics gives you more places to ask, but public and private queues behave differently; the wait-times guide covers that split.

Common questions about Australia’s radiology clinic numbers

How many radiology clinics are there in Australia?

Our directory lists 1,184 radiology clinic locations across Australia as at July 2026, counting private practices, hospital imaging departments and specialist sites. About 829 of them — seven in ten — are in the five largest cities. After the July 2026 audit and expansion across all five metros, this is the most complete list we have published, though the true number of imaging locations is always a little higher than any list.

Are these clinic counts complete?

Close, but treat them as floors. In July 2026 every one of the five metros was audited — listings were checked against the Department of Health’s Medicare-eligible MRI and PET registers, swept suburb-by-suburb through Google’s places data and compared with the networks’ own site lists — and the missing clinics were added: 126 around Sydney, 80 around Melbourne, 33 around Perth and 24 around Adelaide. A handful found by Brisbane’s audit are still queued. The sweeps sampled suburbs rather than every street, so the counts work for finding a clinic near you, not for judging which city is better supplied.

Why does Perth have fewer listed radiology clinics?

Partly scale, partly structure. Perth’s population (2.45 million) is under half of Melbourne’s, and its market is concentrated: its two biggest groups, SKG Radiology (18 sites) and Perth Radiological Clinic (15), favour fewer, larger sites. The state registers point the same way for advanced imaging: Western Australia’s register lists 35 Medicare-eligible MRI machines statewide versus Queensland’s 94 — a real difference in machine numbers, independent of anyone’s clinic list.

Does having more clinics mean shorter waiting times?

Not by itself. More clinics means more places to phone for an earlier appointment, which helps most for MRI and PET-CT where sites are scarce. But waiting time depends on the individual clinic’s bookings and on whether you go public or private — a well-staffed clinic in a “thin” city can still see you tomorrow.

How we know

Clinic totals, service listings and network figures are the clinics listed in our directory in July 2026, counted across each greater metro area (roughly 60 km around each city centre). In July 2026 we audited all five metros: each city’s listings were diffed against the Department of Health’s registers of Medicare-eligible MRI and PET units, swept suburb-by-suburb through Google’s places data and compared with each network’s published site list, and the missing clinics were then imported — 126 around Sydney, 80 around Melbourne, 33 around Perth and 24 around Adelaide, with a short Brisbane list still queued. The counts remain minimums rather than a census, because the sweeps sampled suburbs and practices open and close. Populations are Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated resident populations at 30 June 2025. These numbers are a reliable guide to where imaging is offered, not a guarantee about any single scan — clinics confirm Medicare eligibility when they see your referral.

• ABS, Regional Population 2024–25 — greater capital city populations at 30 June 2025 (accessed 7 July 2026)
• Department of Health — Medicare-eligible MRI and PET locations (accessed 7 July 2026)
• Department of Health — PET units in Australia (accessed 7 July 2026)
• Department of Health — MRI units in WA and MRI units in Queensland (accessed 7 July 2026)
• Healthdirect — MRI scan and Paying for diagnostic testing (accessed 7 July 2026)

This article is general information, not personal medical advice. Availability, Medicare eligibility, billing and preparation can change — confirm the specifics with your referrer and the clinic.

Author: Dr. Mark Bekhit

Dr Mark Bekhit (MBChB, FRANZCR) is a musculoskeletal radiologist practising in Brisbane and an AHPRA-registered specialist in diagnostic radiology (MED0002920947). He spends as much time building software as reading scans: he founded Imaging Finder (Australia) and Radiology Clinics NZ to make imaging easier to find, and builds radiology dictation and pain-tracking tools with one aim — better patient outcomes and a smoother reporting workflow. Outside the reading room he's usually training, bringing the same performance mindset to imaging.