The costs of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging have been carefully accounted during its early use at 1 institution. Capital requirements were given. The annual operational costs were estimated. An economic break-even point analysis was done based on the current estimated patient procedure volume of 1500 per year. The break-even value was compared with the current break-even point charge for computed tomography. If patient throughput can be increased to 12 procedures per day, the NMR break-even point charge would be reduced substantially.