Hoping for a daughter after two sons, or a son after two daughters, brings many families to the Ericsson method, and the first practical question is what each attempt will cost.
The Ericsson method cost starts with a sperm-sorting fee of about $600 to $1,200 per attempt. Once the insemination is added, patients report paying about $2,000 to $3,230 for a first attempt and about $1,000 to $1,250 for each repeat, with fertility medication, donor sperm and travel on top.
An attempt means one sort and one insemination in a single ovulation cycle, and every new attempt is billed again. The ranges above are based on published prices and on what patients say they paid, so use them to plan, then confirm your own figures with the clinic.
Whether you’re hoping for a baby girl or a baby boy, that money buys better odds of one sex over the other, without a guarantee. Couples who choose the Ericsson method for gender selection are giving themselves an advantage toward one sex rather than a clear choice.
This guide breaks down each line of an Ericsson quote and explains why the first attempt costs more than the ones after it. It also covers what raises the total, what insurance and HSA or FSA funds can pay for, and how to lower the bill.
At California Center for Reproductive Health, we offer the Ericsson method for family balancing. After your consultation with one of our experienced fertility specialists, an account manager sits down with you to go over the cost of your treatment, line by line, so you can plan the next step for your family with your own numbers in hand.
Ericsson Method Cost, Line by Line
An Ericsson quote is several fees stacked together: the lab sort, the insemination, the monitoring that times it, and the tests that come first. The table shows what each one typically costs and which ones you pay with every attempt.
| What you pay for | Typical range | Every attempt or once |
|---|---|---|
| Ericsson sperm sort | $600 to $1,200 | Every attempt |
| Artificial insemination (IUI) | $150 to $400; one published estimate puts a full insemination cycle at $400 to $1,000 | Every attempt |
| Cycle monitoring (two to four ultrasounds) | $300 to $1,000 | Every attempt, with fewer visits in an unmedicated cycle |
| Consultation and pre-cycle testing | $225 to $800 | Mostly the first attempt |
| Semen analysis | $50 to $300 | First attempt, repeated if the clinic asks |
| HSG (an X-ray of the fallopian tubes), if required | $500 to $1,500 or more | First attempt |
| Fertility medication, if used | $50 to $150 oral; $1,500 to $2,500 injectable | Each medicated attempt |
| Donor sperm, if used | $599 and up per straw at one bank; $897 to $2,397 per vial at another; plus shipping | Each attempt that uses a new vial |
| Total, first attempt (patient reports) | $2,000 to $3,230 | Once |
| Total, each repeat (patient reports) | $1,000 to $1,250 | Every repeat |
These ranges are based on published prices and on what patients report paying. We confirm your own figures in writing at your consultation.
The Sorting Fee: $600 to $1,200 for the Lab Work
The sort is the fee specific to this method. Published ranges put it at $600 to $1,200 per attempt, and US patients describe paying within that band: $700 for the sorting in New Jersey, and about $1,200 at a lab in New York. Sperm sorting in general is quoted more widely, at $300 to $1,500, and these Ericsson prices sit inside that range.
The fee pays for a few hours of lab work. The lab washes the semen sample, then layers the sperm sample over albumin columns: a substance called albumin, set in increasingly thickened layers in a test tube. The sperm swim down through the different layers, and the lab collects the fraction meant to favor male or female sperm, depending on the desired sex.
The Ericsson method rests on the idea that male and female sperm act differently. Sperm carrying a Y chromosome, often called male sperm or Y sperm, are said to swim faster, so only the fastest sperm reach the bottom of the albumin solution, while more of the sperm cells carrying an X chromosome stay higher up. The sex chromosome in the sperm that fertilizes the egg decides whether you have a boy or a girl, which is why this test tube separation is the whole sperm selection process the fee covers. The selected sperm then go into your insemination.
In Ericsson’s original lab work, the portion kept after sorting was about 10% of the starting sample, according to the Embryo Project Encyclopedia at Arizona State University. Fewer sperm in each insemination is one reason the number of attempts drives your total, which we cover below.
Before you pay for a sort, ask:
- Is the quote for the Ericsson albumin method, or for a different sorting technique sold under the same “gender selection without IVF” label?
- Is the standard sperm wash for the insemination included, or billed on top?
- Does the lab separate sperm cells on site on the day of your insemination, or ship the sample out?
Insemination and Monitoring: What Each Attempt Adds
After sorting, the sample goes into the uterus by intrauterine insemination (IUI), a form of artificial insemination. Sperm is placed in the uterus around the time of ovulation, as ASRM’s patient fact sheet on IUI explains. Our doctors time it as close to ovulation as possible, with fertility monitoring beforehand. Being artificially inseminated takes 5 to 10 minutes in the office.
The insemination itself runs $150 to $400, and one published estimate puts a full insemination cycle at $400 to $1,000. A New Jersey patient was quoted $550 for each insemination after sorting.
Monitoring is where two quotes for the same method start to look different. Careful tracking of the monthly cycle usually means two to four ultrasounds at $150 to $300 each, or $300 to $1,000 per attempt. The lowest price we found, $2,000 for a whole attempt in California, came from a patient who tracked her own expected ovulation and had no clinic monitoring. A lower number can mean less monitoring, so check what a quote leaves out before you compare it with another.
An Ericsson quote also has no egg retrieval, embryo, embryo transfer or genetic testing to pay for, because the sorted sample goes into an insemination rather than the IVF process. Both are sold as gender selection, and the cost of IVF gender selection is quoted separately, so make sure the quote in front of you is for sorted IUI and not for in vitro fertilization.
Ask how many monitoring visits the quote includes, and what each extra visit costs.
One-Time Tests Before the First Attempt
Most testing happens once, before your first sort, and fertility testing costs vary by test. A consultation with pre-cycle testing typically runs $225 to $800. Semen analysis costs run $50 to $300, and an HSG, an X-ray that checks whether the fallopian tubes are open, runs $500 to $1,500 or more.
What a clinic asks for varies. A New Jersey patient did lab work, an HSG and a semen analysis before her first insemination. Another patient, who traveled abroad for the procedure, was sent a list of STD and fertility tests to complete before the trip. Your consultation also includes a review of your medical history, which shapes the tests you actually need.
Ask which tests repeat with each attempt, and how long results stay valid if you take a break between attempts.
Fertility Medication: From $50 for Pills to $2,500 for Injections
Medication is the line with the widest swing. Before any sorting fee, the cost of IUI depends on the protocol: $500 to $1,500 for a natural cycle, $1,000 to $2,000 with Clomid or letrozole, and $2,500 to $4,000 or more with injectable medications. The drugs alone run $50 to $150 for oral tablets and $1,500 to $2,500 for injectables.
One patient who traveled abroad gave a full price for a medicated attempt: about 20 self-given injections and several scans, with the insemination, scans, sorting and medication totaling “just under 5K” before flights and hotel.
Unmedicated sorted attempts exist too, and the $2,000 California attempt was one of them. A natural cycle works with your own monthly cycle and has no medication line at all. Whether you need medication is a medical decision based on your own cycle and history.
Repeat Attempts, Donor Sperm and Travel: What Raises the Total
The price of one attempt is the floor. What you spend in the end depends on how many attempts it takes, whether you need donor sperm, and how far you travel to reach a clinic that offers the method.
Budgeting for One, Two or Three Attempts
The first attempt costs two to three times as much as each repeat, because it carries the consultation and testing. A New Jersey patient was quoted “about 2,500ish for the first round,” then $700 for the sorting plus $550 for the insemination on each repeat, with the first round “the most expensive due to the initial consult and testing.” A Los Angeles-area patient paid $3,230 for her first round in 2019, then $1,000 for each later attempt, which was “less than the first round because there are not as many initial tests needed.” Those 2019 figures are older than the other prices here, so expect today’s to differ.
Across three attempts, the two quotes add up like this:
| Attempts | New Jersey quote | Los Angeles-area quote (2019) |
|---|---|---|
| One | $2,500 | $3,230 |
| Two | $3,750 | $4,230 |
| Three | $5,000 | $5,230 |
No reliable figure tells you the chance of pregnancy per attempt with sorted sperm. The success rates published for the method, such as a 1993 study of 1,407 births, count the share of babies born of the desired sex, not how often an attempt leads to a pregnancy, so they can’t tell you how many attempts to budget for.
The sorted sperm sample is only part of the original, about 10% in Ericsson’s lab work, and a smaller sample can mean more attempts. One patient’s 1.7 million sperm after washing fell to 528,000 after sorting, about 31%, and her clinic told her the chance of pregnancy was low. Another patient’s clinic advised against sorting at all because her partner’s count was too low. A semen analysis shows in advance whether the count leaves enough sperm after sorting.
Plan for more than one attempt from the start. If the first one works, the money you set aside for the second stays yours.
Donor Sperm Vials on Top of the Sort
If you’re a single parent by choice, part of a same-sex female couple, or using donor sperm for any other reason, the vial is a separate purchase on top of the sort and the insemination. The sample for an Ericsson sort can come from a partner or a donor.
Sperm donor costs start with the vial. Prices vary between sperm banks: Cryos lists donor sperm at $599 and up per straw, and California Cryobank lists $897 to $2,397 per vial. Standard overnight shipping with Cryos starts at $295, and some clinics charge a fee to receive a shipment, such as a $150 intake fee at one clinic.
Before you buy a vial, ask whether the lab sorts thawed donor sperm, what count it needs after thawing, and how many vials one attempt uses, since sorting keeps only part of the sperm sample.
Traveling for Each Attempt, or Shipping a Frozen Sorted Sample
Only certain fertility clinics offer the Ericsson method. Patients in online forums mention clinics in New Jersey, California and Kentucky, and one sums it up as “only offered at certain clinics.” A patient in Georgia was planning a trip to New Jersey; others describe flying in for every cycle.
Each attempt involves several visits timed to ovulation: monitoring scans, a trigger shot, then the insemination a day or two later. That means the trip, and what it costs, repeats every time you try.
The one fully priced travel example we found came from a couple who went abroad and stayed about three weeks. The medical side came to $4,000 to $5,000, and with flights and a hotel for both of them, the total was “between 7-9k.” Going abroad can look cheaper on paper, but an attempt that doesn’t work means another trip, and any follow-up care happens at home without the team that treated you.
Some labs offer a way around repeat trips: they sort the semen sample, freeze it and ship it to your own clinic for the insemination. A New York patient paid about $1,200 for the sort, plus a cryo tank rental and shipping. Freezing and thawing lowered the count, and she conceived on her second insemination. If you go this route, ask what the lab charges for the shipper and the shipping, whether your clinic accepts a shipped, sorted sample, and what it charges to receive and thaw it.
What Insurance, HSA and FSA Funds Will Pay For
What Insurers Say About Paying for Sex Selection
You’ll see it called gender selection, sex selection or gender sex selection, and Aetna’s published policy shows how narrow insurance coverage is under any of those names. Its clinical policy on preconceptional sex selection, last reviewed May 20, 2026, treats techniques that enrich a sperm sample for X-bearing sperm, which raise the chance of a female child, as medically necessary in one situation: to prevent the conception and birth of a male child to a woman known to carry a seriously handicapping X-linked condition, such as Lesch-Nyhan disease.
The same policy says assisted reproductive techniques, including IVF and ICSI, aren’t treatment of disease when sex selection is the sole reason for them. It also says insemination and other treatment after sperm sorting may be restricted depending on your plan.
Elective gender selection for family balancing is almost never covered, while genetic testing to prevent X-linked disorders sometimes is.
Parts of your workup can still be billable under your fertility insurance coverage: diagnostic tests such as a semen analysis or an HSG can be covered as diagnostics, and the New Jersey patient’s clinic accepted insurance, though she chose to pay cash. Ask your insurer to confirm in writing which line items it will cover before your first attempt.
HSA and FSA Funds: Confirm Eligibility First
IRS Publication 502 (2025) lists fertility enhancement, including “procedures such as in vitro fertilization,” among the medical costs of overcoming an inability to have children. It doesn’t mention sex selection. If you’re using the Ericsson method only to choose your baby’s sex, check with your plan administrator before you pay with HSA or FSA funds. This is general information, not tax advice.
Ways to Lower the Bill
A few choices made before your first attempt can take real money off the total:
- Get a semen analysis before the first sort, so you don’t pay for a sort that leaves too few sperm.
- Ask for an itemized quote for the first attempt and the price of each repeat, and whether repeats can be prepaid at a lower price.
- Bring recent test results from your own doctor, if the clinic accepts them, instead of repeating tests.
- Ask whether an unmedicated attempt suits you, which removes the medication line entirely.
- Compare a local total with a travel total, counting flights, lodging and time off work for every attempt.
- Ship a frozen sorted sample to your own clinic instead of making repeat trips, if the lab and your clinic both handle it.
- Set a budget cap: the number of attempts you’ll pay for, decided in advance.
Financing can spread the bill out, but it adds interest, so compare fertility financing offers by the total amount you’d repay.
A Budget You Can Plan Around, Attempt by Attempt
A sort costs about $600 to $1,200. Patients report about $2,000 to $3,230 for a first attempt and $1,000 to $1,250 for each repeat, and the number of attempts, donor sperm and travel decide where your total lands. Insurance rarely covers elective sex selection, and using HSA or FSA funds needs a check with your plan first.
Every family’s version of those numbers is different, and working them out is what a consultation is for. At California Center for Reproductive Health, we offer the Ericsson method, so one visit gets you an itemized quote for your situation: the sort, the insemination, the tests that apply to you and what each repeat attempt would cost.
Parents wanting a specific gender for their next child deserve straight numbers and an honest conversation, whatever their desired gender and however their family is built. Our experienced fertility specialists have helped bring more than 3,000 babies into the world over 20+ years, at a SART-certified clinic recognized by Newsweek among America’s Best Fertility Clinics for three consecutive years.
We can’t guarantee you a baby, or a boy or a girl. What we can guarantee is personalized care and an itemized price before you commit to anything, so your family planning starts from real numbers.
Schedule a visit with one of our gender selection experts. Send your request, and our team will follow up to confirm your appointment.
Eliran Mor, MD
Reproductive Endocrinologist located in Encino, Valencia & West Hollywood, CA
Reproductive Endocrinologist located in Encino, Valencia & West Hollywood, CA Doctor Mor received his medical degree from Tel Aviv University-Sackler School of Medicine in Israel. He completed a four-year residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Subsequently, Dr. Mor completed a three-year fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility […]
