If you go to urgent care you are seen in order of arrival. In the ER you are seen based on need. This results in very different care experiences. Also you should expect that urgent care is more familiar with the types of things people should go to urgent care for - while the ER can deal with them they may take longer.

The kid with the simple ear infection will wait longer in the ER. (Note that I added simple: if the ear infection is complex the ER may see the kid sooner, but those are cases where when Urgent care finally gets to the kid they transfer to the nearest ER)

> If you go to urgent care you are seen in order of arrival.

Most "decent" urgent care facilities will triage. That's one of the reason why you're asked why you're there on check-in (and also to ensure you're not complaining of something acutely emergent).

Will a privately operated urgent care clinic take somebody who has no insurance or means of paying?

Waiting time is a matter of how the facility is managed. If an ER is handling a lot of noncritical cases, they can set up a facility for handling those cases, which would look just like an urgent care clinic. In fact, I once had a minor injury and went to the ER, and was transferred to an urgent care clinic in the same building. I had insurance.

The health care system has also chosen the hospital as the only place that's actually open. The nearest urgent care closes at 5 … which is worse than my bank.