The busiest airports and checkpoints of 2026, from TSA's counts
The busiest single security checkpoint at a US airport in 2026 was West at DEN, about 35,000 people a day, more than all but 22 of the 432 airports TSA counts. LAX screened the most people of any airport, about 96,000 a day, and the busiest day was Friday 22 May, with 2,908,409 people screened across the country. These are TSA's own counts of people screened on 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026; its export skips 14 June to 18 July and 11 to 17 October, so the rest of the year is not in them.
The 25 busiest checkpoints of 2026
Single checkpoints ranked by people screened a day, over the days their airport was counted. The last column is where each would sit among the 432 airports TSA counts if it were an airport of its own; a checkpoint that is its airport's only one sits where its airport does.
| Rank | Checkpoint | People a day | Of its airport | Would rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DEN West | 34,901 | 53% | 23rd |
| 2 | JFK Terminal 4 Main | 32,612 | 36% | 25th |
| 3 | BNA BNA Central | 31,554 | 100% | 26th |
| 4 | DEN East | 31,038 | 47% | 27th |
| 5 | EWR Terminal C | 30,819 | 46% | 27th |
| 6 | MCO Gates 1 - 59 (West) | 30,120 | 41% | 27th |
| 7 | MCO Gates 70 - 129 (East) | 29,030 | 39% | 28th |
| 8 | LGA Terminal B | 27,696 | 57% | 28th |
| 9 | EWR Terminal A | 24,897 | 37% | 30th |
| 10 | LAS Terminal 3 - E Upper | 24,766 | 37% | 32nd |
| 11 | SLC Main Checkpoint | 24,065 | 90% | 33rd |
| 12 | ATL Main | 21,356 | 25% | 34th |
| 13 | LGA Terminal C | 20,511 | 42% | 34th |
| 14 | IAH 70/E Terminal | 20,337 | 41% | 34th |
| 15 | JFK Terminal 5 | 20,324 | 22% | 34th |
| 16 | ATL South | 19,642 | 23% | 34th |
| 17 | MDW Main Checkpoint | 19,129 | 100% | 34th |
| 18 | LAX Terminal 3 - Passenger | 19,098 | 20% | 35th |
| 19 | JFK Terminal 8 | 19,093 | 21% | 35th |
| 20 | LAX TBIT Main Checkpoint | 18,362 | 19% | 37th |
| 21 | RDU Terminal 2 Checkpoint | 18,334 | 76% | 37th |
| 22 | MSP T1 South | 17,364 | 46% | 37th |
| 23 | PHX T3 | 17,075 | 31% | 37th |
| 24 | MSY MSY01 | 16,978 | 100% | 37th |
| 25 | ORD 10 | 16,448 | 18% | 39th |
People screened at the checkpoint per day its airport was counted, 22 March to 24 October 2026, named as the airport's own feed names it where this site reads one, and as TSA's export does elsewhere. Download all 646 checkpoints as CSV, every row with its window and source.
The 10 busiest airports of 2026
By people screened a day. A connecting traveller is screened once, at the airport the trip starts from, so this order is not the passenger order, which ATL leads.
| Rank | Airport | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LAX Los Angeles | 95,806 | 175 |
| 2 | ORD Chicago O'Hare | 93,823 | 175 |
| 3 | JFK New York JFK | 90,676 | 175 |
| 4 | ATL Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta | 85,049 | 175 |
| 5 | MCO Orlando | 73,893 | 175 |
| 6 | SFO San Francisco | 73,768 | 175 |
| 7 | DFW Dallas Fort Worth | 71,844 | 175 |
| 8 | MIA Miami International | 67,447 | 175 |
| 9 | EWR Newark Liberty | 67,267 | 175 |
| 10 | LAS Las Vegas Harry Reid | 66,777 | 175 |
Every airport TSA counts, all 432 of them, ranked the same way.
The busiest days of 2026
Across the country the busiest hour was 5 am, local to each airport: 7.6 percent of everyone screened went through in it, and 22 percent before 7 am. Sunday was the busiest day of the week, about 2,723,000 people screened on an average one, 30 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People screened |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 22 May Memorial Day | 2,908,409 |
| 2 | Thursday 21 May Memorial Day | 2,887,951 |
| 3 | Sunday 18 October | 2,884,350 |
| 4 | Sunday 19 July | 2,881,016 |
| 5 | Sunday 26 July | 2,869,817 |
| 6 | Friday 9 October | 2,864,303 |
| 7 | Thursday 23 July | 2,851,243 |
| 8 | Thursday 8 October | 2,851,114 |
| 9 | Sunday 2 August | 2,831,945 |
| 10 | Sunday 17 May | 2,824,187 |
People screened across every airport TSA counts on the day. A holiday's name marks a day inside the window read around it. The busiest time and day to fly draws the hours airport by airport.
Month by month
Every month came within 13 percent of the busiest, July, at about 2,682,000 people screened a day.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 2,681,696 | 13 |
| 2 | June | 2,543,972 | 13 |
| 3 | October | 2,494,438 | 17 |
| 4 | May | 2,483,248 | 31 |
| 5 | March | 2,478,714 | 10 |
| 6 | August | 2,441,332 | 31 |
| 7 | April | 2,416,823 | 30 |
| 8 | September | 2,327,248 | 30 |
People screened across the country on an average counted day of each month, holidays included. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
The holidays
Each day around a holiday against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side, across every airport, so the season does not read as the holiday. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Memorial Day 2026
Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 2,908,409 people, 9 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 13 percent below the Sundays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 2,781,340 people, 10 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 20 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
What were the busiest airports of 2026?
By people screened at TSA checkpoints a day, LAX (96,000), ORD (94,000), JFK (91,000), ATL (85,000), and MCO (74,000), in that order, over the days TSA counted in 2026. ATL, the busiest airport by passengers, is 4th here, because a connecting traveller is screened once, at the airport the trip starts from.
Which airport security checkpoint was busiest in 2026?
West at DEN, about 35,000 people a day, 53 percent of DEN's count, more than all but 22 of the 432 airports TSA counts. Next was Terminal 4 Main at JFK, about 33,000 a day. These are TSA's own counts of people screened on 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026; its export skips 14 June to 18 July and 11 to 17 October, so the rest of the year is not in them.
What was the busiest day to fly in 2026?
Friday 22 May 2026, with 2,908,409 people screened across the country, in the days around Memorial Day. The country averaged 2,457,774 a day over the year's counted days. Sunday was the busiest day of the week, about 2,723,000 people screened on an average one, 30 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest. These are TSA's own counts of people screened on 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026; its export skips 14 June to 18 July and 11 to 17 October, so the rest of the year is not in them.
Which month of 2026 was busiest at airport security?
Every month came within 13 percent of the busiest, July, at about 2,682,000 people screened a day. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
How busy was airport security over the 2026 holidays?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 2,908,409 people, 9 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 13 percent below the Sundays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 2,781,340 people, 10 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 20 percent below the Sundays around it. Each day is set against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side, across every airport. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Why do these 2026 numbers start in March?
TSA's reading room holds its hourly counts from 22 March 2026 on, so the year before that is not in them, and the export skips 14 June to 18 July and 11 to 17 October. Every number on this page is over the 175 days TSA counted, and a new week lands here when TSA publishes it.
Where the numbers come from
- People screened
- TSA's own hourly passenger counts per checkpoint, published weekly in its FOIA reading room. These are TSA's own counts of people screened on 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026; its export skips 14 June to 18 July and 11 to 17 October, so the rest of the year is not in them. Hours are TSA's, local to each airport. Public domain.
- Download
- busiest-checkpoints-2026.csv: every checkpoint TSA counted in 2026, people screened a day and its share of its airport. Public domain, as TSA's counts are; a link back is welcome.
- Who reads them
- Arcane Digital, which runs waittimes.io, reads every feed every 10 minutes with its own collector and stores the time of each read. The day's reads are checked every night for a feed that has stopped or thinned, and one person reads that report the next morning. Nobody types a number in.
- What we never do
- Turn a count into a wait, or predict one. A busy hour with many open lanes can have short lines.
- Every feed
- How each wait-time feed is read, the TSA counts and who to write to: the sources page.