ANCAnchorage
When is TSA security busiest at ANC?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put ANC's busiest hour at 10 am, with the counts falling away after 11 pm. Anchorage (ANC) has no live wait time on waittimes.io, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy ANC security usually is
People screened per hour at each checkpoint, averaged over 175 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. Green is that checkpoint's quiet hours, red its peak. Find your checkpoint and look along the row for green.
| Checkpoint | 4a | 6a | 8a | 10a | 12p | 1 pm, now | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Checkpoint |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days the first passengers through ANC were screened at midnight and the last at 11 pm. Across ANC the busiest hour is 10 am and the counts fall away after 11 pm. South Checkpoint peaks at 10 am. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Which day ANC is busiest
Thursday is ANC's busiest day of the week, about 8,900 people screened on an average one, 14 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday | 8,854 | 23 |
| 2 | Friday | 8,572 | 23 |
| 3 | Wednesday | 8,466 | 25 |
| 4 | Saturday | 8,382 | 23 |
| 5 | Monday | 8,313 | 23 |
| 6 | Sunday | 8,004 | 23 |
| 7 | Tuesday | 7,798 | 23 |
People screened at ANC on an average day of each kind, from TSA's counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026, with the days around each holiday left out.
Which month ANC is busiest
July was ANC's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 13,000 people a day, 132 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 52 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 13,017 | 13 |
| 2 | August | 11,897 | 31 |
| 3 | June | 9,696 | 13 |
| 4 | September | 8,338 | 30 |
| 5 | May | 7,423 | 31 |
| 6 | October | 6,297 | 17 |
| 7 | April | 5,626 | 30 |
| 8 | March | 5,620 | 10 |
People screened at ANC on an average day of each month, holidays included, from TSA's counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
How ANC ran over the holidays
Each day around a holiday against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side, 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, 10,773 people, 29 percent above the Fridays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Thursday 3 September, 10,615 people, 7 percent above the Thursdays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is ANC airport today?
Anchorage has no live wait time on waittimes.io, so there is no number for today. By TSA's counts 1 pm is usually one of the busiest hours at ANC, about 400 people an hour across its checkpoints against 480 at the 10 am peak. On a normal day ANC screens about 8,400 people, 59th of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is South Checkpoint.
When is TSA security at ANC quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, ANC checkpoints screened the most people at 10 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 4 pm, and they fall away after 11 pm. Each row of the map above is one checkpoint scaled to its own peak, so its green hours are the ones to aim for. Counts say when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long the line is.
What time does TSA open at ANC?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, the first passengers through ANC were screened at midnight and the last at 11 pm. These are the hours TSA counted people, not ANC's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at ANC?
Thursday is ANC's busiest day of the week, about 8,900 people screened on an average one, 14 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest. Averaged over 163 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026, with the days around each holiday left out.
Which month is busiest at ANC?
July was ANC's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 13,000 people a day, 132 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 52 percent below July. Averaged over 175 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
How busy does ANC get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 10,773 people, 29 percent above the Fridays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Thursday 3 September, 10,615 people, 7 percent above the Thursdays around it. Each day is set against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Does ANC publish a live TSA wait time?
Not one waittimes.io reads, so this page carries no number for right now and never predicts one. The national page ranks the 23 airports whose live number waittimes.io reads.
Does PreCheck have a shorter line at ANC?
This page has no lane-by-lane wait time for ANC, so there is no PreCheck number to compare. TSA's counts are per checkpoint and do not separate PreCheck from standard lanes; the map above shows when each checkpoint is loaded, whichever lane you join.
Other airports
Every covered airport, ranked by its line right now, is on the national page, with the airports that have no live number here under it. The busiest airports by people screened lists every code TSA counts.
ATL, BOS, BWI, CLE, CLT, DAL, DCA, DFW, DTW, EWR, IAH, JAX, JFK, LGA, MCO, MIA, MSP, PHL, PHX, PIT, SEA, SFO, SLC
Where the numbers come from
- Wait times
- There is none for Anchorage on waittimes.io.
- Usual busyness
- TSA's own hourly passenger counts per checkpoint, published weekly in its FOIA reading room. This page uses 175 days of counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. Public domain.
- 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
- Predict a wait in minutes, or show an old number as if it were current.
- Every feed
- How each one is read, the TSA counts and who to write to: the sources page.