DSMDes Moines
When is TSA security busiest at DSM?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put DSM's busiest hour at 4 am, with the counts falling away after 2 pm. Des Moines (DSM) has no live wait time on waittimes.io, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy DSM 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 | 9 am, now | 10a | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSM Passenger (Alpha) |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days DSM screened passengers from 3 am to 6 pm. Across DSM the busiest hour is 4 am and the counts fall away after 2 pm. DSM Passenger (Alpha) peaks at 4 am. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Which day DSM is busiest
Monday and Friday are DSM's busiest days of the week, within 0.4 percent of each other and at least 57 percent more than Saturday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monday | 5,787 | 23 |
| 2 | Friday | 5,761 | 23 |
| 3 | Thursday | 5,712 | 23 |
| 4 | Sunday | 5,390 | 23 |
| 5 | Wednesday | 4,482 | 25 |
| 6 | Tuesday | 3,838 | 23 |
| 7 | Saturday | 3,658 | 23 |
People screened at DSM 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 DSM is busiest
July was DSM's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 5,700 people a day, 46 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 9 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 5,736 | 13 |
| 2 | June | 5,562 | 13 |
| 3 | October | 5,240 | 17 |
| 4 | August | 5,202 | 31 |
| 5 | May | 4,961 | 31 |
| 6 | September | 4,775 | 30 |
| 7 | April | 4,431 | 30 |
| 8 | March | 3,927 | 10 |
People screened at DSM 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 DSM 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, 6,189 people, 5 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 16 percent below the Sundays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 6,347 people, 19 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 24 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is DSM airport today?
Des Moines has no live wait time on waittimes.io, so there is no number for today. By TSA's counts 9 am is usually a middling hour at DSM, about 310 people an hour across its checkpoints against 560 at the 4 am peak. On a normal day DSM screens about 5,000 people, 85th of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is DSM Passenger (Alpha).
When is TSA security at DSM quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, DSM checkpoints screened the most people at 4 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 9 am, and they fall away after 2 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 DSM?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, DSM screened passengers from 3 am to 6 pm. These are the hours TSA counted people, not DSM's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at DSM?
Monday and Friday are DSM's busiest days of the week, within 0.4 percent of each other and at least 57 percent more than Saturday, 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 DSM?
July was DSM's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 5,700 people a day, 46 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 9 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 DSM get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 6,189 people, 5 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 16 percent below the Sundays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 6,347 people, 19 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 24 percent below the Sundays 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 DSM 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 DSM?
This page has no lane-by-lane wait time for DSM, 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 Des Moines 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.