ORDChicago O'Hare
When is TSA security busiest at O'Hare (ORD)?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put ORD's busiest hour at 6 am, with the counts falling away after 6 pm. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) publishes no live wait time, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy ORD 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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4B | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 7A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 10A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days ORD screened passengers in every hour of the day. Across ORD the busiest hour is 6 am and the counts fall away after 6 pm. 10 screens the most, 18 percent of the people TSA counts at ORD; half of them pass through 4 of its 13 checkpoints. The busiest hour at 10 is 4 pm, 10 hours after ORD's. Most checkpoints peak before noon; 6 run the other way, peaking between noon and 4 pm. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Checkpoints and terminals at ORD
What Chicago O'Hare says on its own site, in our words, with the page each fact comes from and the day we read it. Airports move airlines and lanes, so check the linked page before you fly.
Where the checkpoints are
Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are joined past security. Terminal 5 is linked to Terminals 1 and 3 by the Terminal Transfer Bus, for passengers with a same-day boarding pass from the terminal they are going to. From flychicago.com, read 15 October 2026.
O'Hare has nine checkpoints: CP1, CP2 and CP3 in Terminal 1, CP5 in Terminal 2, CP6, CP7, CP7A and CP8 in Terminal 3, and CP10 in Terminal 5. From flychicago.com, read 15 October 2026.
PreCheck and CLEAR lanes
PreCheck runs at CP2 in Terminal 1, CP5 in Terminal 2, CP7 and CP7A in Terminal 3 and CP10 in Terminal 5. The airport gives no PreCheck hours for CP1, CP3, CP6 or CP8. From flychicago.com, read 15 October 2026.
Which day ORD is busiest
Sunday and Thursday are ORD's busiest days of the week, within 0.2 percent of each other and at least 24 percent more than Saturday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday | 101,316 | 23 |
| 2 | Thursday | 101,073 | 23 |
| 3 | Friday | 99,040 | 23 |
| 4 | Monday | 96,768 | 23 |
| 5 | Wednesday | 89,832 | 25 |
| 6 | Tuesday | 84,417 | 23 |
| 7 | Saturday | 81,673 | 23 |
People screened at ORD 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 ORD is busiest
July was ORD's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 105,000 people a day, 25 percent more than April, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 9 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 105,351 | 13 |
| 2 | June | 101,685 | 13 |
| 3 | August | 95,884 | 31 |
| 4 | October | 95,673 | 17 |
| 5 | March | 93,913 | 10 |
| 6 | May | 93,117 | 31 |
| 7 | September | 92,647 | 30 |
| 8 | April | 84,119 | 30 |
People screened at ORD 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 ORD 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 Thursday 21 May, 111,417 people, 10 percent above the Thursdays 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 Monday 7 September, 112,631 people, 17 percent above the Mondays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 16 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is ORD airport today?
Chicago O'Hare publishes no live wait time, so there is no number for today. By TSA's counts 9 am is usually one of the busiest hours at ORD, about 5,800 people an hour across its checkpoints against 6,800 at the 6 am peak. On a normal day ORD screens about 94,000 people, 2nd of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is 10, with 18 percent of them.
When is TSA security at ORD quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, ORD checkpoints screened the most people at 6 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 10 am, and they fall away after 6 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 ORD?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, ORD screened passengers in every hour of the day. 4B, 6A and 10 open first and 4B, 6A and 10 run latest. These are the hours TSA counted people, not ORD's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at ORD?
Sunday and Thursday are ORD's busiest days of the week, within 0.2 percent of each other and at least 24 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 ORD?
July was ORD's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 105,000 people a day, 25 percent more than April, 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 ORD get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Thursday 21 May, 111,417 people, 10 percent above the Thursdays 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 Monday 7 September, 112,631 people, 17 percent above the Mondays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 16 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 ORD publish a live TSA wait time?
No. Chicago O'Hare publishes no live wait time, 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 ORD?
ORD publishes no lane-by-lane wait time, 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
- Chicago O'Hare publishes none.
- 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.
- Checkpoints and airlines
- Read once on Chicago O'Hare's own site and linked beside each fact, with the day it was read. Never from another site.
- 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.