PDXPortland
When is TSA security busiest at PDX?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put PDX's busiest hour at 9 am, with the counts falling away after 4 pm. Portland (PDX) publishes a live wait time at flypdx.com; its terms do not let another site show it, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy PDX 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 | 7 am, now | 8a | 10a | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Checkpoint | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DE Checkpoint | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDXFIS |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days PDX screened passengers from 3 am to 10 pm. Across PDX the busiest hour is 9 am and the counts fall away after 4 pm. DE Checkpoint screens 53 percent of the people TSA counts at PDX, BC Checkpoint 47 percent. The busiest hour at DE Checkpoint is 5 am, 4 hours before PDX's. Most checkpoints peak before noon; PDXFIS runs the other way at 6 pm. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Which day PDX is busiest
Sunday is PDX's busiest day of the week, about 27,000 people screened on an average one, 26 percent more than Saturday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday | 27,286 | 23 |
| 2 | Thursday | 26,799 | 23 |
| 3 | Monday | 26,408 | 23 |
| 4 | Friday | 25,725 | 23 |
| 5 | Wednesday | 23,335 | 25 |
| 6 | Tuesday | 22,366 | 23 |
| 7 | Saturday | 21,597 | 23 |
People screened at PDX 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 PDX is busiest
July was PDX's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 29,000 people a day, 34 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 11 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 28,823 | 13 |
| 2 | August | 27,042 | 31 |
| 3 | October | 25,672 | 17 |
| 4 | June | 25,416 | 13 |
| 5 | September | 24,721 | 30 |
| 6 | May | 23,226 | 31 |
| 7 | April | 22,691 | 30 |
| 8 | March | 21,538 | 10 |
People screened at PDX 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 PDX 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, 28,588 people, 9 percent above the Thursdays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 23 percent below the Sundays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Monday 7 September, 30,199 people, 10 percent above the Mondays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 20 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is PDX airport today?
Portland publishes today's live wait at flypdx.com; this page does not carry it. By TSA's counts 7 am is usually a middling hour at PDX, about 1,000 people an hour across its checkpoints against 2,400 at the 9 am peak. On a normal day PDX screens about 25,000 people, 31st of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is DE Checkpoint, with 53 percent of them.
When is TSA security at PDX quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, PDX checkpoints screened the most people at 9 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 11 am, and they fall away after 4 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 PDX?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, PDX screened passengers from 3 am to 10 pm. BC Checkpoint and DE Checkpoint open first and DE Checkpoint runs latest. These are the hours TSA counted people, not PDX's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at PDX?
Sunday is PDX's busiest day of the week, about 27,000 people screened on an average one, 26 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 PDX?
July was PDX's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 29,000 people a day, 34 percent more than March, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 11 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 PDX get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Thursday 21 May, 28,588 people, 9 percent above the Thursdays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 23 percent below the Sundays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Monday 7 September, 30,199 people, 10 percent above the Mondays 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. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Does PDX publish a live TSA wait time?
Yes, at flypdx.com, the airport's own site. Its terms do not let another site show it, so this page carries no number and never predicts one: flypdx.com is where to look before you leave.
Does PreCheck have a shorter line at PDX?
This page has no lane-by-lane wait time for PDX; flypdx.com publishes the airport's own. 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
- Portland publishes them at flypdx.com. Its terms do not let another site show it, so waittimes.io does not read the page.
- 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.