SJCSan Jose
When is TSA security busiest at SJC?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put SJC's busiest hour at 5 am, with the counts falling away after 1 pm. San Jose (SJC) publishes no live wait time, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy SJC 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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal B North |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days SJC screened passengers from 4 am to 9 pm. Across SJC the busiest hour is 5 am and the counts fall away after 1 pm. Terminal B North screens 69 percent of the people TSA counts at SJC, Terminal A 31 percent. Most checkpoints peak before noon; FIS runs the other way at 4 pm. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Which day SJC is busiest
Friday and Thursday are SJC's busiest days of the week, within 0.7 percent of each other and at least 51 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday | 17,327 | 23 |
| 2 | Thursday | 17,208 | 23 |
| 3 | Sunday | 14,572 | 23 |
| 4 | Monday | 13,921 | 23 |
| 5 | Wednesday | 13,439 | 25 |
| 6 | Saturday | 11,492 | 23 |
| 7 | Tuesday | 11,398 | 23 |
People screened at SJC 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 SJC is busiest
July was SJC's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 16,000 people a day, 20 percent more than April, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 5 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 15,896 | 13 |
| 2 | June | 15,459 | 13 |
| 3 | October | 15,164 | 17 |
| 4 | September | 14,144 | 30 |
| 5 | August | 14,096 | 31 |
| 6 | May | 14,037 | 31 |
| 7 | March | 13,382 | 10 |
| 8 | April | 13,215 | 30 |
People screened at SJC 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 SJC 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, 19,643 people, 13 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 22 percent below the Sundays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 19,017 people, 11 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 SJC airport today?
San Jose publishes no live wait time, so there is no number for today. By TSA's counts 9 am is usually a middling hour at SJC, about 1,000 people an hour across its checkpoints against 1,600 at the 5 am peak. On a normal day SJC screens about 14,000 people, 46th of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is Terminal B North, with 69 percent of them.
When is TSA security at SJC quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, SJC checkpoints screened the most people at 5 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 7 am, and they fall away after 1 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 SJC?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, SJC screened passengers from 4 am to 9 pm. Terminal A and Terminal B North open first and Terminal A and Terminal B North run latest. These are the hours TSA counted people, not SJC's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at SJC?
Friday and Thursday are SJC's busiest days of the week, within 0.7 percent of each other and at least 51 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 SJC?
July was SJC's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 16,000 people a day, 20 percent more than April, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 5 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 SJC get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 19,643 people, 13 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 22 percent below the Sundays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 19,017 people, 11 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 SJC publish a live TSA wait time?
No. San Jose 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 SJC?
SJC 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
- San Jose 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.
- 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.