SMFSacramento
When is TSA security busiest at SMF?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put SMF's busiest hour at 4 am, with the counts falling away after 1 pm. Sacramento (SMF) publishes no live wait time, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy SMF 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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central B | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal A |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days SMF screened passengers from 3 am to 11 pm. Across SMF the busiest hour is 4 am and the counts fall away after 1 pm. Central B screens 66 percent of the people TSA counts at SMF, Terminal A 34 percent. The busiest hour at Central B is 6 am, 2 hours after SMF's. Every checkpoint peaks before noon. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Which day SMF is busiest
Thursday is SMF's busiest day of the week, about 21,000 people screened on an average one, 35 percent more than Saturday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday | 21,347 | 23 |
| 2 | Friday | 21,054 | 23 |
| 3 | Sunday | 20,100 | 23 |
| 4 | Monday | 19,541 | 23 |
| 5 | Wednesday | 18,124 | 25 |
| 6 | Tuesday | 16,942 | 23 |
| 7 | Saturday | 15,825 | 23 |
People screened at SMF 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 SMF is busiest
Every month at SMF came within 12 percent of the busiest, June, at about 21,000 people a day. October, the latest month counted, ran 3 percent below June.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | June | 20,637 | 13 |
| 2 | July | 20,601 | 13 |
| 3 | October | 20,108 | 17 |
| 4 | May | 19,317 | 31 |
| 5 | September | 18,532 | 30 |
| 6 | March | 18,484 | 10 |
| 7 | April | 18,175 | 30 |
| 8 | August | 18,069 | 31 |
People screened at SMF 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 SMF 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, 22,345 people, 3 percent above the Fridays 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 Friday 4 September, 23,297 people, 13 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 25 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is SMF airport today?
Sacramento 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 SMF, about 1,200 people an hour across its checkpoints against 1,600 at the 4 am peak. On a normal day SMF screens about 19,000 people, 35th of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is Central B, with 66 percent of them.
When is TSA security at SMF quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, SMF checkpoints screened the most people at 4 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 8 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 SMF?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, SMF screened passengers from 3 am to 11 pm. Central B runs latest. These are the hours TSA counted people, not SMF's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at SMF?
Thursday is SMF's busiest day of the week, about 21,000 people screened on an average one, 35 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 SMF?
Every month at SMF came within 12 percent of the busiest, June, at about 21,000 people a day. October, the latest month counted, ran 3 percent below June. 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 SMF get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 22,345 people, 3 percent above the Fridays 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 Friday 4 September, 23,297 people, 13 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 25 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 SMF publish a live TSA wait time?
No. Sacramento 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 SMF?
SMF 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
- Sacramento 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.