The US airports with the longest and shortest security wait times — ranked

Wait times in TSA security lines vary by airport. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Is your average airport security experience a quick walk through the screening area, or does the line often snake around multiple stanchions? The answer depends on where you're flying out of.At the top 50 busiest airports in the US, the average security line wait time is 9.9 minutes, but TSA data shows that passengers can wait almost three times as long at some airports and as little as a few minutes at others.The Trump administration is pushing to privatize airport security by expanding the TSA's Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which allows airports to use private contractors for screening instead of federal TSA officers. The push comes as the agency has faced retention and workplace challenges, exacerbated by government shutdowns in 2025 and 2026 that forced TSA officers to work without pay for weeks.Travel website Travel Bulletin examined the 50 busiest airports in the US to determine the ones with the longest and shortest average wait times. Travel Bulletin analyzed eight weeks of wait-time estimates from the MyTSA app and passenger-volume data from the FOIA Electronic Reading Room, covering mid-June to mid-August 2026.Passengers traveling through San Francisco and Kansas City — the only two major SPP airports among the 20 total using private screeners — spend among the least amount of time in line.Here are the 10 airports with the shortest average TSA wait times, followed by the 10 airports with the longest average waits. 1. San Antonio International Airport — San Antonio, Texas San Antonio International Airport. Wirestock/Getty Images Average wait time: 3.7 minutes 2. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport — Kenner, Louisiana (tie) Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 4.1 minutes 2. William P. Hobby Airport — Houston, Texas (tie) William P. Hobby Airport. Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images Average wait time: 4.1 minutes 4. Kansas City International Airport — Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City International Airport. Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images Average wait time: 4.2 minutes 5. San Francisco International Airport — San Francisco, California San Francisco International Airport. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 4.5 minutes 6. Pittsburgh International Airport — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh International Airport. iStockphoto/Getty Images Average wait time: 4.6 minutes 7. Southwest Florida International Airport — Fort Myers, Florida (tie) Southwest Florida International Airport. TriggerPhoto/Getty Images Average wait time: 5.4 minutes 7. Nashville International Airport — Nashville, Tennessee (tie) Nashville International Airport. Seth Herald/Getty Images Average wait time: 5.4 minutes 9. Chicago Midway International Airport — Chicago, Illinois Chicago Midway International Airport. Joe Hendrickson/Getty Images Average wait time: 5.7 minutes 10. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — Hebron, Kentucky Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 5.9 minutes 41. Philadelphia International Airport — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia International Airport. Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 12.9 minutes 42. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport — Dallas, Texas Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 13 minutes 43. San Diego International Airport — San Diego, California San Diego International Airport. Kevin Carter/Getty Images Average wait time: 13.2 minutes 44. Portland International Airport — Portland, Oregon Portland International Airport. egexplorer/Getty Images Average wait time: 13.4 minutes 45. George Bush Intercontinental Airport — Houston, Texas George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Danielle Villasana/Getty Images Average wait time: 13.6 minutes 46. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — Atlanta, Georgia Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images Average wait time: 14.1 minutes 47. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport — Anchorage, Alaska Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images Average wait time: 16.3 minutes 48. Newark Liberty International Airport — Newark, New Jersey Newark Liberty International Airport. : aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Average wait time: 17.9 minutes 49. Chicago O'Hare International Airport — Chicago, Illinois Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images Average wait time: 20.2 minutes 50. John F. Kennedy International Airport — New York, New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Average wait time: 23.1 minutes