If you’re someone who hates hanging around in airports and tends to arrive as late as possible, these statistics might help make your next trip less panicky.
Here, we’ve ranked the 10 U.S. airports with the consistently fastest security lines, making a major unknown far more predictable — so you can arrive later.
Some travelers have turned arriving close to the cut-off point into something of an art form as part of the “airport theory” trend.
This sees TikTokers with carry-on only timing their journey across the airport and attempting to catch a flight that departs just 15 or 20 minutes after they enter the terminal.
This is extremely risky, since gates can sometimes close 15 minutes before departure.
However, if you check-in online, don’t check-in baggage and calculate the time it takes to reach the furthest gates, these are the major American airports where arriving later is less risky thanks to their reliably quick security lines.
The figures, courtesy of airport analytics firm Qsensor, reflect how long security typically takes even during busier periods, based on data recorded over a 30-day period in January and February 2026.
The airports with the speediest security lines are Baltimore/Washington International Airport and Denver International Airport, where security typically clears in just two minutes, even at peak times.
Next, with wait times of three minutes are Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway, followed by New York LaGuardia (five minutes), Philadelphia International (five minutes), and four airports that all have wait times of six minutes: Washington Dulles International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International, Detroit Metropolitan and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The airports with the longest security lines, according to the Qsensor data, are Salt Lake City International Airport (21 minutes), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (23 minutes), and Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (27 minutes).
The 10 major U.S. airports with the fastest security lines
- Baltimore/Washington International Airport — 2 mins
- Denver International Airport — 2 mins
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport — 3 mins
- Chicago Midway International Airport — 3 mins
- New York LaGuardia Airport — 5 mins
- Philadelphia International Airport — 5 mins
- Washington Dulles International Airport — 6 mins
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport — 6 mins
- Detroit Metropolitan Airport — 6 mins
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — 6 mins
The 10 major U.S. airports with the slowest security lines
- Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport — 27 mins
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport — 23 mins
- Salt Lake City International Airport — 21 mins
- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport — 20 mins
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport — 20 mins
- Las Vegas Harry Reid Airport — 18 mins
- Daniel K. Inouye International Airport — 17 mins
- San Diego International Airport — 17 mins
- Tampa International Airport — 17 mins
- Los Angeles International — 16 mins
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