Last update: January 2025. Some figures are not available for some airports at this time.


Table of Contents:

What are the top 10 busiest airports in America?

What are the top 5 busiest airports in the US?

What are the top 200 busiest airports in the USA?

What are the top 20 busiest airports in the United States?

What are the top 10 biggest airports in the US?


Summary:

  • Busiest: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) with 50.9 million passengers
  • Top 5: ATL, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O’Hare
  • Largest: Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, Washington Dulles
  • Best (by traveler survey): Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

America has some of the biggest airports in the world with an incredible amount of foot and flight traffic. But which airports are the busiest? And what is the biggest airport in the US?

Here’s a mega-list of the 200 busiest airports in the US, ordered from most busy to least busy.

Yearly figures for 2023, the most recent data available at the time of publication, are based on the most recent enplaned passenger figures from the US Dept of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

What Are the Top 10 Busiest Airports in America?

While these airports aren’t the biggest in terms of their geographic size, they’re the busiest in terms of passenger enplanements. For travelers and operators alike, passenger volume is more important than size (although operators know all too well how difficult landings at the smallest commercial airports can be!):

  1. Atlanta International Airport – 50.9 million passengers
  2. Los Angeles International Airport – 40.9 million passengers
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – 39.2 million passengers
  4. Denver International Airport – 37.8 million passengers
  5. Chicago O’Hare International Airport – 35.8 million passengers
  6. New York JFK International Airport – 30.8 million passengers
  7. Orlando International Airport – 28 million passengers
  8. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport – 27.8 million passengers
  9. Charlotte/Douglas International Airport – 25.8 million passengers
  10. Miami International Airport – 24.7 million passengers

What Are the Top 20 Busiest Airports in the United States?

Here, we expand our list of the biggest airports in the US by passenger enplanements to the top 20:

  1. Atlanta International Airport – 50.9 million passengers
  2. Los Angeles International Airport – 40.9 million passengers
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – 39.2 million passengers
  4. Denver International Airport – 37.8 million passengers
  5. Chicago O’Hare International Airport – 35.8 million passengers
  6. New York JFK International Airport – 30.8 million passengers
  7. Orlando International Airport – 28 million passengers
  8. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport – 27.8 million passengers
  9. Charlotte/Douglas International Airport – 25.8 million passengers
  10. Miami International Airport – 24.7 million passengers
  11. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – 24.5 million passengers
  12. Newark Liberty International Airport – 24.5 million passengers
  13. San Francisco International Airport – 24.1 million passengers
  14. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport – 23.8 million passengers
  15. Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport – 22.2 million passengers
  16. Boston Logan International Airport – 19.9 million passengers
  17. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport – 17 million passengers
  18. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – 17 million passengers
  19. New York LaGuardia Airport – 16.1 million passengers
  20. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport – 15.3 million passengers

What Are the Top 200 Busiest Airports in the USA?

Looking for the full list of the 200 busiest airports in the US? Here’s the data, directly from the FAA:

Which Airport is the Busiest in the United States?

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the US. It handles 50.9 million passengers on 341,835 flights per year. That’s almost 1,000 flights per day. This makes Atlanta one of the busiest airports in the world.

What Are the Top 5 Busiest Airports in the US?

  1. Atlanta International Airport – 50.9 million passengers
  2. Los Angeles International Airport – 40.9 million passengers
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – 39.2 million passengers
  4. Denver International Airport – 37.8 million passengers
  5. Chicago O’Hare International Airport – 35.8 million passengers

Here is a further breakdown of the top 5 busiest airports in the US. See below the comparison between 2021 and 2022 data. As you can see, there has been a gradual increase since the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Atlanta International Airport – ATL (Total passengers)

Atlanta International Airport Total Passengers 2022 Graph | Stratos Jet Charters, Inc.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport – DFW (Total passengers)

Dallas Forth Worth Airport Total Passengers 2022 Graph | Stratos Jet Charters, Inc.

Denver International Airport – DEN (Total passengers)

Denver International Airport Total Passengers 2022 Graph | Stratos Jet Charters, Inc.

O’Hare International Airport – ORD (Total passengers)

Ohare International Airport Total Passengers 2022 Graph | Stratos Jet Charters, Inc.

Los Angeles International Airport – LAX (Total passengers)

Los Angeles International Airport Total Passengers 2022 Graph | Stratos Jet Charters, Inc.

Top 10 Biggest Airports in the US

We’ve examined in great detail the busiest airports in the US. But which are the largest airports in the US? Atlanta may be the busiest, but it’s not the largest.

So, for those curious about the biggest US airports, here’s the top 10:

  1. Denver International Airport, Colorado (DEN)
  2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas (DFW)
  3. Orlando International Airport, Florida (MCO)
  4. Washington (Dulles) International Airport, Washington, D.C. (IAD)
  5. George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX (IAH)
  6. Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah (SLC)
  7. O’Hare International Airport, Chicago (ORD)
  8. San Francisco International Airport, California (SFO)
  9. John F Kennedy Airport, New York City (JFK)
  10. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Michigan (DTW)

The largest US airports cover impressive stretches of land. They feature many runways and terminals to handle the high volume of air traffic. Denver and Orlando airports, for example, serve millions of travelers each year. They still have plenty of room for operations and future expansions.

What is the Best Airport in the US?

We’ve looked at the busiest airports in the US and also some of the largest. However, which is the best airport in the country?

Travel and Leisure conducted a survey asking readers to rate airports based on several factors. Some of these included check-in/security, restaurants/bars, access, shopping, and of course, design.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) won the top spot in the influential travel magazine’s 2024 edition of its reader poll. Travelers loved the overall ease of the airport, as it’s easy to move within and easy to find the correct gate and amenities. Travelers also enjoy those amenities, including the restaurants and shops hosted by the airport.

We hope you enjoyed learning about the top US busiest airports!

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