Study ranks Denver International Airport among most stressful airports in US
Oct 8, 2026, 4:36 PM | Updated: Oct 9, 2026, 12:22 pm
If your blood pressure goes up somewhere around the Peña Boulevard exit, you’re not alone. Denver International Airport ranked as the seventh most stressful airport in the country in a new study from Rightway Parking. The study looked at 55 of the busiest airports in the U.S. and scored them on flight delays, cancellations, whether delays are getting worse, and how long it takes to drive there from downtown.
Delays hurt Denver the most. One in four flights out of DIA was delayed in 2025. That’s the third-worst delay rate in the study, behind only Dallas/Fort Worth and West Palm Beach. The drive didn’t help either. DIA sits about 21.6 miles from downtown, the third-longest distance in the study, and the trip takes about 35 minutes.
There is good news. DIA had the lowest cancellation rate of any airport in the top 10, at 0.77 percent. You might sit at the gate for a while, but you’ll probably take off eventually. Dallas/Fort Worth ranked as the most stressful airport in the country, followed by Chicago O’Hare, Reagan National in Washington, D.C., and New York’s JFK. The least stressful airport was Salt Lake City, right next door.
The study didn’t count the construction around DIA’s Great Hall, the security lines or that blue mustang with the glowing red eyes staring down drivers on Peña. So your stress may be higher than the ranking suggests. Our advice: leave early, pack snacks and remember you get to fly home to Colorado.
