Denver’s airport named one of the least stressful in America
Jun 15, 2026, 4:15 PM
Anyone who has flown through Denver International Airport would probably expect to see the airport on a list of the least stressful airports in America… Towards the very bottom!
Yet somehow, someway, DIA has landed in the top 10 of the least stressful airports in the United States, coming in at No. 7 out of 29 airports analyzed in a new study by Good Guys Injury Law, as reported by Travel + Leisure. The study ranked airports on average TSA wait times, Yelp ratings, on-time departure rates, lost luggage frequency and crowding — and DIA made the cut ahead of major hubs in Houston, Charlotte and Tampa.
The top spot went to Baltimore/Washington International, which posted an on-time rate of 79.4%, a lost luggage rate of just 118 bags per 100,000 monthly passengers and an average TSA wait time just over 15 minutes. Salt Lake City International came in second with an on-time rate of 84.6%, and Phoenix Sky Harbor rounded out the top three. The study did not release airport-specific breakdowns for every entry, so DIA’s individual scores were not published.
The No. 7 ranking comes as DIA continues a wave of infrastructure changes. The airport retired its DEN Reserve appointment-based security system in June after average checkpoint wait times dropped to roughly five minutes at both the East and West terminals. Meanwhile, construction is expected to begin in 2027 on a project to repurpose underground baggage tunnels into passenger walkways connecting Jeppesen Terminal to Concourses A and B — a project estimated between $300 million and $700 million.
DIA served more than 69 million passengers in 2024 and remains the third-busiest airport in the country. For travelers still stressed about the experience, TSA PreCheck and CLEAR are still available at all DIA security checkpoints.
Here’s the full top 10:
- Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) — Baltimore, Maryland
- Salt Lake City International (SLC) — Salt Lake City, Utah
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) — Phoenix, Arizona
- Daniel K. Inouye International (HNL) — Honolulu, Hawaii
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP) — Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) — Detroit, Michigan
- Denver International (DEN) — Denver, Colorado
- George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) — Houston, Texas
- Charlotte Douglas International (CLT) — Charlotte, North Carolina
- Tampa International (TPA) — Tampa, Florida
