Salt Lake City International security wait times: what to expect
From October 12 to November 9 we logged 72,442 security checkpoint readings at Salt Lake City International. The standard lane averaged 10 minutes. 52% of standard-lane readings were 10 minutes or less, and none were over half an hour.
When the line is longest
The standard line at SLC is longest around 7 AM, when it has averaged 17 minutes, and shortest around midnight, at 1 minute. By day of the week, Friday has been the heaviest (13 minutes on average) and Saturday the lightest (9 minutes).
| Time of day | Standard |
|---|---|
| Early morning (4–8 AM) | 13 min |
| Morning (8 AM–noon) | 13 min |
| Midday (noon–4 PM) | 13 min |
| Evening (4–8 PM) | 13 min |
| Night (8 PM–4 AM) | 5 min |
Average wait across the last 28 days. A dash means the lane is usually closed then.
Is PreCheck worth it at SLC?
The feed for SLC does not report a separate TSA PreCheck line, so the figures above cover the standard lane only.
Terminal by terminal
| Terminal | Standard avg | PreCheck avg | Busiest hour | Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Checkpoints | 10 min | — | 7 AM | — |
Common questions
- What is the best time to go through security at SLC?
- Over the last 28 days the standard lane has been quietest around midnight, averaging 1 minute, and Saturday has been the lightest day.
- How early should I get to SLC?
To plan your arrival, use the worst hour rather than the average: at SLC that is 17 minutes in the standard lane around 7 AM. Allow that on top of your airline's check-in and bag-drop deadlines, and more on Fridays and holiday weekends. The live board above shows what the line is doing right now, and the chart projects the next 12 hours.
Where these numbers come from
Each airport publishes its own checkpoint wait estimates. This site reads them every minute and keeps every reading. Closed lanes are left out of the averages, and times are local to the airport. The averages above cover the last 28 days and are recalculated every hour. The posted wait is the airport's estimate, not a timed measurement, so treat it as a guide.
The full archive is free to download as an open dataset, and the about page explains who runs the site and why.