Unless you have lounge access, being in an airport has the potential to be miserable. It amounts to a bunch of standing on lines and a whole lot of waiting, perhaps with some shopping and dining scattered in there.
However if you’ve traveled enough, you may have thought that some airports just always seem to be more crowded than others. And you would be right; some airports are much more crowded – they’re the ones where even trying to find a seat by the gate or, especially during typical mealtimes, at the restaurants or food court, could be problematic.
Not surprisingly, the Bureau of Transportation, a division under the umbrella of the US Dept of Transportation, keeps track of, not only how many people fly in a given year, but also what percentage of seats on the planes were filled. They release this information to the general public on an ongoing basis. And LendingTree (they of personal and business loans) studied these statistics to determine which airports were the most crowded.
The most recent statistics available for the full year is 2023. And first off – LendingTree discovered that 81.0% of available seats on domestic and international flights leaving U.S. airports were occupied that year (I bet you thought it was closer to 100%, right? Me too. But nope; just 81%).
LendingTree’s Methodology
Here’s what they said:
Using U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Air Carrier Statistics, LendingTree researchers analyzed available seats and passenger data to calculate occupancy rates.
Specifically, researchers compared the number of available seats on carriers’ departing flights (both domestic and international) to the total number of passengers in those seats to create the rate. We did this nationally from 2013 through 2023, as well as through April in 2024.
Using 2023 data, we also ranked the 100 airports with the most available seats by their occupancy rates.
The Findings: Most Crowded Airports (2023)
Airports in Florida, Arizona, Connecticut and New Jersey took the spots for the 5 most crowded airports in the US:
| Rank | Location/airport | # of available seats | # of passengers | % of occupied seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clearwater, FL: St. Pete-Clearwater International | 1,423,985 | 1,238,998 | 87.0% |
| 2 | Sanford, FL: Orlando Sanford International | 1,610,932 | 1,386,036 | 86.0% |
| 3 | Tucson, AZ: Tucson International | 2,256,771 | 1,938,227 | 85.9% |
| 4 | Windsor Locks, CT: Bradley International | 3,628,655 | 3,086,854 | 85.1% |
| 5 | Newark, NJ: Newark Liberty International | 26,154,826 | 22,131,910 | 84.6% |
St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE), located in Clearwater, FL, was the most crowded. In 2023, the planes leaving that airport had a total of 1,423,985 seats, and 87% (1,238,998) of them were filled with passengers.
One might wonder, “OK but EWR had over TWENTY SIX THOUSAND people; it HAD to be more crowded, right?”
Nope. Remember that EWR is a major airport. It serves 50 carriers and has 3 terminals. Terminal A has 39 gates, Terminal B has 28 gates and Terminal C has a whopping 69 gates. That’s a total of 136 gates. It’s MADE to hold crowds.
PIE? It’s a small airport. It serves 2 major airlines (Allegiant and Sun Country) and 3 charter airlines. It has a total of one terminal, with 12 gates. I’d wager that the halls of PIE feel much more crowded at any given time simply because it’s so tiny.
That being said, people really seem to like PIE. If you look at their Google Reviews, over 4,600 people have given it an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. Common comments include that security and boarding are quick and efficient, the airport is kept very clean, and the people who work there are kind and polite (take that, EWR!). People also appreciate the small size of PIE, remarking that it’s easy to navigate and hard to get lost there.
Other Rankings and Resources
LendingTree has the full ranking of the 100 most crowded airports in the country – you can check it out on this page of their website.
Feature Image: lunchtimemama / flickr / CC BY 2.0
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