Denver’s airport named one of the most stressful in America just a week after another study said it was among the least stressful
Jun 26, 2026, 11:04 AM
Denver International Airport: oasis or stress factory? Apparently, it depends which study you read… and whether you read it before or after your flight got delayed.
Just days after a Good Guys Injury Law study ranked DIA the seventh least stressful airport in the country — praising its TSA wait times, on-time rates and Yelp reviews — a new analysis from airport transfer provider Mozio has landed with a very different verdict: DIA is the fifth most stressful airport in America, with a stress score of 7.02 out of 10. The Mozio study analyzed FAA traffic data for the 20 busiest U.S. airports and factored in flight delays, parking costs and the commute between the airport and the city center — that last one being a category where DIA, sitting 25 miles from downtown in what is essentially a different time zone, was never going to win points.
DIA finds itself in some rough company on the most-stressful list. Chicago O’Hare took the top spot at 8.42, followed by New York’s LaGuardia (7.54), JFK (7.19) and Newark (7.19). The least stressful airports, according to Mozio, are Minneapolis-St. Paul (1.76), Phoenix Sky Harbor (2.28), San Francisco (2.98), Las Vegas’ Harry Reid (3.16) and Charlotte Douglas. Notably, several of those “least stressful” picks — including Minneapolis and Phoenix — also appeared on the Good Guys study’s top 10 from just last week, suggesting those airports are winning no matter who’s grading.
So what’s a Denver traveler to make of all this? Probably the same thing they’ve always known: DIA is a great airport once you’re inside it — the problem is that it feels like its in a different state than everything else in your life. The 25-mile trek down Peña Boulevard will either feel like a peaceful prairie drive or a white-knuckle sprint depending on whether your flight leaves in three hours or 45 minutes. The airport itself retired its DEN Reserve security system this month after wait times dropped to roughly five minutes. So once you actually get there, you’re golden. It’s the getting there that’ll get you.
