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Border crossing seasonality: which months are busy at your port
Customs and Border Protection counts every truck that enters the U.S. at a land port. BTS publishes the counts by port and month. This page turns 92 months of them into a seasonal index for the 30 busiest ports, so you can see which months run above an average month and how much waiting time you may want to plan for.
Monthly seriesBTS border crossing entry data, measure Trucks, inboundData through Aug 2026 (92 months in this snapshot)Retrieved Oct 10, 2026, 05:56 UTCretrieved Oct 10, 2026
Read this first
The data counts trucks entering the U.S. at land ports. It does not contain wait times, loaded versus empty, carriers or lanes. The seasonal index describes volume. The wait calculator multiplies your own usual wait by a sensitivity you enter, so its output is your assumption, not a measurement.
Pick a port and a month
Click a circle on the map or use the lists. Circle area is the number of trucks entering in the last 12 months. The map has no base map, only port positions.
Ports on the border
The border line is not drawn. Alaska ports are not on the map but are in the table when large enough.
Laredo, Texas
Trucks entering per month, last 36 months.
Bars: how far each month sits above or below an average month, 2022-2025 pattern.
Pre-filled values are Example data. Replace them with your own figures.
Volume index for the month
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- Rank among 12 months
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- Busiest month at this port
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- Quietest month at this port
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- Average volume
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- Planned wait
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- Extra versus your usual
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- Extra idle cost, that month
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- Same, a year of such months
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Pick a port and a month.
Formula: extra wait = your usual wait x sensitivity x (index above 100% in points) / 10. Extra cost = extra minutes / 60 x idle cost per hour x crossings. Integer cents, rounded once. Nothing you type leaves this page.
The 30 busiest ports
Click a column heading to sort. The index is the average of 2022-2025 months as a share of that year's monthly average.
| Port | State | Border | Trucks, last 12 months | Change vs prior 12 | Busiest month (index) | Quietest month (index) | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laredo | Texas | Mexico | 2,968,087 | +0.1% | Mar (106.3%) | Dec (90.7%) | 15.7 pts |
| Detroit | Michigan | Canada | 1,231,211 | +3.6% | Mar (110.1%) | Dec (86.4%) | 23.7 pts |
| Otay Mesa | California | Mexico | 991,552 | -0.9% | Oct (108.5%) | Dec (89.2%) | 19.3 pts |
| Port Huron | Michigan | Canada | 949,561 | -8.6% | Mar (107.7%) | Dec (87.5%) | 20.3 pts |
| Buffalo Niagara Falls | New York | Canada | 856,609 | -2.8% | Oct (106.8%) | Dec (88.4%) | 18.4 pts |
| Hidalgo | Texas | Mexico | 714,580 | +0.0% | Oct (106.5%) | Feb (92.7%) | 13.8 pts |
| Ysleta | Texas | Mexico | 652,942 | -0.6% | Aug (108.0%) | Dec (93.1%) | 14.9 pts |
| Calexico East | California | Mexico | 427,320 | -6.9% | Mar (109.0%) | Dec (92.2%) | 16.9 pts |
| Nogales | Arizona | Mexico | 402,335 | -2.0% | May (134.3%) | Sep (67.2%) | 67.1 pts |
| Blaine | Washington | Canada | 329,189 | -2.3% | Mar (107.0%) | Dec (90.6%) | 16.4 pts |
| Eagle Pass | Texas | Mexico | 324,669 | -4.5% | May (109.3%) | Feb (86.6%) | 22.7 pts |
| Brownsville | Texas | Mexico | 308,846 | +6.1% | Mar (106.7%) | Dec (89.1%) | 17.7 pts |
| Champlain Rouses Point | New York | Canada | 258,537 | -5.9% | Oct (109.7%) | Dec (90.9%) | 18.8 pts |
| Pembina | North Dakota | Canada | 235,000 | -4.6% | Oct (108.8%) | Feb (87.0%) | 21.8 pts |
| Santa Teresa | New Mexico | Mexico | 190,409 | +16.0% | Oct (125.8%) | Feb (86.7%) | 39.2 pts |
| El Paso | Texas | Mexico | 175,125 | +13.4% | Aug (119.7%) | Jan (82.2%) | 37.5 pts |
| Alexandria Bay | New York | Canada | 171,356 | -5.4% | Mar (109.1%) | Dec (84.2%) | 24.8 pts |
| Sweetgrass | Montana | Canada | 150,031 | -2.6% | Mar (107.9%) | Feb (81.2%) | 26.6 pts |
| Sumas | Washington | Canada | 120,987 | -14.0% | Jul (111.3%) | Dec (75.7%) | 35.6 pts |
| Highgate Springs | Vermont | Canada | 95,819 | +0.6% | Oct (108.0%) | Dec (91.0%) | 17.0 pts |
| Del Rio | Texas | Mexico | 94,490 | +21.4% | Oct (107.0%) | Dec (90.9%) | 16.1 pts |
| Portal | North Dakota | Canada | 90,665 | -3.6% | Mar (109.9%) | Dec (82.8%) | 27.1 pts |
| Houlton | Maine | Canada | 81,061 | -6.8% | May (108.8%) | Dec (89.0%) | 19.8 pts |
| Progreso | Texas | Mexico | 80,067 | +39.6% | Sep (115.3%) | Jun (90.7%) | 24.7 pts |
| Derby Line | Vermont | Canada | 75,638 | -6.8% | Oct (110.8%) | Dec (86.4%) | 24.4 pts |
| Jackman | Maine | Canada | 65,613 | +0.8% | Mar (120.6%) | Jul (85.0%) | 35.5 pts |
| Tecate | California | Mexico | 60,870 | +1.7% | Oct (112.0%) | Feb (87.5%) | 24.6 pts |
| Roma | Texas | Mexico | 53,348 | +12.4% | May (107.8%) | Jan (90.6%) | 17.2 pts |
| Calais | Maine | Canada | 51,228 | -6.8% | Aug (117.2%) | Dec (82.7%) | 34.5 pts |
| San Luis | Arizona | Mexico | 48,044 | +10.4% | Mar (137.5%) | Jul (84.2%) | 53.3 pts |
Source: BTS Border Crossing/Entry Data, retrieved Oct 10, 2026, last 12 months Sep 2025 to Aug 2026. The index uses 2022 to 2025. Change compares the same 12-month spans. Not wait times.
What it means for your fleet
- Book the busy months with room to spare. A month at 110% or more of average is a month to quote with a longer crossing allowance and to keep a delivery window loose.
- Look at your own port first. Seasonality differs: some ports peak before the holidays, others in spring. Use the port you cross, not the national story.
- Keep a crossing log. Date, arrival, release time. After a quarter you have the wait pattern this dataset cannot give you, and detention evidence if a shipper or broker disputes it.
- Price the wait, not only the miles. Idle hours cost money and can be billed when the rate confirmation allows. Check the accessorial terms before you book.
- Re-check the pattern each quarter. A new trade rule or a lane closure can break a seasonal pattern. The table shows the change versus the prior 12 months.
Questions
What does the index mean?
For each year from 2022 to 2025 we divide each month by that year's monthly average, then average the four years. 100% is an average month at that port. 112% means the month usually carries about 12% more trucks than an average month. It is a volume pattern, not a wait time.
Why 2022 to 2025 and not every year?
The 2020 and 2021 pandemic years bent the pattern and 2026 is not a full year yet. Four complete recent years keep the pattern current while smoothing out one-off months. A port that lacks any month in those years is left out.
Does a busy month mean longer waits?
Not by itself. Waits depend on inspections, staffing, lanes open, weather and paperwork as well as volume. The calculator asks for your own usual wait and your own sensitivity, so the result is your assumption applied to the public volume pattern.
What is counted?
Trucks entering the United States at land ports, as reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and published by BTS. Outbound crossings, empty versus loaded and company-level data are not in this dataset.
How current is it?
The snapshot was retrieved Oct 10, 2026 and runs through Aug 2026. BTS adds months with a lag, so the newest months can be revised.
Related guides and tools
- Border crossings: busiest ports over 24 months
- Border and ports decoded: BTS and Census together
- Detention pay: what an idle hour should cost
- Cost per mile: your own cost per mile
- Freight season planner: diesel, weather and freight by month
- Intelligence hub: all open-data pages
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