DEN moved 82.4M passengers in 2025, more than any other airport in this comparison. For anyone who flies for work, or wants to visit family on either coast, that's the single biggest practical advantage of living in Denver.
DEN flies nonstop, at least weekly, to 219 airports, more than any other metro's main airport here. More trips are one flight.
Each metro's primary airport, by total 2025 passengers.
Big airports mean more nonstop routes and more daily flights on each one. Pair that with Mountain Time, which overlaps the business day on both coasts, and Denver is an easy place to run a national team from.
Every metro here has a standout stat. Denver's advantage is that it rarely trails: it finishes in the top nine of 13 on 38 of 42 measures (90%), more than any other metro, and near the bottom on just 4.
This page is one stat in that record. The full scorecard has all 42.
Share of all 42 scored measures in each band, among the 13 metros. The number is the top-nine share. See every metro →