The great TSA robbery: how much loose change airport security keeps every year

Every carry-on tray at a US security checkpoint holds the same small ritual: keys, phone, wallet, loose coins, all dumped in before the scanner. Most of it goes back in a pocket on the other side. Some of it doesn't — and by law, the Transportation Security Administration gets to keep whatever nobody claims.

In fiscal year 2024, TSA collected $939,814.20 in unclaimed cash and coins left at checkpoint bins nationwide — $926,392.98 in US currency plus $13,421.22 in foreign currency, according to the agency's report to Congress. That is a fraction of a cent per passenger screened, but multiplied across hundreds of millions of trips a year it adds up to a genuine annual revenue line, and one that has run close to a million dollars in most years since reporting began.

The habit isn't new and it isn't shrinking. TSA has published an annual "Unclaimed Money at Airports" report to Congress every year since the mid-2000s, and the totals have stayed remarkably consistent outside of the pandemic dip — proof that no amount of "empty your pockets" signage stops a fraction of travellers from simply walking away from their change.

The legal basis: TSA is allowed to keep it

Unlike a lost-property office that has to hold onto unclaimed items and eventually hand them to the state, TSA does not surrender the cash it finds in checkpoint bins to the US Treasury. Under 49 U.S.C. § 44945, a provision that traces back to the FY2005 DHS Appropriations Act, unclaimed money recovered at an airport security checkpoint is retained by TSA specifically for civil aviation security work. The agency is also required to report annually to Congress on the total collected, broken down by airport, and on how it was spent.

A 2013 attempt to redirect the money elsewhere — the TSA Loose Change Act, which would have sent unclaimed funds to military-family charities — passed the House by voice vote but died in the Senate Commerce Committee without a vote. The checkpoint money still goes to TSA's own security budget.

Seven years of totals

The annual figure has bounced between roughly half a million and just under a million dollars for most of the last decade, tracking passenger volumes closely. FY2018 was the recent high point at $960,105.49, before easing to $926,030.44 in FY2019 — a year in which JFK alone accounted for $98,110, the single largest airport total TSA has reported.

The pandemic produced the sharpest move in the series: collections fell to $517,978.74 in FY2020 as air travel collapsed, then climbed back through $653,687.64 in FY2021 and $835,850.71 in FY2022 as passenger numbers recovered. By FY2023 the total was back above its pre-pandemic range at $956,253.38 ($928,883.58 in US currency, $27,369.80 in foreign currency), before easing slightly to $939,814.20 in FY2024 ($926,392.98 US, $13,421.22 foreign).

Travellers leave more spare change at US checkpoints in a typical year than most people will ever see loose in a single jar — and none of it is refundable once TSA books it.

Where the money piles up

The totals are not evenly spread. A handful of the country's busiest hubs consistently account for a disproportionate share of the national figure. JFK has topped the national ranking in more than one reported year — $98,110 in FY2019 and just under $60,000 in FY2022 — with San Francisco International ($52,669) and Miami International ($47,694) rounding out the FY2019 top three. Las Vegas' Harry Reid International reported $43,228 in FY2022, and Dallas/Fort Worth set its own record with roughly $57,000 in FY2023, driven by high volumes of connecting passengers repeatedly clearing security.

• JFK (New York): $98,110 (FY2019) — the highest single-airport total TSA has reported in recent years.
• DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth): roughly $57,000 (FY2023), a record for the airport.
• LAS (Las Vegas Harry Reid): $43,228 (FY2022).
• SFO (San Francisco): $52,669 (FY2019).
• MIA (Miami): $47,694 (FY2019).

Where it actually goes

The law requires TSA to spend the money on "civil aviation security," and the agency's yearly reports itemise the obligations. Historically that has meant checkpoint-adjacent items: translating security signage into additional languages, funding enrollment-technology upgrades for programmes like TSA PreCheck, and — in the most recent reported year — obligating over $1.1 million (combining the current year's collections with unspent balances carried over from prior years) toward wireless and telecommunications equipment for checkpoint field personnel. During the pandemic, a portion was directed toward personal protective equipment for screening staff.

Why the number never reaches zero

The mechanics are simple: a security checkpoint forces every passenger to empty pockets into a bin, under time pressure, in front of a queue. Coins get missed easily; foreign currency dug out at the last minute doubly so. Multiply that small failure rate by the hundreds of millions of screenings TSA performs each year, and a six-figure annual total is close to inevitable — which is exactly why the trend line has held so steady across seven fiscal years of TSA's own reporting.

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