Border Wait Times: Mexico and Canada Crossings Now

Pick your crossing to see CBP’s newest wait for cars, the Ready Lane, SENTRI or NEXUS, and on foot. In CBP’s averages from the previous year, San Ysidro runs 79 min for cars on an average hour, shortest Saturday at 3 am (16 min) and longest Saturday at 7 pm (145 min).

How to use it

Pick the crossing, then the lane you will use: the general lanes, the Ready Lane, SENTRI (on the Mexican border) or NEXUS (on the Canadian border), or on foot. The answer is CBP’s newest reading for that lane, with the local time CBP took it and the lanes open; the other lanes at the same crossing sit beside it. The bars below show the typical wait at each hour of the day, from CBP’s own averages; pick a weekday to plan a later trip. The list at the bottom compares the other crossings of the same region right now: tap one to switch.

What these numbers are

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) publishes the wait to enter the United States at each land port, by lane, and updates each lane through the day; this page reads CBP’s list every 30 minutes, so a number here is at most about half an hour behind CBP’s own. For the drive into Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) publishes its own wait at 29 offices, shown beside the crossing where the two share a bridge. Neither agency measures the drive into Mexico, so no southbound wait is shown.

The typical waits are CBP’s historical averages (“Averages are based on data from previous year”): for every hour of every weekday, CBP’s average for each month, averaged here over the twelve months. An hour a crossing is closed has no bar. CBP’s own targets, in its words: “Infrastructure permitting, the processing goals CBP has set for travelers are:” “SENTRI/NEXUS Lanes: 15 minutes; Ready Lanes: 50% of general traffic lane wait times.”

The busiest crossings, typical waits for cars

General lanes, from CBP’s averages from the previous year. “Average hour” is the mean of every open hour of the week.

Worked examples

San Ysidro on a Sunday. Typical for cars: shortest 4 am (33 min), longest 3 pm (126 min). With SENTRI the whole week stays between 5 and 25 min, close to CBP’s 15-minute goal.

Otay Mesa instead of San Ysidro. Otay Mesa’s average hour is 60 min against San Ysidro’s 79 min; on a Sunday it runs 44 min at 4 am and 107 min at 6 pm. Check both before you choose: the list under the answer does it for you.

Peace Arch in summer. CBP’s monthly average for cars rises from 8 min in January to 21 min in August.

Common mistakes

• Reading CBP’s number as the wait into Mexico or Canada. CBP measures the line to enter the United States. Going north into the U.S. is the long line at San Ysidro; going south is a different line nobody publishes.
• Trusting an old reading. Each lane carries the local time CBP took it. When it is hours old, the checker says so: the line may have changed.
• Forgetting the Ready Lane needs the right card. CBP lists a Ready Lane wait only where one runs; check which travel documents CBP accepts in it before you queue.
• Taking a typical wait as a promise. Holidays, events and construction move the line; CBP’s notice for the crossing shows under the answer when there is one.

Plan the trip

Read things to do in Tijuana, Ensenada, Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point), San Diego, the American or Canadian side of Niagara Falls and 4 days in Vancouver. Then check what your car needs to cross, whether you need a passport and which trusted traveler program fits.