Sea-Tac’s Bathrooms Ranked Among the Worst in US

It came to our attention that Sea-Tac airport bathrooms are infamous. Tampa's airport won accolades for having top-rated bathrooms. QS Supplies, a UK-based bathroom retailer with an oddly specific research habit, combed through roughly 3,000 recent Google Maps reviews for every major U.S. airport, isolating comments that mentioned a restroom, toilet, or washroom. Tampa International came out on top with a 4.43-star average — the highest of any airport studied. Over half its restroom reviews specifically praised cleanliness, and only 3% mentioned dirtiness.

Tampa's win isn't exactly new. The airport's Airside C restrooms took home Cintas's America's Best Restroom award back in 2022, complete with a $2,500 prize the airport donated to Hurricane Ian relief rather than keeping for itself.

Rounding Out the Top Five

Salt Lake City landed second at 4.35 stars, followed by LaGuardia at 4.24. Minneapolis-St. Paul and San Francisco closed out the top five, both comfortably above 3.9 stars. None of these are boutique operations, either — they're some of the busiest hubs in the country, which makes the cleanliness scores more impressive, not less.

Bad News for Anyone Flying Through Seattle

Here's the part that'll sting for local travelers: Sea-Tac ranked as the fourth-worst airport bathroom in the entire country, trailing only Miami, Philadelphia, and Houston. Roughly 17% of Sea-Tac's restroom reviews mentioned filth, and the airport pulled in the fifth-highest number of bathroom complaints nationwide — 378 reviews specifically calling out the restrooms.

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It fits a broader pattern travelers have been grumbling about for months, from dead escalators to aging equipment the Port blames on outdated infrastructure. For anyone flying out of Wenatchee and connecting through Sea-Tac this fall, it might be worth timing that bathroom break for your final destination instead — or at least lowering expectations before you land at Gate C.

Best-Ranked Airport Bathrooms

• Tampa International Airport (Tampa, Florida)
• Salt Lake City International Airport
• LaGuardia Airport (New York)
• Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
• San Francisco International Airport

Worst-Ranked Airport Bathrooms

• Miami International Airport
• Philadelphia International Airport
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (NYC)