MetroTrack
Display
Theme
Text size

Who's riding, month by month

CTA ridership — monthly boardings by bus line and entries by rail stop. The pandemic dip and the uneven recovery are the story the trend tells. Every figure shows its source and as-of month.

27,881,237
CTA rides — latest month
bus + rail, Apr 2026
553,115
Busiest bus route
#9 Ashland · Apr 2026
324,243
Busiest 'L' station
Clark/Lake · Apr 2026

Ridership over time

Source: CTA — Ridership, Bus Routes, Monthly Day-Type Averages & Totals (Chicago Data Portal) — Bus = boardings by route; rail = entries by station (Chicago Data Portal). · as of Apr 2026

Monthly totals (table)
Monthly CTA bus boardings and rail entries
MonthBus boardingsRail entries
Jan 20217,081,0182,965,081
Feb 20216,740,2643,015,927
Mar 20218,782,3243,898,318
Apr 20218,792,7864,112,171
May 20219,114,8294,768,231
Jun 20219,763,8975,669,251
Jul 202110,515,0156,795,339
Aug 202110,868,8506,858,883
Sep 202111,976,9947,680,638
Oct 202111,803,0997,675,966
Nov 202110,836,4836,779,584
Dec 202110,103,5355,950,298
Jan 20228,526,9064,815,276
Feb 20229,598,1935,541,207
Mar 202211,995,7427,110,938
Apr 202211,397,6736,967,276
May 202212,116,1627,522,839
Jun 202211,908,4567,905,758
Jul 202211,430,7287,887,694
Aug 202212,502,2528,143,124
Sep 202213,127,5738,643,576
Oct 202213,200,1338,706,636
Nov 202211,949,1117,495,657
Dec 202210,988,7266,566,927
Jan 202311,585,4686,884,790
Feb 202311,516,6266,603,029
Mar 202313,386,6487,904,152
Apr 202312,662,1547,797,900
May 202313,975,4218,635,413
Jun 202313,060,6908,832,338
Jul 202312,893,2848,511,582
Aug 202314,413,5449,444,418
Sep 202314,673,2889,411,771
Oct 202315,152,7799,834,999
Nov 202313,760,9618,488,322
Dec 202313,151,7327,494,166
Jan 202412,759,8917,264,630
Feb 202414,298,5417,911,337
Mar 202414,639,5048,576,406
Apr 202415,497,7638,873,397
May 202416,277,1609,585,547
Jun 202414,646,0769,220,836
Jul 202415,219,7749,521,616
Aug 202415,411,34010,001,372
Sep 202416,071,1219,947,814
Oct 202417,406,89510,748,721
Nov 202414,625,5458,803,844
Dec 202413,592,8877,761,662
Jan 202514,779,5128,001,344
Feb 202514,736,3767,647,462
Mar 202516,846,7639,289,176
Apr 202517,463,5929,812,871
May 202517,723,36010,202,377
Jun 202516,435,28310,241,804
Jul 202516,909,37510,758,377
Aug 202517,438,15811,233,446
Sep 202517,752,18711,084,571
Oct 202518,298,74511,593,208
Nov 202515,292,9179,219,099
Dec 202514,890,5278,405,548
Jan 202614,786,5048,198,854
Feb 202615,557,2468,384,787
Mar 202616,966,2619,814,144
Apr 202617,797,91010,083,327

Busiest bus routes (by line)

Total boardings per route in Apr 2026. A CTA bus route is a line.

Source: CTA — Ridership, Bus Routes, Monthly Day-Type Averages & Totals (Chicago Data Portal) — Monthly total boardings per bus route. A route is a line, so this is ridership by line. · as of Apr 2026

All routes, Apr 2026 (table)
CTA bus routes ranked by monthly boardings
RouteNameBoardings
9Ashland553,115
53Pulaski513,188
7979th505,180
8Halsted470,376
66Chicago457,507
3King Drive442,183
4Cottage Grove429,142
77Belmont426,140
22Clark416,196
49Western415,915
20Madison399,331
82Kimball-Homan396,925
151Sheridan373,015
6363rd368,626
72North337,740
60Blue Island/26th334,552
36Broadway312,957
12Roosevelt294,123
146Inner Lake Shore/Michigan Express290,634
147Outer DuSable Lake Shore Express278,428
74Fullerton272,612
81Lawrence272,293
4747th263,111
76Diversey250,762
94California248,466
54Cicero245,309
29State239,971
50Damen236,560
80Irving Park232,786
55Garfield226,176
85Central224,209
8787th220,221
J14Jeffery Jump218,780
21Cermak214,317
62Archer213,511
7171st/South Shore209,417
152Addison205,913
52Kedzie198,903
6767th-69th-71st198,630
6Jackson Park Express197,646
70Division193,757
56Milwaukee189,389
78Montrose174,387
65Grand171,340
7574th-75th160,528
15Jeffery Local154,377
157Streeterville/Taylor145,630
92Foster144,850
155Devon144,391
9595th140,360
X9Ashland Express124,327
73Armitage117,592
91Austin117,200
28Stony Island116,432
126Jackson113,265
7Harrison111,244
93California/Dodge105,978
49BNorth Western101,749
156LaSalle101,026
3531st/35th100,892
34South Michigan100,565
1816th/18th99,260
X49Western Express98,802
90Harlem92,476
52ASouth Kedzie86,821
84Peterson80,857
53ASouth Pulaski76,150
26South Shore Express72,265
119Michigan/119th70,636
44Wallace-Racine69,831
8ASouth Halsted66,950
30South Chicago66,211
X4Cottage Grove Express65,680
5959th/61st65,139
97Skokie58,162
111111th/King Drive56,798
54BSouth Cicero56,103
86Narragansett/Ridgeland52,010
172U. of Chicago/Kenwood47,838
115Pullman/115th46,818
57Laramie45,609
24Wentworth45,241
135Clarendon/LaSalle Express44,098
2Hyde Park Express43,413
134Stockton/LaSalle Express42,629
103West 103rd41,331
81WWest Lawrence39,951
37Sedgwick39,046
39Pershing34,897
201Central/Ridge34,796
63WWest 63rd32,482
148Clarendon/Michigan Express32,406
112Vincennes/111th32,374
124Navy Pier31,610
5151st30,017
1Bronzeville/Union Station27,196
136Sheridan/LaSalle Express27,114
11Lincoln25,865
106East 103rd25,540
121Union/Streeterville Express24,978
68Northwest Highway24,717
88Higgins24,709
143Stockton/Michigan Express23,253
171U. of Chicago/Hyde Park22,141
4343rd21,292
120Ogilvie/Streeterville Express20,207
48South Damen18,519
62HArcher/Harlem18,043
108Halsted/95th16,704
96Lunt15,568
85ANorth Central15,522
3131st14,099
125Water Tower Express11,604
54ANorth Cicero/Skokie Blvd.11,434
192U. of Chicago Hospitals Express10,491
55N55th/Narragansett9,873
1001Shuttle/Special Event Route9,093
100Jeffery Manor Express8,730
111APullman Shuttle8,707
206Evanston Circulator8,705
N5South Shore Night Bus8,587
19United Center Express3,629
165West 65th3,370
55A55th/Austin2,976
16969th-UPS Express2,392

Busiest 'L' stations (by stop)

Total station entries in Apr 2026. An 'L' station is a stop.

CTA 'L' stations ranked by monthly entries
#StationEntries
1Clark/Lake324,243
2Lake/State282,039
3Washington/Wabash269,995
4O'Hare Airport267,691
5Fullerton259,369
6Washington/Dearborn221,680
7Chicago/State221,265
8Belmont-North Main216,766
9Roosevelt196,315
10Grand/State193,525
11Addison-North Main186,634
1295th/Dan Ryan163,146
13Clark/Division144,598
14Cermak-Chinatown142,552
15Adams/Wabash133,913
16Logan Square133,154
17Washington/Wells131,768
18Midway Airport131,356
19Wilson130,717
20Jackson/State130,078
21Quincy/Wells128,465
22Merchandise Mart128,059
23Jefferson Park122,595
24Damen/Milwaukee121,696
25Jackson/Dearborn117,702
26UIC-Halsted116,728
27Chicago/Franklin113,275
28Division/Milwaukee112,137
29Monroe/State112,056
30Sox-35th-Dan Ryan108,423
31Morgan-Lake105,433
32Rosemont102,693
3379th99,695
34Loyola97,861
35North/Clybourn97,060
36Belmont-O'Hare96,549
37Monroe/Dearborn95,640
38Diversey95,385
39Western/Milwaukee94,806
40California/Milwaukee94,295
41Howard93,048
42Armitage88,638
43Pulaski-Orange83,929
4469th78,895
45Sheridan77,195
46Morse77,112
47Bryn Mawr75,162
48Irving Park-O'Hare74,200
49Grand/Milwaukee73,540
50Clinton-Lake72,892
51Library72,380
52Granville71,872
53Sedgwick71,494
54Western-Orange67,480
55Kimball67,329
56Harrison65,477
57Southport65,089
58Garfield-Dan Ryan64,095
59Kedzie-Midway61,273
60Cumberland60,707
61Lawrence59,433
62Harlem-Lake58,312
63Argyle58,239
64Polk58,035
65Davis57,110
66Clinton-Forest Park56,555
6787th56,349
6847th-Dan Ryan54,954
69Chicago/Milwaukee54,658
70Wellington53,954
71Berwyn52,739
7263rd-Dan Ryan51,401
73Damen-Brown50,495
74Addison-O'Hare50,263
75LaSalle49,442
76Ashland-Lake48,698
77LaSalle/Van Buren48,642
78Irving Park-Brown48,642
79Thorndale48,137
8035th/Archer47,851
81Halsted-Orange47,676
82Paulina47,662
83Montrose-Brown44,070
8454th/Cermak44,009
85Montrose-O'Hare43,506
86Cermak-McCormick Place42,623
87Harlem-O'Hare42,412
88Medical Center38,977
89Kedzie-Brown38,375
9018th38,324
91Western-Brown37,502
92Addison-Brown35,728
9335-Bronzeville-IIT34,217
94Rockwell33,954
95Damen-Cermak32,971
96Central-Lake32,326
97Ashland-Orange31,627
98Forest Park29,838
99Jarvis29,593
100Damen-Lake28,002
101California-Cermak26,920
102Francisco25,419
103Dempster-Skokie23,858
104Austin-Lake23,286
105Western-Cermak23,125
106Garfield-South Elevated23,107
107Kedzie-Homan-Forest Park22,509
108Pulaski-Lake22,247
109Kedzie-Cermak20,508
110Racine20,497
111Cicero-Cermak20,377
112Central Park20,365
113Ridgeland20,150
114East 63rd-Cottage Grove20,089
115Oak Park-Lake20,031
116Ashland/63rd19,948
117California-Lake19,668
11847th-South Elevated19,653
119Kedzie-Lake19,349
120Cicero-Lake19,261
121Pulaski-Cermak18,649
122Main18,512
123Austin-Forest Park18,175
12443rd17,586
125Noyes17,021
12651st16,908
127Pulaski-Forest Park16,761
128Laramie16,260
129Western-Forest Park16,041
130Conservatory15,872
131Oak Park-Forest Park15,790
132Linden15,015
133Cicero-Forest Park14,796
134Foster14,263
135Dempster14,247
136Central-Evanston13,151
137Oakton-Skokie12,599
138Indiana12,575
139South Boulevard11,431
140Halsted/63rd10,535
141Harlem-Forest Park9,856
142King Drive9,009
143Kostner7,443

Source: CTA — Ridership, 'L' Station Entries, Monthly Day-Type Averages & Totals (Chicago Data Portal) — Monthly total entries per rail station. A station is a stop, so this is ridership by stop. · as of Apr 2026

Metra & Pace ridership

Metra + Pace ridership — data coming

Metra and Pace publish granular ridership only in PDF monthly reports (no free per-line/per-stop feed), so per-line and per-stop numbers aren't shown here yet. Annual system totals for all three boards are on the Funding page (FTA National Transit Database).