On this page (4 sections)
Where the counters are
Two companies split JFK between them.
Currency Exchange International, trading as CXI, runs most of the airport. When it opened a desk at Terminal 5 it described that as its 11th location at JFK, which tells you the scale without telling you the addresses: CXI's own branch finder loads its list in the browser and does not hand over a terminal-by-terminal roster. The two it names outright are Terminal 4, in Concourse B by Gate 31, and Terminal 5. Its published branch hours run 6:30 AM to 10:00 PM, which is what the Terminal 4 desk keeps, and it says its airport locations buy and sell more than 80 currencies.
International Currency Exchange, trading as ICE, covers Terminal 1 with two desks: one in international arrivals before security, one in international departures after security. It lists hours of 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM, which open later and close later than CXI's.
Both terminals that mention the service in their own copy confirm it: Terminal 4 names currency exchange among its in-terminal services, and Terminal 8's page names it too. The airport itself maps currency exchange as an airport-wide amenity, alongside ATMs.
The one thing worth planning around is the side of security you need. At Terminal 1 the split is published; elsewhere it is not, so if you land late and need cash before customs, do not assume a counter is on the arrivals side and open.
Why an ATM usually wins
The honest recommendation on this page is to use an ATM and change as little as possible at a counter.
An exchange counter makes its money on the spread, the gap between the rate it buys your currency at and the rate it sells dollars at, and it takes that whether or not it charges a separate commission. Your own bank's card, used at an ATM, converts at a rate much closer to the interbank one. If your card charges no foreign transaction fee, the gap is usually large enough that the difference on a few hundred dollars pays for a meal.
The airport maps ATMs across every terminal, on the same amenity list as restrooms and charging stations, so finding one is not the hard part. Two habits make the difference:
- Prefer a machine attached to a bank over a standalone one. Independent ATMs in airports and convenience stores typically charge a higher surcharge of their own, on top of whatever your bank takes.
- Decline dynamic currency conversion. When the machine offers to bill you in your home currency instead of dollars, that is the ATM operator setting the exchange rate rather than your bank, and it is reliably the worse of the two. Always choose to be charged in US dollars.
Take out what you need for a couple of days rather than a week's worth in one go. New York runs on cards almost everywhere, and the main use for cash here is tipping.
What the counters cost you
Neither CXI nor ICE publishes a JFK exchange rate or a commission in advance, and rates move daily, so any figure printed on a guide page is out of date by the time you read it.
What you can plan around: the boards at the window show a buy rate and a sell rate, and the distance between them is the cost. Compare that to the mid-market rate for your currency, which you can check on your phone in ten seconds, and you will see immediately what the counter is charging. CXI lists card limits at its counters as well as cash, which is worth knowing if you are converting a larger amount.
The Port Authority's 115% street-pricing cap, which holds down prices at the shops and the restaurants, does not help you here. It caps the price of goods against an off-airport comparison, and an exchange rate is not a shelf price.
One case where a counter genuinely is the right tool: leftover foreign notes at the end of a trip that no ATM will take back, and currencies your bank at home does not stock. CXI's claim of more than 80 currencies is the useful part of its offer.
Arriving from abroad, and what you actually need money for
Foreign nationals are 41.1% of JFK's departing passengers and the share on arrival is plausibly higher, so this is a real question for a lot of people landing here. The short answer is that you need less cash than you think.
Getting out of the airport does not need cash. The AirTrain, the subway and the Long Island Rail Road all take a contactless bank card or phone, tapped at the gate, with no ticket to buy first. Yellow cabs take cards and the fare to Manhattan is a flat $70 plus surcharges. Rideshare is charged in the app. The guide to getting into Manhattan compares all of them.
The terminals are card-first too. American Airlines states plainly that its Terminal 8 ticket counters do not accept cash or checks, which is a fair sign of the direction of travel.
What cash is genuinely for is tipping, and this is the thing arriving visitors most often get wrong. Tipping in New York is an expectation rather than a bonus: restaurant servers, bartenders, taxi drivers, hotel staff and porters all expect it. Twenty or forty dollars in small bills covers your first day comfortably, and you can get that from any ATM in the arrivals hall without visiting a counter at all.