Where to Get Passport Photos: Every US Option Compared

Six places still take your US passport photo for you: Walgreens, CVS, FedEx Office, The UPS Store, AAA branches, and Post Offices that accept passport applications. Walmart prints one you supply. They run from $7.64 to $17.99, less if you carry a AAA card, and every one of them costs you a trip.

So which one should you actually use? That depends on whether you need the digital file, how fast you need it, and how much a rejected photo would cost you in time. Here is the whole picture, and the option that skips the trip.

Every price and detail below is read from the official retailer pages and dated. Walmart pricing verified September 2, 2026; USPS September 2, 2026; FedEx Office September 2, 2026; Walgreens September 2, 2026; CVS September 2, 2026. All of them sit together, with sources and dates, in the price index.

$7.64 to $17.99

what a US passport photo
costs in a store today

Range across the seven options compared below, verified September 2, 2026.

Passport Photo Prices Compared, Cheapest First

Two of these do not check your photo against the rules, which is why the cheapest row is not automatically the best one. The last column is the part that actually decides it for you.

US passport photo options compared on price, speed, digital copy and who each suits
Where	Price	Speed	Digital copy	Best for
Walmart	$7.64 for two prints	From 1 hour, pickup	Your own, as uploaded	The cheapest prints, if your photo already passes
USPS	$15.00 photo fee	By appointment	At many locations, for a fee	Filing your application in the same visit
FedEx Office	$15.95, prints or digital	Minutes, walk-in	On USB, instead of the prints	A fixed price and a predictable wait
Walgreens	$16.99, digital copy free	Minutes, walk-in	Free, emailed	A taken-for-you photo with the digital file included
AAA	$17 non-member, $8 to $10 member	One visit, at a AAA branch	Not stated by AAA. Ask your branch	AAA members, where a set costs less than anywhere else
CVS	$17.99 + $3.99 digital	Minutes, walk-in	$3.99 extra, select stores	A walk-in when CVS is the closest counter
The UPS Store	Varies by store	One visit, walk-in	Varies. Ask your store	Pairing the photo with a shipping errand
OnePassPhoto	Free preview, price at checkout	Immediate	Included	Knowing it passes before you pay

Walmart pricing verified September 2, 2026; USPS September 2, 2026; FedEx Office September 2, 2026; Walgreens September 2, 2026; AAA August 15, 2026; CVS September 2, 2026; The UPS Store September 2, 2026. The UPS Store sets prices per franchise, so call your store before you go.

Which Option Should You Actually Pick?

It comes down to one question: do you need a digital file, or just prints? A paper application needs prints. An online renewal needs the digital photo, and a printed one is useless for it.

If You Are Renewing Online

Go to Walgreens, which is the only counter that emails you the digital file free with the prints. FedEx Office will give you a digital copy for $15.95, but on a USB drive and instead of the prints, so you leave with one format or the other. CVS charges $3.99 on top, and only at some stores.

If You Just Need Prints, Fast

FedEx Office passport photos are the most predictable: $15.95 everywhere, walk in, out in minutes. The UPS Store is just as quick, but what a UPS passport photo costs is set by each franchise, so you find out what you are paying when you arrive.

If You Are Filing at the Post Office Anyway

Have USPS do the photo while you are there. The photo fee is $15.00 and the application, the photo and the acceptance step all happen in one appointment, which saves you a second errand. Note the separate $35.00 acceptance fee if you are applying for the first time.

If Price Is the Only Thing That Matters

Walmart prints two 2x2 photos for $7.64, which is less than half of any counter. The trade is that you upload the photo and nobody checks it, so you are carrying the rejection risk yourself. It is a good deal when the file you upload has already been checked, and an expensive one when it has not.

Stores That Stopped Doing Passport Photos

Two names come up constantly in searches and neither one can help you today.

Costco

Costco closed its in-store photo departments in early 2021 and passport photos went with them, which is why the famously cheap membership counter no longer exists. The full story is on the Costco passport photo page.

Target

Target stores do not take passport photos. The Target Photo site handles mail order prints only, so there is nothing to walk into and nothing same-day.

What About Passport Photos Near Me?

There is almost certainly a Walgreens, a CVS, a FedEx Office or a UPS Store within a few miles of you, so "near me" rarely narrows anything down. Distance is not what costs you time here.

What costs you time is a second trip. Every counter photo is taken once, under store lighting, and you find out whether it passed weeks later when the passport office writes back. The nearest option and the fastest option are not the same thing, and the fastest one is the phone already in your hand.

What Every One of These Has to Produce

Wherever you get it, a US passport photo has to hit the same official size: a 2 x 2 inch square with your head 1 to 1⅜ inches from chin to crown, on a plain white background, with a neutral expression.

At a counter, the associate frames this for you and you trust that they got it right. From home you do not have to eyeball it either. We measure your head and set it to the regulation size before you pay, against the full US passport photo requirements.

US passport photo size: 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm), with the head 1–1⅜ in (25–35 mm) from chin to crown. Source: U.S. Department of State.

The option with no trip

Get Your Passport Photo Without Going Anywhere

A photo taken at home is valid for a US passport as long as it meets the State Department's rules. Snap a selfie and upload it. We size your head to the regulation spec, fix the background if it needs it, and check your lighting, framing and expression against every official US rule, all before you pay. We never retouch your face, so it still looks like you. And if a passport office ever turns it down, you get your money back.

Every Passport Photo Option, In Detail

Each page below has that retailer's current price, what the service includes, and what to expect in store.

Where to Get Passport Photos FAQ

Where can you get passport photos?

In the US you have six walk-in options that still take the photo for you: Walgreens, CVS, FedEx Office, The UPS Store, AAA branches, and Post Offices that accept passport applications. Walmart prints a photo you supply. Costco stopped in 2021. Or you skip the trip and make one from a selfie at home.

Who does passport photos near me?

Almost certainly a pharmacy and a shipping store within a few miles of you, because Walgreens, CVS, FedEx Office and The UPS Store all offer it at most locations. The more useful question is which one gets you a photo that passes, since a rejected photo means making the trip twice.

What is the cheapest place to get passport photos?

Walmart, at $7.64 for two prints, but only because you supply the photo yourself and nobody checks it against the rules. Of the counters that take the photo for you, a AAA branch is cheapest if you are a member, from $8 and free at the Premier tier. Without a membership, USPS is cheapest at $15.00, then FedEx Office at $15.95.

Which places give you a digital passport photo?

Walgreens emails one free with every order. CVS charges $3.99 for it at select stores. FedEx Office hands it over on a USB drive instead of the prints, not alongside them. Many Post Offices offer a digital photo for a fee. You need the digital file if you are renewing online.

Can you take your own passport photo instead?

Yes. A photo you take at home is valid for a US passport as long as it meets the State Department rules on size, head position, background, lighting and expression. The catch is that nothing tells you whether it does, which is the part we handle before you pay.

How long does a passport photo take?

Minutes at a walk-in counter, an hour or more if you order prints for pickup, and days if you order by mail. From home it is immediate, because you get the digital file the moment it passes the check.