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A lap as the chequered flag fell saw Verstappen deny George Russell top spot by 0.012s at the end of the abridged qualifying session for Saturday’s Sprint.
Title rival Lando Norris will start fourth, alongside Charles Leclerc on the second row, while Oscar Piastri will line up 16th.
Piastri was eliminated in the opening segment after he ran wide at the penultimate corner.
Sitting just above the drop zone as he began his flying lap, he managed a time good enough for seventh barring the Turn 19 transgression.
The Australian lines up one place behind Liam Lawson, who was one of three drivers to have their SQ2 laps deleted, will start 15th.
Verstappen was the first car on track as SQ1 began, opening the session with a 1:34.698s.
His Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Perez managed a 1:34.716s moments later, though his time was deleted for track limits at Turn 9 – the final left-hander through the twisty section that opens the lap.
Verstappen’s initial lap was hardly stellar and was quickly beaten by both Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda, while Liam Lawson was within a tenth of the Dutchman’s time.
Lando Norris demonstrated that when he went half a second faster than the pack with a 1:33.919s – a time almost a second better than Oscar Piastri could do on his first lap.
Perez remained on track, completing two cool-down laps before a final flyer in the final stages of the segment.
The Mexican was at the foot of the times without a representative lap, while Piastri sat 13th, two places down on Lawson with three minutes remaining.
Verstappen, too, had slipped down the order and found himself 10th as Lewis Hamilton topped the session on a 1:33.840s.
The Dutchman improved to third best, 0.068s away from Hamilton, with just over two minutes remaining.
Perez also climbed the order, improving to seventh with a 1:34.333s.
Sitting precariously close to elimination as he began his final flying lap in 14th, Piastri’s first sector was not especially electric versus his rivals, though was a personal best.
By the time he completed his lap, he’d dropped to 15th, though climbed his way up to seventh – only for that lap to be deleted for track limits to drop him to 16th.
That left the Australian eliminated, missing the cut along with Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon who spun on his final lap, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu.
The second phase of the session saw Russell fastest, only for his time to be quickly bettered by Leclerc, Hamilton, and Sainz, who held provisional pole with a 1:33.274s and four minutes remaining.
Slightly off-sequence, Verstappen completed his first flying lap with three minutes to run, logging a 1:33.290s with a conservative lap, leaving him 0.016s off Sainz.
At the other end of the spectrum was Perez, who managed a 1:34.244s – an improvement of just a tenth over his SQ1 effort.
He was duly knocked out when Tsunoda improved to 10th fastest, joined by Lawson.
Aston Martin had opted for only a single timed lap in the session, Fernando Alonso only capable of 12th and Lance Stroll 15th, with Pierre Gasly the fifth driver eliminated.
However, the order of the five eliminated changed with track limits deletions leaving Perez 11th from Gasly, Stroll, Alonso, and Lawson – the latter three having had their times deleted.
Meanwhile, both Haas drivers progressed, with Magnussen seventh and Nico Hulkenberg ninth, Franco Colapinto splitting them for Williams.
Mercedes elected to send both Russell and Hamilton out early to avoid traffic later in the segment.
Fast through the first split, Hamilton bled time through the rest of the lap to log a 1:33.378s on the soft tyres.
Conversely, Russell started the lap more conservatively, which rewarded him in the final corners and allowed him to record a 1:32.845s.
With no time for a second lap in the rapid-fire SQ3, their fates were now in the hands of the eight other drivers yet to record a lap.
Predictably, Hamilton was bumped down the order, first by Sainz and then by Norris and Leclerc, none of the three able to usurp Russell’s lap.
Verstappen was able to better it, logging a 1:32.833s to nose ahead of by 0.012s.
It was enough to secure the Sprint pole for the Dutchman, his first pole of any sort since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Hamilton fell to seventh, Hulkenberg sneaking ahead, with Magnussen in eighth from Tsunoda and Colapinto.
The United States Grand Prix Sprint begins at 13:00 local time on Saturday (05:00 AEDT Sunday).
