Department of the Treasury

Most recent quarterly backlog

3,450

End of FY2026 Q2 (Jan 1 – Mar 31, 2026)

Latest annual report

3,801

End of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

18-year change

+43%

FY2008 → FY2025 (Oct 1, 2007 – Sept 30, 2025)

Annual backlog, FY2008–FY2025

Pending requests at end of each fiscal year (Oct 1, 2007 – Sept 30, 2025). Federal fiscal year runs Oct 1 – Sept 30, named for the year it ends.

FY08: 2,656

FY10: 1,144

FY12: 1,089

FY14: 1,519

FY16: 1,662

FY18: 2,165

FY20: 2,798

FY22: 3,042

FY24: 3,840

FY25: 3,801

Dashed verticals mark presidential inaugurations.

A note on the figures. Annual and quarterly numbers don’t mean the same thing.

Annual report

Window: full fiscal year, Oct 1 through Sept 30.
Coverage: intended for every reporting agency; the current FY2025 bulk release contains 117 agency-overall reports.
Detail: received, processed, pending, exemption counts (b1–b9), ten oldest, personnel, costs.
“Pending” means: every request still open at year-end, regardless of age.
Freshness: six to nine months after fiscal year end. Latest published is FY2025.

Quarterly report

Window: three months. The latest quarter is shown in the sitewide freshness banner.
Coverage: larger agencies only. About 95 filed before the Trump 2 reporting cliff. DHS filed through FY2025 Q3, then stopped.
Detail: received, processed, backlogged. Three numbers only.
“Backlogged” means:perfected requests open more than 20 working days. Stricter than annual “pending.”
Freshness: usually about six weeks after quarter end.

Why we keep them on separate views.The two “pending” counts use different denominators, so plotting them on a single continuous timeline would misrepresent the underlying change. Within each series, comparisons are clean — quarter-over-quarter, year-over-year. Across series, only the direction of change is comparable, not the magnitude.

Recent quarterly activity

Last 21 quarters of received, processed, and backlog. Most recent: FY2026 Q2 (Jan 1 – Mar 31, 2026).

Backlog

3,450

Received per quarter

3,498

Processed per quarter

3,826

10 oldest pending requests, end of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

Agencies report days pending in working days, counted from the day the request was received; the years column converts to calendar years. The longer this list runs, the more litigation-ripe the agency’s backlog.

Rank	Date received	Working days pending	Years pending
#1	2014-06-17	2,825	11.3
#2	2014-06-25	2,819	11.3
#3	2014-06-27	2,817	11.3
#4	2014-07-16	2,805	11.2
#5	2014-10-01	2,751	11.0
#6	2014-10-01	2,751	11.0
#7	2015-01-30	2,670	10.7
#8	2015-02-25	2,653	10.6
#9	2015-04-24	2,611	10.4
#10	2015-05-01	2,606	10.4

Exemption invocations, FY2025 (Oct 1, 2024 – Sept 30, 2025)

How often each FOIA exemption (b1–b9) was invoked when redacting or denying records. Exemption 5 (deliberative process, attorney-client) is highlighted — it’s the most-fought exemption in FOIA litigation.

FOIA staffing, FY2025 (Oct 1, 2024 – Sept 30, 2025)

Full-time employees

Equivalent FTE

62.9

Total FTE

119.9

Annual report history

FY	Received	Processed	Pending end
FY2025	16,493	16,505	3,801
FY2024	13,303	12,687	3,840
FY2023	10,782	10,550	3,268
FY2022	10,594	10,431	3,042
FY2021	10,820	10,755	2,937
FY2020	11,916	11,260	2,798
FY2019	11,936	11,921	2,195
FY2018	12,535	12,098	2,165
FY2017	12,434	12,379	1,708
FY2016	12,368	12,171	1,662
FY2015	13,922	13,987	1,482
FY2014	14,107	13,990	1,519
FY2013	15,040	14,915	1,198
FY2012	16,610	16,705	1,089
FY2011	16,776	16,683	1,237
FY2010	16,911	18,564	1,144
FY2009	20,075	19,980	2,751
FY2008	20,943	21,352	2,656

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