National Archives and Records Administration

Most recent quarterly backlog

6,504

End of FY2026 Q1 (Oct 1 – Dec 31, 2025)

Latest annual report

5,393

End of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

18-year change

-7%

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: 5,780

FY10: 7,064

FY12: 7,610

FY14: 9,361

FY16: 4,157

FY18: 3,035

FY20: 3,511

FY22: 9,969

FY24: 5,107

FY25: 5,393

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 17 quarters of received, processed, and backlog. Most recent: FY2026 Q1 (Oct 1 – Dec 31, 2025).

Backlog

6,504

Received per quarter

10,787

Processed per quarter

10,693

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	2006-04-10	4,823	19.5
#2	2008-01-02	4,399	17.7
#3	2008-04-17	4,326	17.5
#4	2008-10-07	4,206	17.0
#5	2008-11-06	4,185	16.9
#6	2009-04-09	4,084	16.5
#7	2009-06-08	4,043	16.3
#8	2010-11-08	3,688	14.9
#9	2010-12-23	3,658	14.8
#10	2011-03-10	3,608	14.6

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

19.6

Total FTE

40.5

Annual report history

FY	Received	Processed	Pending end
FY2025	27,797	27,511	5,393
FY2024	22,590	23,893	5,107
FY2023	62,505	66,064	6,410
FY2022	14,975	14,977	9,969
FY2021	7,725	6,867	4,369
FY2020	25,738	25,721	3,511
FY2019	67,466	68,062	3,494
FY2018	52,850	53,101	3,035
FY2017	60,337	61,208	3,286
FY2016	49,966	50,205	4,157
FY2015	22,555	23,591	8,325
FY2014	22,237	19,476	9,361
FY2013	12,243	13,253	6,600
FY2012	13,345	13,746	7,610
FY2011	18,129	17,182	8,011
FY2010	15,781	15,573	7,064
FY2009	18,581	17,508	6,854
FY2008	14,075	13,472	5,780

Download raw data

Every dataset behind this page is available as CSV. Filter by agency name in your spreadsheet of choice.

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