Securities and Exchange Commission

Most recent quarterly backlog

1,036

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

Latest annual report

1,267

End of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

18-year change

+41%

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: 899

FY10: 399

FY12: 382

FY14: 595

FY16: 550

FY18: 540

FY20: 641

FY22: 977

FY24: 1,262

FY25: 1,267

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

Backlog

1,036

Received per quarter

2,521

Processed per quarter

3,120

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	2017-07-07	2,048	8.2
#2	2018-06-27	1,805	7.3
#3	2019-07-17	1,543	6.2
#4	2019-08-07	1,528	6.1
#5	2019-12-18	1,437	5.8
#6	2020-05-27	1,329	5.3
#7	2021-03-29	1,122	4.5
#8	2021-03-29	1,122	4.5
#9	2021-04-08	1,114	4.5
#10	2021-05-03	1,098	4.4

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

9.2

Total FTE

36.2

Annual report history

FY	Received	Processed	Pending end
FY2025	13,254	13,249	1,267
FY2024	10,811	10,985	1,262
FY2023	9,481	9,022	1,436
FY2022	10,000	9,856	977
FY2021	12,363	12,171	833
FY2020	13,300	13,258	641
FY2019	11,546	11,487	599
FY2018	14,229	14,248	540
FY2017	13,063	13,069	559
FY2016	14,458	15,196	550
FY2015	16,898	16,207	1,298
FY2014	14,862	14,757	595
FY2013	12,275	12,167	490
FY2012	11,292	11,302	382
FY2011	11,555	11,562	392
FY2010	10,461	10,554	399
FY2009	7,878	8,285	492
FY2008	9,586	15,596	899

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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