Social Security Administration

Most recent quarterly backlog

1,738

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

Latest annual report

1,013

End of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

18-year change

-4%

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: 1,060

FY10: 834

FY12: 590

FY14: 2,504

FY16: 787

FY18: 524

FY20: 1,908

FY22: 637

FY24: 1,689

FY25: 1,013

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

Backlog

1,738

Received per quarter

3,463

Processed per quarter

3,337

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	2021-02-26	1,141	4.6
#2	2021-06-01	1,075	4.3
#3	2021-12-20	938	3.8
#4	2022-02-03	908	3.7
#5	2022-05-11	840	3.4
#6	2022-05-18	835	3.4
#7	2022-09-26	746	3.0
#8	2022-09-28	744	3.0
#9	2022-09-30	742	3.0
#10	2022-10-27	724	2.9

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

21.8

Total FTE

32.8

Annual report history

FY	Received	Processed	Pending end
FY2025	14,067	14,745	1,013
FY2024	12,582	11,354	1,689
FY2023	10,130	10,305	462
FY2022	11,762	11,811	637
FY2021	13,440	14,662	686
FY2020	9,688	8,143	1,908
FY2019	14,987	15,148	363
FY2018	16,427	16,631	524
FY2017	21,560	21,619	728
FY2016	29,631	31,634	787
FY2015	23,208	22,922	2,790
FY2014	26,899	24,689	2,504
FY2013	39,159	39,455	294
FY2012	31,329	31,584	590
FY2011	32,456	32,445	845
FY2010	32,997	33,012	834
FY2009	31,340	31,551	849
FY2008	34,444	34,666	1,060

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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