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OPM Retirement Backlog & Processing Times — The Monthly Record

OPM publishes its retirement-processing report once a month, then replaces the file — the history disappears. We archive every report and keep the record: 46 straight months and counting, October 2022 to July 2026.

As of OPM’s July 2026 report, the federal retirement backlog stands at 24,784 cases — down from the February 2026 peak of 65,237 — while average processing time is 109 days: 98 for digital cases, 156 for paper.

OPM data through July 2026 · Page updated August 9, 2026 · Next OPM report expected early September 2026

Backlog Watch

OPM posts this report once a month, then replaces the file. We log the new number the day it lands. Leave your email and it comes to you the same day — one email a month, nothing else.

One email when each monthly report lands. No spam, no selling your address. Unsubscribe anytime.

Backlog: 24,784 cases (end of July 2026) — the lowest since July 2025, still about 1.9× OPM’s published 13,000-case steady-state goal.

Average processing: 109 days (July 2026) — rising even as the backlog shrinks.

Digital 98 days vs paper 156 days (July 2026) — the widest split OPM has published.

The peak: 65,237 cases, February 2026 — the surge’s high-water mark, and the number still quoted long after it stopped being true.

The story the series tells

Three years of OPM’s own numbers tell one clean story. Through 2023 and 2024 the system was getting healthier — inventory ground down from 25,227 toward OPM’s 13,000-case goal, and processing ran in the 47–65-day band.

Then the surge: from January 2025, the deferred-resignation wave and the September 30, 2025 retirement class more than quadrupled the queue, to a peak of 65,237 in February 2026.

Since March 2026 the drain has been real. Record throughput months pulled inventory down to 24,784 by July — the lowest in a year.

The counter-trend is the part the headline hides: while the count fell, the average wait rose — 60 days in March, 109 by July. Fast, digital, straightforward cases clear first; older, paper, complex cases finish last, and they set the average. A shrinking backlog and a lengthening wait are both true at once. That gap — between the published number and the felt wait — is the reason this page exists.

The backlog, month by month
020,00040,00060,0002023202420252026OPM’s steady-state goal (13,000)Feb 2026 — 65,237Jul 2026 — 24,784
Average processing days
040801201602023202420252026
All claimsDigital (published from Oct 2025)Paper (where OPM stated it)

Three common misreadings

Is the backlog still 65,000 — or 70,000?

No. 65,237 was the February 2026 peak. As of OPM’s July 2026 report, the inventory is 24,784 — about 62% below that peak. The bigger numbers keep circulating because OPM overwrites its report each month, so there is no official history to check a quote against. This page keeps that history.

OPM says 109 days. I’ve been waiting far longer. Which is wrong?

Probably neither. Three things make the published average a different measure than your wait. The clock starts when OPM receives your complete package — after the months your case spends at your agency and its payroll office. It averages the cases OPM finished last month, not the ones still waiting. And it blends digital cases (98 days in July) with paper ones (156 days). A paper case filed during the surge can sit far beyond the average while the average stays honest. OPM’s own caveat says the same: cases involving a court order, special computation, workers’ compensation, missing documentation, or a deferred or postponed application “may take longer to process.”

If the backlog is shrinking, why are waits getting worse?

Both are real, and they’re connected. In July, OPM processed 17,841 cases against 10,538 received — a large drawdown. But the cases clearing fastest are the digital, straightforward ones; what remains is older, more often paper, more often complex. As the easy half of the queue empties, the average time of the cases that do finish rises. A falling backlog with a rising average is a system working through its hardest files — not a contradiction.

What these numbers measure — and what they don’t

Every figure on this page comes from one source: OPM’s Monthly Retirement Processing Status report, the PDF OPM publishes at opm.gov each month. Three things to know about what it measures:

  • The processing average is OPM’s clock only. It starts when OPM receives a complete package from the agency — the months a case spends at agency HR and payroll before that are not in it.
  • It is backward-looking. “109 days” averages the cases OPM finished in July, not the cases still in the queue. In a surge, the slowest cases haven’t finished yet — so they aren’t in the average.
  • The digital/paper split only exists from October 2025. OPM began publishing it mid-transition; before that, one blended number was all there was.

OPM’s own methodology note, verbatim: “The processing times are averages, which means your application may take more or less time depending on your individual circumstances. For example, if your case involves a court order, special computation, workers’ compensation, missing documentation, or is a deferred or postponed application it may take longer to process.”

Fed Retirement Tools is independently built and is not affiliated with OPM.

The full monthly record — October 2022 to July 2026

OPM monthly retirement processing, October 2022 – July 2026. “—” = OPM did not publish that figure: the digital/paper split begins October 2025, and paper averages appear only where OPM stated them.
MonthBacklog (month-end)ReceivedProcessedAvg daysDigital daysPaper days
Jul 202624,78410,53817,84110998156
Jun 202633,8518,66312,75110896120
May 202638,54711,28619,4338766105
Apr 202649,88811,94017,1757850—
Mar 202655,68114,75922,237603979
Feb 202665,23731,24018,1497134—
Jan 202654,01818,92315,5717748—
Dec 202550,56613,1749,4286740—
Nov 202548,39623,3938,7076638—
Oct 202534,58720,3448,751794579
Sep 202523,5527,0957,90276——
Aug 202524,3599,41611,19570——
Jul 202526,1388,2958,48559——
Jun 202526,32813,4308,58545——
May 202521,48315,0489,73949——
Apr 202516,1738,3328,95349——
Mar 202516,7947,80311,55950——
Feb 202520,5509,63712,36444——
Jan 202523,27716,1016,70064——
Dec 202413,8765,0204,98857——
Nov 202413,8446,8087,87255——
Oct 202414,9086,8726,45862——
Sep 202414,4945,6186,30263——
Aug 202415,1787,0837,70264——
Jul 202415,7976,4515,99465——
Jun 202415,3406,9195,61464——
May 202414,0356,7518,79360——
Apr 202416,0776,9017,64761——
Mar 202416,8237,94310,71155——
Feb 202419,5918,79410,02547——
Jan 202420,82212,9976,46766——
Dec 202314,2925,6627,19668——
Nov 202315,8265,2076,05966——
Oct 202316,6786,9246,09873——
Sep 202315,8526,7688,87970——
Aug 202317,9637,3836,46774——
Jul 202317,0477,2616,58485——
Jun 202316,3704,8546,60974——
May 202318,1256,0968,35571——
Apr 202320,3848,29810,83970——
Mar 202322,9258,3548,92969——
Feb 202323,5009,56210,92065——
Jan 202324,85812,4049,14293——
Dec 202221,5965,4907,74385——
Nov 202223,8496,0647,44292——
Oct 202225,2276,4237,83889——

Download the series (CSV). Reuse is welcome with attribution to Fed Retirement Tools and a link to this page.

Where the numbers come from

OPM publishes the Monthly Retirement Processing Status as a single PDF and replaces it in place each month; no history page exists. We archive each report as it lands — and backfilled the record to October 2022 through the Internet Archive — then merge the overlapping monthly tables; where two captures overlap, the later publication wins. The compilation is ours; every number in it is OPM’s.

Source: OPM, Monthly Retirement Processing Status — opm.gov/retirement-center/retirement-statistics/. Series compiled and maintained by Fed Retirement Tools.

Where does your case sit against these numbers?

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