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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: 48 straight months and counting, October 2022 to September 2026.

As of OPM’s September 2026 report, the federal retirement backlog stands at 8,814 cases (down from the February 2026 peak of 65,237), while average processing time is 66 days: 56 for digital cases, 149 for paper.

OPM data through September 2026 · Page updated October 1, 2026 · Next OPM report expected early November 2026

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Backlog, September 2026
8,814
The lowest in the record, which starts October 2022; OPM’s steady-state goal is 13,000.
Average processing
66days
Down from 79 in August; the pre-surge typical was about 65.
Digital / paper, days
56/149
A 93-day gap, the widest OPM has published.
The peak, February 2026
65,237
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 8,814 by September, the lowest in the record and under OPM’s own steady-state goal for the first time.

The counter-trend is the part the headline hid all spring: while the count fell, the average wait rose, 60 days in March to 109 by July. Fast, digital, straightforward cases clear first; older, paper, complex cases finish last, and they set the average. August and September both fell on count and days, to 8,814 cases and 66 days. The split is why: digital cases dropped to 56 days while paper barely moved, 156 in July to 149. Paper is now about a third of what’s left in the queue. 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: 65,237Sep 2026: 8,814
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 September 2026 report, the inventory is 8,814, about 86% 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 66 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 (56 days in September) with paper ones (149 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.”

The backlog is shrinking. Why hasn’t my wait?

It depends on how you filed. In September, OPM processed 13,227 cases against 8,080 received, the seventh straight month it finished more than came in, and the average fell with the count again, to 66 days. Nearly all of the improvement is digital: 70 days in August to 56 in September. Paper went from 150 to 149. The cases clearing fastest are the digital, straightforward ones; what remains is older, more often paper, more often complex, and those files still set their own lane’s average. With the digital lane draining, paper is now about a third of the queue, up from a quarter in August. If you filed on paper, “the backlog is shrinking but my wait isn’t” is still an accurate description of September.

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. “66 days” averages the cases OPM finished in September, 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 September 2026

OPM monthly retirement processing, October 2022 – September 2026. “n/a” = 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
Sep 20268,8148,08013,2276656149
Aug 202615,4277,61815,2817970150
Jul 202624,78410,53817,84110998156
Jun 202633,8518,66312,75110896120
May 202638,54711,28619,4338766105
Apr 202649,88811,94017,1757850n/a
Mar 202655,68114,75922,237603979
Feb 202665,23731,24018,1497134n/a
Jan 202654,01818,92315,5717748n/a
Dec 202550,56613,1749,4286740n/a
Nov 202548,39623,3938,7076638n/a
Oct 202534,58720,3448,751794579
Sep 202523,5527,0957,90276n/an/a
Aug 202524,3599,41611,19570n/an/a
Jul 202526,1388,2958,48559n/an/a
Jun 202526,32813,4308,58545n/an/a
May 202521,48315,0489,73949n/an/a
Apr 202516,1738,3328,95349n/an/a
Mar 202516,7947,80311,55950n/an/a
Feb 202520,5509,63712,36444n/an/a
Jan 202523,27716,1016,70064n/an/a
Dec 202413,8765,0204,98857n/an/a
Nov 202413,8446,8087,87255n/an/a
Oct 202414,9086,8726,45862n/an/a
Sep 202414,4945,6186,30263n/an/a
Aug 202415,1787,0837,70264n/an/a
Jul 202415,7976,4515,99465n/an/a
Jun 202415,3406,9195,61464n/an/a
May 202414,0356,7518,79360n/an/a
Apr 202416,0776,9017,64761n/an/a
Mar 202416,8237,94310,71155n/an/a
Feb 202419,5918,79410,02547n/an/a
Jan 202420,82212,9976,46766n/an/a
Dec 202314,2925,6627,19668n/an/a
Nov 202315,8265,2076,05966n/an/a
Oct 202316,6786,9246,09873n/an/a
Sep 202315,8526,7688,87970n/an/a
Aug 202317,9637,3836,46774n/an/a
Jul 202317,0477,2616,58485n/an/a
Jun 202316,3704,8546,60974n/an/a
May 202318,1256,0968,35571n/an/a
Apr 202320,3848,29810,83970n/an/a
Mar 202322,9258,3548,92969n/an/a
Feb 202323,5009,56210,92065n/an/a
Jan 202324,85812,4049,14293n/an/a
Dec 202221,5965,4907,74385n/an/a
Nov 202223,8496,0647,44292n/an/a
Oct 202225,2276,4237,83889n/an/a

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.

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