The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) cut its retirement backlog by another 6,613 applications in September, bringing the pending inventory to 8,814, the first time it has fallen below 10,000 in at least 14 years of published data. Average processing time also dropped for the second straight month, to 66 days.
According to OPM’s Retirement Processing Status report, the agency ended September with 8,814 retirement applications awaiting final adjudication, down from 15,427 in August. That is a 42.9% drop in a single month, the steepest percentage decline since the backlog began falling in March.
September 2026 OPM Retirement Backlog
| Month | New Claims | Claims Processed | Ending Inventory | Avg. Processing Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | 10,538 | 17,841 | 24,784 | 109 |
| August 2026 | 7,618 | 15,281 | 15,427 | 79 |
| September 2026 | 8,080 | 13,227 | 8,814 | 66 |
Source: OPM Retirement Processing Status Report.
OPM received 8,080 new retirement applications in September, up 6.1% from August’s 7,618, while completing 13,227 cases, a 13.4% decrease from August. Even with fewer cases completed than the month before, OPM still finished about 5,100 more claims than it received, and the pending inventory fell by 6,613.
The Backlog Is Now Down About 86% From Its Peak
OPM’s retirement backlog peaked at 65,237 pending claims in February 2026 after applications surged earlier in the year. Since then, the pending inventory has fallen every month:
| Month | Ending Inventory | Change From Prior Month |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | 65,237 | Peak |
| March 2026 | 55,681 | -9,556 (-14.6%) |
| April 2026 | 49,888 | -5,793 (-10.4%) |
| May 2026 | 38,547 | -11,341 (-22.7%) |
| June 2026 | 33,851 | -4,696 (-12.2%) |
| July 2026 | 24,784 | -9,067 (-26.8%) |
| August 2026 | 15,427 | -9,357 (-37.8%) |
| September 2026 | 8,814 | -6,613 (-42.9%) |
In seven months, OPM has eliminated 56,423 pending retirement claims, a decline of roughly 86% from February’s peak. According to FedSmith’s analysis of OPM data going back to January 2012, September’s total is the lowest on record. The agency’s long-cited steady-state goal is roughly 13,000 pending cases, a level the backlog has rarely reached.
Ad
Claim Social Security at the wrong age, and the cost is permanent
Claiming too early can lock in a smaller check for the rest of your life — and there’s no do-over. This workshop lays out the real math behind timing it right, alongside everything else on your path to retirement. Get the details at a free FedImpact Workshop near you.
Processing Times Fall Again
The average processing time for claims completed in September was 66 days, down from 79 days in August and 109 days in July. That is the lowest monthly average since March, when it stood at 60 days. For fiscal year 2026 as a whole, OPM’s average processing time finished at 79 days.
The gap between digital and paper claims remains wide. OPM reports that digital cases were processed in 56 days in September, while paper claims took 149 days, a difference of 93 days. Digital claims also made up about 89.5% of all cases completed in the month (11,841 of 13,227), which helps explain why the overall average keeps improving.
In practical terms, a new retiree filing digitally can expect a wait of roughly two months from the time OPM begins working the claim, while a paper filer should plan for closer to five months. Processing time is measured on claims completed during the month, so individual experiences vary with the complexity of each case.
Digital Processing Continues to Expand
OPM’s shift to the Online Retirement Application (ORA) system continues to reshape how claims move through the pipeline. In September, 6,746 of the 8,080 new applications, about 83.5%, were submitted digitally, up from 79.8% in August.
OPM completed its transition away from paper intake on July 1, an event the agency called “Last Day of Paper,” ending paper retirement processing after more than 65 years. Even so, 1,334 new claims, roughly one in six, arrived on paper in September, likely still moving through agencies and payroll offices that have not fully adopted the digital process.
The remaining inventory is also shifting toward digital. Of the 8,814 claims pending at the end of September, 5,903 were digital, which leaves about 2,900 paper claims still in the queue.
Fiscal Year 2026 by the Numbers
September closed out fiscal year 2026, which ran from October 2025 through September 2026. Adding up OPM’s monthly figures, the agency received 179,958 new retirement claims and processed 178,551 during the year. The backlog stood at 34,587 at the end of October 2025, peaked at 65,237 in February, and finished at 8,814.
The surge in filings early in the fiscal year followed the end of the deferred resignation period and broader federal workforce reductions. Monthly intake has since settled back toward more typical levels, with fewer than 9,000 new claims in three of the last four months. FedSmith reports that fiscal year 2026 filings were up 59% from the prior year.
What This Means If You’re Retiring Soon
The September report adds to the evidence that OPM’s backlog reduction is translating into faster service for retirees, not just a smaller number on a spreadsheet. Both the pending inventory and average processing times have now improved two months in a row.
Filing digitally remains the clearest way to avoid delays, since digital cases are checked for missing information as they are submitted. Federal employees planning to retire soon should still expect a period of interim payments while OPM completes its review, particularly if the application involves a survivor election, a military service deposit, or another complex computation. Interim pay is designed to provide income during processing but is often less than the retiree’s final monthly annuity. Once OPM finalizes the claim, retirees receive any retroactive amounts they are owed.
The next real test comes with the winter filing season, when new retirement claims typically climb. Whether OPM can hold the backlog near its current level through that period will show how durable the improvement is.