At first glance, OPM’s latest retirement report doesn’t seem to make much sense. The agency continues to chip away at its retirement backlog, yet the average time it takes to process a retirement application reached 109 days in July.
Those two trends aren’t actually in conflict. They’re measuring different parts of the retirement process.
Key Takeaways
OPM has reduced its retirement backlog by approximately 62% since February 2026.
The average retirement application still took 109 days to process in July.
OPM completed far more retirement claims than it received during the month.
Older applications are keeping the average processing time elevated even as the backlog declines.
Fewer Claims Are Waiting
Earlier this year, OPM was dealing with a surge of retirement applications following the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). That wave pushed the retirement backlog to 65,237 pending claims in February.
Since then, the agency has steadily worked through those applications. The backlog dropped to 33,851 claims in June before falling again to 24,784 in July.
One reason for the improvement is simple math.
During July, OPM received 10,538 new retirement applications while completing 17,841 claims. Processing substantially more cases than arrived allowed the agency to continue reducing the number of pending applications.
Why the Average Wait Keeps Increasing
The processing-time statistic tells a different story.
Rather than measuring how many applications are still waiting, it measures how long the claims completed during the month spent in OPM’s system before they were finalized.
Many of the retirement packages completed in July were submitted months earlier during the spike in retirements. By the time those applications were approved, they had already accumulated lengthy wait times, and those delays became part of July’s average.
Think of it like a traffic jam. Even after the road starts clearing, the drivers finally reaching their destination still experienced the full delay. The same thing is happening with retirement applications.
Digital Applications Continue to Outperform Paper
The latest report also reinforces the advantage of filing electronically whenever possible.
Application Type
Average Processing Time
Digital
98 days
Paper
156 days
Although digital submissions are still taking longer than many retirees would like, they continue to move through the system considerably faster than paper applications.
What Federal Employees Should Expect
The declining backlog is an encouraging sign that OPM is making progress. However, it shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign that every new retirement application will move quickly.
Until the agency fully works through the older claims that built up earlier this year, average processing times are likely to remain elevated.
If you’re planning to retire soon, there are still a couple of steps that can help reduce unnecessary delays:
Submit your retirement application electronically if your agency participates in OPM’s online retirement system.
Review your paperwork carefully before separating to ensure all required documents are complete and accurate.
If retirement is on your horizon, understanding today’s processing timelines can help you better prepare for the transition. A Federal Retirement Consultant (FRC®) can review your benefits, discuss your retirement timeline, and help you plan around current OPM processing realities.
