Reference · Service times
How long US Social Security disability hearing decisions took from FY 2020 to FY 2026
The Social Security Administration reports that its average disability hearing decision took 270 days in fiscal year 2026. That was 14 days below fiscal 2025 and 180 days below fiscal 2023, the longest year in this seven-year comparison.
Sources checked
The time rose to 450 days in FY 2023 before declining in each of the next three fiscal years.
The hearing is a later appeal stage
A claimant who disagrees with the reconsideration determination can request a hearing before an administrative law judge. SSA’s hearing time concerns the wait for a hearing decision from a hearing office. An applicant starting a new disability claim is at an earlier stage with its own processing data. Source 3 Source 2
The fiscal 2023 peak came during a backlog effort
SSA says the 2023 annual figure rose while it prioritized people who had been waiting the longest and those who chose to wait for in-person hearings during pandemic-related office closures. Completing older cases can raise the recorded average even as the pending caseload falls. Source 3 Source 1
The FY 2025 wait fell even as pending hearings rose
SSA recorded a decline in average hearing processing time from 342 days to 284 days between FY 2024 and FY 2025. In the same annual table, pending hearings increased from 261,574 to 279,857. One measure describes completed cases, while the other describes the stock still waiting. Source 1
The latest result is a national average
SSA reported a 270-day fiscal 2026 average, the same number as its current agencywide target. An individual case can take more or less time. The SSA performance site distinguishes hearing-stage decisions from the earlier initial and reconsideration workloads. Source 2 Source 3