SSA’s Fiscal Year 2020 Disability Rates and Wait Times

Correction — October 16, 2026: The reported 2019–2020 percentages are supported by SSA’s decision charts, but they are not SSDI-only win rates. The statement that waits rose at every level was wrong: the annual hearing average fell.

This article concerns fiscal-year 2019 and 2020 data. It is not a current forecast of processing times or an estimate of your chance of receiving benefits.

What the Decision Charts Reported

Share Labeled “Allow” In SSA’s Disability Decision Charts

Stage	FY 2019	FY 2020
Initial level	37%	39%
Reconsideration	13%	14%
Administrative law judge hearing	45%	49%

The charts include Title II, Title XVI and concurrent disability decisions issued during the stated fiscal year, regardless of when the claim began. They exclude claims resolved without a disability determination. These are shares of decisions at each stage, not shares of all people who filed an application that year. An allowed disability decision also does not necessarily mean payment if another eligibility requirement is not met.

The 2020 hearing chart separately lists 49% allowed, 14% dismissed and 37% denied. Treating dismissals as if they were absent changes the denominator. SSA also notes that reconsideration was restored to the final prototype state in March 2020, so the process was not identical across the two years.

Processing Times Did Not All Rise

Annual Average Processing Times In SSA’s FY 2020 Performance Report

Measure	FY 2019	FY 2020
Initial disability claims	120 days	131 days
Disability reconsiderations	109 days	122 days
Hearings decisions	506 days	386 days

Initial and reconsideration processing averages increased, while the hearing average decreased. The report also lists 763,747 initial claims pending, 143,781 reconsiderations pending and 418,313 hearings pending for FY 2020. These workload measures have a broader scope than the disability decision charts; they should not be combined to calculate a new approval rate.

How to Use These Historical Numbers

Keep the fiscal year, program coverage, decision stage and denominator attached to any percentage. Do not add the stage percentages together or treat the hearing percentage as proof that a particular person will fare better by appealing. A national average is also not a deadline for an individual case.

The earlier “released today” wording and blanket explanation that office closures caused longer waits at every stage have been removed. The sources below support this corrected historical comparison, not a current guarantee about the speed or outcome of a claim.

Primary Sources

• SSA FY 2021 Congressional Justification: FY 2019 Decision Chart, Page 156 (PDF)^[1]
• SSA FY 2022 Congressional Justification: FY 2020 Decision Chart, Page 165 (PDF)^[2]
• SSA FY 2020 Annual Performance Report: Pages 39–41 (PDF)^[3]

Editorial content by Disability Benefit Guide USA. This independent website is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. General information only; no attorney or human editorial review is claimed.

Official Sources and References

These SSA.gov links support the explanations above. Official applications, account services, and agency forms are completed through SSA.

1. SSA FY 2021 Congressional Justification: FY 2019 Decision Chart, Page 156 (PDF) — SSA.gov
2. SSA FY 2022 Congressional Justification: FY 2020 Decision Chart, Page 165 (PDF) — SSA.gov
3. SSA FY 2020 Annual Performance Report: Pages 39–41 (PDF) — SSA.gov