BALTIMORE, MD —The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced the best overall performance in the agency’s history. In fiscal year (FY) 2026, SSA expanded its use of technology and process management to better meet customers where they are—online, by phone, or in field offices—resulting in double-digit improvements in every service metric.
“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, we are protecting and strengthening Social Security for generations to come,” said Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano. “SSA’s digital-first strategy is driving transformational improvements and historic results across the agency as we execute on our mission to be a premier service organization. We are delivering better, faster, higher-quality service across all channels while safeguarding the long-term stability of our programs.”
At President Trump’s direction, and under Commissioner Bisignano’s leadership, SSA is transforming into a model of excellence—an organization that operates at peak efficiency, provides world-class service to every American, and protects and strengthens Social Security for future generations. Productivity at the agency improved at historic levels over the last two years—a 10 percent productivity increase year-over-year in FY 2025 followed by an eight percent year-over-year increase in FY 2026. SSA delivered measurable improvements across core service areas in FY 2026:
- Reduced National 800 Number wait times: Achieved an average speed of answer of 5.6 minutes in fiscal year (FY) 2026, an almost 80 percent improvement from 28 minutes in FY 2024; maintained a zero percent busy rate over the last six months; and had the highest answer rate in more than a decade. Intelligent call routing and expanded interactive voice recognition (IVR) technology handled 40 percent of calls.
- Shortened wait times in field offices: Reduced average wait times by over 30 percent compared to FY 2024, while serving nearly 30 million visitors nationwide—and, for the first time, every field office caller now has access to an automated self-service option, replacing the absence of IVR in FY 2024.
- Ensured 24/7 website availability: Eliminated 29 hours of weekly website downtime, enabling Americans uninterrupted access to their personal my Social Security accounts, resulting in over ten million additional logins over the past year.
- Expanded online services: Completed over 571 million online transactions in FY 2026—a 30 percent increase from FY 2024.
- Grew online adoption: Surpassed 105 million registered my Social Security account holders, a 20 percent increase from FY 2024, making SSA the nation’s largest digital financial services provider.
- Improved disability claim processing: Shortened the overall average processing time for initial disability claims by 40 days or 17 percent compared to FY 2024. SSA reduced the initial disability claims backlog by 23 percent from nearly 1.2 million at the end of FY 2024 to 911,000 at the end of FY 2026. Similarly, the annual average wait time for a hearing decreased by 72 days since FY 2024.
- Resumed the Treasury Offset Program: Returned $645 million in delinquent programmatic debt to the Trust Funds since we resumed this use of collection authority in March 2025.
- Improved the integrity of vital records: Completed the most comprehensive Social Security number (SSN) database clean-up in agency history, correcting nearly 15 percent of all active SSNs, adding 17 million previously missing dates of death, and updating approximately 25 million records that lacked citizenship information, while implementing stronger internal controls to prevent future data-entry inaccuracies.
The improvements at SSA saved the public 200 million hours, equivalent to 100,000 work years, that would otherwise have been spent waiting for service in FY 2025. SSA also implemented a better control environment, reducing open audit recommendations to a 40-year low, generating $16 billion in savings since FY 2024, and reinforcing the agency’s commitment to stewardship and program integrity.
Looking ahead, Commissioner Bisignano will continue building on these historic achievements: expanding digital access, further improving service, and fulfilling President Trump’s mandate to protect and strengthen Social Security.
For more information about Social Security’s services, visit www.ssa.gov.
