.avif)
If you've filed an SSDI or SSI appeal, the SSA generally won't give you a hearing date up front, and the 1-800 line can't tell you much more than "pending". The driving factor behind your wait is often which hearing office is assigned to your case, although some cases qualify for expedited processing. Two Texans with the same condition, filing in the same week, can end up waiting over 10 months for a hearing, in part because of where their cases are handled.
In this article, we pulled the Social Security Administration's own FY2026 hearing office files, current through June 26, 2026. We’ve ranked every office that serves Texas and our neighboring service states: Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Find your city below.
How Long Is the Current Wait?
Nationally, the average wait for a Social Security disability hearing was about 274 days (roughly nine months) as of early 2026, according to SSA's own reporting. That's a real improvement from the roughly 450-day (about 15-month) average the agency was posting back in 2023, although these figures refer to different SSA measures and shouldn’t be directly compared without that clarification.
Within our region, the spread is wider than that single national number suggests. The fastest office we tracked, Jackson, Mississippi, is averaging about 215 days to process a case, while the slowest, Shreveport, Louisiana, is averaging 321 days: a difference of about three and a half months. These are average processing times, not necessarily the time a claimant waits for the hearing itself.
Every Hearing Office Serving Texas and the Surrounding Region, Ranked
This table combines two of SSA's own public data sets: the Average Wait Time Until Hearing Held Report (how many months from your hearing request until an Administrative Law Judge actually holds your hearing) and the Hearing Office Average Processing Time Ranking Report (how many days from your request until SSA issues a final decision, including the time it takes to write and mail the decision after your hearing). We ranked offices fastest-to-slowest by total processing time, since that number best reflects when you'll actually see a decision.
*Fort Worth's hearing office also handles claimants from Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland, and Odessa, so residents of those cities fall under this same wait time.
**Dallas North also covers Texarkana and Pine Bluff, Arkansas claimants in addition to the northern Dallas suburbs.
***Albuquerque's office also serves Santa Fe.
What These Two Numbers Actually Mean
These are two different SSA reports for a reason, and the difference matters if you're trying to plan around a wait.
- Average wait time until hearing held measures only the time from your hearing request to the day a judge actually holds your hearing. It reflects the time claimants waited for hearings that were held during the reporting period.
- Average processing time measures the time from the hearing request to the final disposition of the case, such as a decision or dismissal. That includes the wait for the hearing itself, plus however long it takes the judge to write the decision and get it processed afterward. That's why the processing-time number in days is almost always a bit longer, proportionally, than the wait-time number in months would suggest on its own.
We used processing time as the primary ranking because it gives a better picture of the total time to finish the hearing process.
The Fastest and Slowest Offices in Our Region
Jackson, Mississippi, and Little Rock, Arkansas, are genuinely fast by national standards, ranking #2 and #3 out of roughly 160 hearing offices nationwide. If your case is assigned to either office, you're looking at a considerably shorter road than most of the country.
Shreveport sits at the other end, ranked #152 nationally at 321 days. That's about three and a half months longer than Jackson for the same federal program, the same forms, and the same legal standard. New Orleans, Fort Smith, and Memphis aren't far ahead of Shreveport either, all averaging more than 270 days.
The Dallas-Fort Worth offices land solidly in the middle of the pack. Downtown Dallas and Fort Worth both post faster times than San Antonio, and notably faster than Albuquerque, which also carries the longest average wait-to-hearing (9 months) of any office we tracked here.
#cta_start
Waiting Without Answers? Get a Straight Timeline for Your Case.
You shouldn't have to guess where your case stands or when a decision is coming. Speak directly with Attorney Burke Barclay about your specific hearing office and what to expect next. No fee unless we win.
Request Your Free Consultation
#cta_end
Why Does One Office Take Twice as Long as Another?
A few factors drive most of the gap between offices:
- Judge staffing. An office with more Administrative Law Judges relative to its caseload may be able to move through hearings faster.
- Backlog inherited from prior years. Offices that fell furthest behind during the pandemic-era slowdowns may still be working through those cases.
- Case volume and population served. A hearing office covering a large, fast-growing metro area or several rural field offices at once may receive more requests and have a larger workload.
- Hearing format mix. The mix of in-person, video, and telephone hearings can affect scheduling, although SSA doesn’t establish a simple rule that one format is always faster.
These factors aren’t something you can control. Your case is generally assigned based on where you live, although SSA can transfer cases between hearing offices to balance workloads.
What You Can Do While Your Hearing Is Pending
While you can't move your case to a faster office, a few things genuinely help while you wait:
- Keep treating consistently. Gaps in medical care are one of the most common reasons a case loses ground while sitting in the queue.
- Respond to SSA requests immediately. A missed consultative exam or an unanswered request for an updated Function Report can delay your case.
- Ask about an On-The-Record (OTR) decision. In some cases, if your medical file is strong enough, SSA may issue a fully favorable decision without holding a hearing.
- Flag a Compassionate Allowances (CAL) diagnosis right away. Certain serious conditions that meet SSA’s Compassionate Allowances criteria can receive expedited processing.
- Update your address with SSA if you move. Since your hearing office is assigned by where you live, relocating can shift your case to a different office's docket entirely.
Already Filed and Stuck in the Queue? Here's How We Help.
A long wait doesn't mean a weak case, and it doesn't mean you're stuck doing this alone. Burke Barclay Law represents claimants across Dallas, Fort Worth, and every hearing office listed above, virtually and in person, and we know how the local ALJs and staff at each office tend to work.
While your case sits in the queue, we're actively building it: gathering the medical evidence tied to your condition, keeping your Work History and Function Reports accurate and current, and watching for any chance to move your file faster, including CAL flagging where it applies.
You'll never be routed to a call center. You'll speak directly with Attorney Barclay about where your case actually stands. Contact us today for a free consultation.
He practices in Social Security hearing offices throughout the United States for claimants who have been denied their SSI or SSDI benefits. He personally represents every client from the beginning stages of their disability claim to their hearing or possible appeal.
Not Sure Where Your Case Stands? We'll Find Out for You.
Stop guessing based on a hold-music estimate. We'll help you understand exactly what's happening with your claim and what to expect from your specific hearing office.
- Request Your Free Consultation
- or Call Us Directly
(888) 780-9125
.webp)
