Field Offices Ranked from 1 to 86

[N400NYC 380]

For the most part, how quickly or slowly your citizenship application is processed is based solely on where you live and which field office you have to deal with. Why USCIS hasn't found a way to ensure that applications are processed at a similar speed NATIONALLY and regardless of where people live is beyond my comprehension - it's called DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES to match needs. It should never be the case (assuming all other case factors are equal) that a person in one city can become a citizen in <6 months while someone else (with the exact same case features) is forced to wait 1-2 years before the marathon ends. How is that fair or efficient?

The Best Field Offices for Becoming a New American

Index scores based on a weighted average of three barriers to U.S. citizenship.

OVERALL RANK	FIELD OFFICE	OVERALL INDEX	MEDIAN WAITING TIME (MONTHS)	MAX. WAITING TIME (MONTHS)	BACKLOG COMPLETION	FILED APPLICATIONS
1	Cleveland, OH	91	4.0	12.3	71.3%	4,828
2	Providence, RI	86	5.7	13.6	81.4%	3,599
3	Raleigh, NC	84	5.5	12.4	65.1%	7,677
4	San Bernardino, CA	83	5.0	13.5	68.4%	22,633
5	Columbus, OH	82	5.7	12.6	63.8%	6,019
6	Lawrence, MA	81	5.6	13.8	69.8%	9,027
7	Indianapolis, IN	80	5.5	13.7	66.3%	6,600
8	Tucson, AZ	78	6.0	14.0	68.3%	3,639
9	Buffalo, NY	77	5.3	14.9	68.7%	5,755
10	Portland, OR	77	6.0	13.3	58.2%	9,503
11	Kansas City, MO	76	5.2	14.9	65.5%	5,212
12	Louisville, KY	76	5.0	15.0	64.0%	4,335
13	Pittsburgh, PA	75	6.8	14.0	65.1%	3,201
14	Omaha, NE	73	6.8	14.2	62.6%	3,924
15	Boston, MA	73	6.0	15.5	67.1%	20,389
16	Cincinnati, OH	73	5.6	16.0	68.3%	3,393
17	Detroit, MI	72	7.0	14.3	61.0%	16,391
18	Hialeah, FL	72	5.3	15.2	55.9%	13,195
19	Fresno, CA	71	7.1	13.9	57.2%	13,317
20	Yakima, WA	71	8.0	14.5	68.1%	2,282
21	Jacksonville, FL	71	5.6	14.9	53.3%	5,626
22	Charleston, SC	69	4.9	15.3	46.7%	4,524
23	Mount Laurel, NJ	69	5.5	16.2	58.4%	9,027
24	Portland, ME	69	9.7	16.9	95.4%	1,089
25	Charlotte, NC	65	8.4	15.1	61.4%	8,628
26	Tampa, FL	65	8.1	14.7	54.3%	12,053
27	Newark, NJ	64	9.2	14.4	59.3%	39,200
28	Oklahoma City, OK	64	6.6	16.1	54.6%	4,918
29	San Juan, PR	64	8.1	16.5	68.0%	2,611
30	St. Louis, MO	64	8.5	16.4	69.0%	3,659
31	Sacramento, CA	62	8.8	14.2	49.2%	16,211
32	San Jose, CA	62	9.1	15.7	64.4%	18,831
33	Albuquerque, NM	62	7.4	16.7	59.4%	2,536
34	Spokane, WA	61	8.5	16.2	61.8%	1,155
35	Greer, SC	61	7.4	13.5	n/a	2,408
36	San Diego, CA	61	9.3	15.7	61.1%	20,630
37	Manchester, NH	60	9.3	16.9	71.2%	1,892
38	Washington, DC	60	10.1	16.6	74.2%	21,258
39	Kendall, FL	60	8.7	15.9	56.2%	12,007
40	Boise, ID	58	9.5	17.1	68.4%	2,107
41	West Palm Beach, FL	57	6.0	18.4	52.3%	10,026
42	Milwaukee, WI	56	10.1	14.5	44.5%	5,008
43	Wichita, KS	54	9.5	16.0	49.2%	1,748
44	Santa Ana, CA	54	11.3	15.1	53.9%	20,438
45	Charlotte Amalie, VI	54	10.9	18.2	76.8%	417
46	Albany, NY	54	10.1	17.6	65.6%	2,892
47	Imperial, CA	53	10.2	17.5	64.8%	1,931
48	Norfolk, VA	53	9.6	17.9	62.8%	5,612
49	Chicago, IL	53	10.8	15.5	50.4%	36,993
50	Anchorage, AK	52	9.4	17.2	53.6%	1,370
51	St. Albans, VT	52	10.9	18.2	73.2%	906
52	Hartford, CT	52	8.5	17.5	48.7%	11,128
53	Agana, GU	52	10.9	18.2	72.4%	1,083
54	San Francisco, CA	50	12.2	15.2	49.3%	34,848
55	Philadelphia, PA	48	9.3	17.7	46.8%	21,033
56	Helena, MT	48	10.9	18.2	61.6%	401
57	San Fernando Valley, CA	48	12.1	16.1	51.9%	19,444
58	San Antonio, TX	48	10.2	18.9	62.2%	18,425
59	Baltimore, MD	48	12.0	16.9	57.8%	22,850
60	Los Angeles, CA	47	11.0	17.8	57.1%	22,744
61	Orlando, FL	46	10.4	17.6	48.7%	12,417
62	Los Angeles County, CA	46	11.0	17.2	47.5%	26,794
63	Honolulu, HI	45	11.1	18.2	56.7%	4,344
64	Long Island, NY	45	7.2	20.0	42.7%	23,106
65	Reno, NV	45	10.9	18.2	53.9%	1,677
66	Des Moines, IA	44	11.5	16.8	43.1%	3,872
67	Fort Smith, AR	44	10.9	18.2	50.4%	1,540
68	Queens, NY	43	11.5	17.4	47.0%	24,122
69	El Paso, TX	42	10.5	19.2	51.1%	8,311
70	Christiansted, VI	40	10.9	18.2	41.4%	218
71	Denver, CO	37	13.3	17.4	45.0%	11,158
72	Salt Lake City, UT	36	12.2	18.1	40.3%	5,892
73	New Orleans, LA	36	13.2	17.8	42.8%	4,252
74	Phoenix, AZ	35	14.4	17.4	45.6%	14,965
75	Seattle, WA	34	15.2	16.9	46.6%	19,461
76	New York, NY	34	11.2	21.3	55.3%	62,504
77	Las Vegas, NV	31	14.0	19.2	48.9%	9,295
78	Oakland Park, FL	28	14.6	18.6	40.0%	13,606
79	Memphis, TN	24	13.7	20.0	36.2%	8,108
80	Harlingen, TX	23	14.5	20.5	42.8%	6,543
81	Atlanta, GA	21	12.6	22.8	45.4%	25,437
82	Fort Myers, FL	16	15.2	20.5	n/a	4,850
83	Dallas, TX	15	17.0	19.4	30.7%	32,281
84	Houston, TX	14	17.3	20.0	35.0%	33,937
85	Miami, FL	11	16.2	21.2	30.1%	16,609
86	St. Paul, MN	10	15.1	23.5	40.9%	15,422

 

 

[Kürbis&Tannenbaum 21]

Interesting chart. Unfortunately our future office is towards the end of this list... 😩

[N400NYC 380]

6 minutes ago, Kürbis&Tannenbaum said:

Interesting chart. Unfortunately our future office is towards the end of this list... 😩

Sorry to hear that! Can you move somewhere else near the top?!!!!!

[Kürbis&Tannenbaum 21]

38 minutes ago, N400NYC said:

Sorry to hear that! Can you move somewhere else near the top?!!!!!

Haven't thought about that. For naturalization/AOS are you allowed to move during the application process, or do you have to move before applying for either?

[N400NYC 380]

2 minutes ago, Kürbis&Tannenbaum said:

Haven't thought about that. For naturalization/AOS are you allowed to move during the application process, or do you have to move before applying for either?

You have to have lived in the area of the field office for at least 3 months. I think if you move to a different field office region after your application is submitted they may end up transferring your case which could be time consuming, I don't know. 

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from US Citizenship Case Filing and Progress Reports to USC General Discussion**

[YecaCruz 379]

man, Ohio is the place to be for fast citizenship cases I guess! dang!

 

Of course our field office is the last one.... In my hometown a line consisted of 2 people at the most in the grocery store or post office; so waiting in this figurativel line for the next 12 months or so drives me nuts, haha!

[N400NYC 380]

1 hour ago, YecaCruz said:

man, Ohio is the place to be for fast citizenship cases I guess! dang!

 

Of course our field office is the last one.... In my hometown a line consisted of 2 people at the most in the grocery store or post office; so waiting in this figurativel line for the next 12 months or so drives me nuts, haha!

Why is that office so appallingly slow? What is going on there? It's 100% unjust and unfair that people have to wait so long in that area. Meanwhile in OH they are done in <6 months. 

[millefleur 5,046]

24 minutes ago, N400NYC said:

Why is that office so appallingly slow? What is going on there? It's 100% unjust and unfair that people have to wait so long in that area. Meanwhile in OH they are done in <6 months. 

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Why would St. Paul, MN be the slowest? I would've guessed LA or NYC merely due to the sheer number of people there.

Edited May 21, 2019 by millefleur

[YecaCruz 379]

27 minutes ago, N400NYC said:

Why is that office so appallingly slow? What is going on there? It's 100% unjust and unfair that people have to wait so long in that area. Meanwhile in OH they are done in <6 months. 

The truck that carries uscis stuff probably gets lost in the snow! Either that or aliens!

5 minutes ago, millefleur said:

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Why would St. Paul, MN be the slowest? I would've guessed LA or NYC merely due to the sheer number of people there.

I would have thought that too. St paul services MN, ND, and WI and the populations of those 3 states STILL aren't equal to populations like NY or Cali...let alone the number of applicants that they service can't possibly equal to some of those metropolises. But what do we know, right? The small comfort we can take is that EVENTUALLY they will get around to our case, however long or short that takes. 

[N400NYC 380]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Why would St. Paul, MN be the slowest? I would've guessed LA or NYC merely due to the sheer number of people there.

It comes down to allocation of resources. The quantity of cases doesn't become a problem if there are adequate staff. NYC has the most cases but also clearly isn't sufficiently staffed. 

[millefleur 5,046]

6 minutes ago, love_my_wife said:

Minneapolis area has a high number of immigrants/refugees from Somalia who could be applying and this could be the reason...

Sounds like Rep. Ilhan Omar needs to be pushing for getting some more USCIS workers in her home state. Why Somalis would want to live in one of the most bitterly cold, snowy states has always been beyond me!

Edited May 21, 2019 by millefleur

[YecaCruz 379]

11 minutes ago, millefleur said:

 Why Somalis would want to live in one of the most bitterly cold, snowy states has always been beyond me!

2 words: no mosquitoes! lol

 

the cold chases all the bugs away!

[millefleur 5,046]

Just now, YecaCruz said:

2 words: no mosquitoes! lol

 

the cold chases all the bugs away!

Really? I lived in Russia for 5 years and there were tons of mosquitos in the summer!

[YecaCruz 379]

25 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Really? I lived in Russia for 5 years and there were tons of mosquitos in the summer!

sure in the summer when its warm they come but not in the spring or winter!