I found an interesting statistical analysis listing the hearing offices across the country and the average number of days required to bring a case to hearing.
Peoria, Illinois is one the offices that takes the longest. It is something like 130th out of 140 offices nationwide. There does not seem to be any correlation between the size of the city and the length of the delay. For example, St. Louis is not that bad for delays. The staffing of the Peoria office is probably much less than other offices.
In any event, Central Illinois Social Security disability claimants face a long wait for there hearing.