Using the Social Security Death Records

The Social Security Administration's Death Index (SSDI) can be a boon to beginning genealogists. The Social Security number is the most valuable piece of information when seeking a number of other documents. It is essential for ordering paper copies of original death records, obituaries, and more. The SSDI is the first step in obtaining this information. If you can only trace your U.S. ancestry back to your grandparents or possibly great-grandparents, the Social Security Administration can help you find where they were born, the names of their parents, and more. The SSDI can be especially helpful for those researching immigrants as the data often shows where the individual was born in "the old country."

The Social Security Administration was created by an act of law in 1935 as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program. The act laid out a retirement system for many Americans, although not all. The act also created a new governmental agency to manage the program. The Social Security Administration has since become one of the largest agencies in the Federal Government.

The Social Security Administration's Death Index (SSDI) originally was a database of deceased persons who received Social Security Benefits. The Social Security Administration started computerizing records in 1962. This made it possible to produce an index of people who had Social Security numbers and are deceased. Most death records prior to 1962 were never computerized and therefore do not appear in the SSDI although a few exceptions do exist. Some online Web sites advertise that the data they possess will contain information about deaths "as early as 1937," but that claim is a bit misleading; 99.9% of the information is for 1962 and later.

Initially, the Social Security Administration only recorded the deaths of individuals who were receiving retirement benefits from the Administration. Those who died before reaching retirement age were not listed. Neither were those who had different retirement systems, such as railroad workers, school teachers, and other municipal, state, and federal employees. In the 1970s the railroad and many other retirement systems were merged into the Social Security system. Deaths of those retirees then started appearing in the SSDI.

In the late 1980s and after, all deaths in the U.S. were reported to the Social Security Administration and recorded in the SSDI. You can find deaths of children and non-retired adults listed for the 1990s and later, but not for earlier years.

Because legal aliens in the U.S. can obtain a Social Security card, their names may appear in the SSDI if their deaths were reported, even if the death occurred overseas.

The online SSDI databases contain the following information fields:

Social Security number
Surname
Given Name
Date of Death
Date of Birth
Last Known Residence
Location of Last Benefit
Date and Place of Issuance

You can access the Social Security Death Index at no charge on a number of Web sites, including the following:

New England Historic Genealogical Society http://www.newenglandancestors.org/database_search/SSDI.aspx

Ancestry.com: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/main.htm

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) offer the Social Security Death Index on their popular Family Search site at http://www.FamilySearch.org

Keep in mind, however, that the online SSDI database is only an index -- an abbreviated listing. The Social Security Administration holds additional information that can be a genealogical jackpot. The index listing of an ancestor is merely your ticket to this jackpot.

From 1936 on, anyone who has applied for a Social Security Card filled out an application form (SS-5) that the U.S. Government keeps on file. This application form (SS-5) contains the following information:

Full name
*Full name at birth (including maiden name)
*Present mailing address
Age at last birthday
Date of birth
*Place of birth (city, county, state)
*Father's full name "regardless of whether living or dead"
*Mother's full name, including maiden name, "regardless of whether living or dead"
*Sex and race
*Ever applied for SS number/Railroad Retirement before? Yes/No
*Current employer's name and address
*Date signed
*Applicant's signature

The items marked with an asterisk are not available in the online SSDI database but are available in the original SS-5 applications.

The SS-5 form is obviously much more valuable to the genealogist than the limited information shown in the online death index. The Social Security Administration can supply photocopies of the original Social Security application form (the SS-5) available to anyone who requests information on a deceased individual. You can obtain a photocopy of the SS-5 form by writing to the Social Security Administration.

The SSA charges $27 for each individual SS-5 copy if you can provide the Social Security number of the deceased person, $29 if you cannot provide the number. (A computer extract is available for $16 but those extracts do not include the names of the individual's parents nor the place of birth.) The SSA is not in the business of doing genealogical research and cannot, by law, expend Social Security Trust Fund money for purposes not related to the operation of the Social Security program. The $27 fee is intended to offset the cost to the government whenever SSA provides information from its files for non-program purposes.

To obtain the photocopy of the original SS-5, you must fill out Form SSA-711, the "Request for Deceased Individual's Social Security Record," available at http://www.ssa.gov/foia/new_forms/Form%20SSA-711%2012%2020%202004.pdf. 

Send your request and check to:

Social Security Administration
OEO FOIA Workgroup
300 N. Green Street
P.O. Box 33022
Baltimore, Maryland 21290-3022

If you want to obtain the SS-5 forms for more than one person, it is suggested that you mail multiple forms individually (in different envelopes) and include separate checks. Be patient. You may have to wait several months for the response to your request(s).

Social Security Numbers

It is interesting to note that you can tell where a Social Security Number was issued simply by looking at the first few digits of the number. This does not tell where the person was born, only where he or she was living when the number was issued. Nonetheless, it can be a valuable clue as to where to look for additional information.

The Social Security Account Number (SSAN) is divided into three sets of digits. For example, let’s take 123-45-6789. The 3 digits in the first group indicate the state or territory in which the number was originally issued. The second group of 2 numbers is used to define the people within the state. The third group of 4 digits is simply issued in numerical sequence.

The following list shows the area indicated by first 3 digits:

001-003 New Hampshire
004-007 Maine
008-009 Vermont
010-034 Massachusetts
035-039 Rhode Island
040-049 Connecticut
050-134 New York
135-158 New Jersey
159-211 Pennsylvania
212-220 Maryland
221-222 Delaware
223-231 Virginia
232-236 West Virginia
237-246 North Carolina
247-251 South Carolina
252-260 Georgia
261-267 Florida
268-302 Ohio
303-317 Indiana
318-361 Illinois
362-386 Michigan
387-399 Wisconsin
400-407 Kentucky
408-415 Tennessee
416-424 Alabama
425-428 Mississippi
429-432 Arkansas
433-439 Louisiana
440-448 Oklahoma
449-467 Texas
468-477 Minnesota
478-485 Iowa
486-500 Missouri
501-502 North Dakota
503-504 South Dakota
505-508 Nebraska
509-515 Kansas
516-517 Montana
518-519 Idaho
520 Wyoming
521-524 Colorado
525 New Mexico (also 585 below)
526-527 Arizona
528-529 Utah
530 Nevada
531-539 Washington
540-544 Oregon
545-573 California
574 Alaska
575-576 Hawaii
577-579 District of Columbia
580 U.S. Virgin Islands
581-585 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa
585 New Mexico (some 585 numbers)
586-699 Unassigned
700-729 Railroad Retirement Board
730-899 Unassigned

A few Social Security Numbers beginning with a 9 have been issued, but these are very rare.

Comments

[kinlink]

The SS-5 displays place of birth in this country. How much detail is provided for the foreign born?

[Kenny Hedgpeth]

I think there needs to be a slight correction here ...

"In the late 1980s and after, all deaths in the U.S. were reported to the Social Security Administration and recorded in the SSDI. You can find deaths of children and non-retired adults listed for the 1990s and later, but not for earlier years."

From what I was told, If the SS death benefit was not applied for and/or not paid out ... the individual is "not" listed in the SSDI :(

I have an example of this being the case from 1998, that I personally know of, where an individual who was just shy of being 60 years old, and has not shown up on the SSDI "/

[Marilyn Sewell]

Anyone who worked for the federal government is not listed on the SSDI unless he or she worked under social security and drew SS also. My father worked for the Dept of Ag and drew a federal penson. Federal workers are not listed if they had a GS ranking when they retired.

[Nancy]

Dick,

I think Social Security Numbers beginning with a 9 belong to Rail Road workers. I may have read that somewhere during my research.

Nancy

[Ed Maul]

I have researched family for over 30 years. Now I have been searching for Navy shipmates from the Korean War (1951-55) who served on the battleship USS Wisconsin BB-64. There are about 20 shipmates I just cannot find. I do have the State they were living in in those years. Did the SSDI, Ancestry,com, FamilySearch, Roots web, and the Navy Locator Service. These 20 shipmates just vanished!!! I did find 21 shipamtes. The Wisconsin BB-64 Assn. is having a reunion in August 2008 at Norfolk. The Wisconsin is tied up at the Nauticus Museum. There are deck visits with Docents available. I an working everyday to find the shipmates so that we could have one last beer together before we pass on.
Any ideas about where I could search more???
Ed, Pleasantville, NY

[Dick Eastman]

---> Anyone who worked for the federal government is not listed on the SSDI unless he or she worked under social security and drew SS also.

That was true for many years but is not true today. For the past ten or fifteen years, deaths of Federal employees have been listed in the SSDI.

- Dick Eastman

[leslie]

to ed in pleasantville:
try using stevemorse.org under the vital records section. he several searches of databases that may help you find the ones you are seeking.

[Dick Eastman]

---> The SS-5 displays place of birth in this country. How much detail is provided for the foreign born?

As much detail as that person provided when he or she filled out the form. After all, it is (usually) in the applicant's own handwriting (assuming he or she could read and write English, which was not always the case). One applicant might simply write "Poland" whereas another applicant might write the name of the village, the province and the country.

[Eileen Wasson]

In trying to locate my husband's father, we sent for his SS# application also checked the SSDI for location and date of death. According to the records he died in 1969 in El Paso, TX. We sent for a death certificate, both the county and state had no record of his death. Checked with the library for obituaries and also phone books for 5 years before his death, no information.
Any suggestions on how to get additional information from the SSA ie how did they receive the information on his death.

[Eileen Wasson]

In trying to locate my husband's father, we sent for his SS# application also checked the SSDI for location and date of death. According to the records he died in 1969 in El Paso, TX. We sent for a death certificate, both the county and state had no record of his death. Checked with the library for obituaries and also phone books for 5 years before his death, no information.
Any suggestions on how to get additional information from the SSA ie how did they receive the information on his death.

[Eileen Wasson]

In trying to locate my husband's father, we sent for his SS# application also checked the SSDI for location and date of death. According to the records he died in 1969 in El Paso, TX. We sent for a death certificate, both the county and state had no record of his death. Checked with the library for obituaries and also phone books for 5 years before his death, no information.
Any suggestions on how to get additional information from the SSA ie how did they receive the information on his death.

[Jim Allen]

To Eileen, who is trying to get info re her father-in-law's death in 1969: Since SSA is not in the genealogy business (as Dick pointed out) it seems unlikely you will get more info from them - even if it was readily available, which is unlikely, since this happened over 30 years ago. The SSDI info probably only shows his last known mailing address. He could have resided for months or years in another city or state in a nursing home or with a friend or relative - - and then died in that area, not in El Paso. Maybe checking earlier El Paso city directories or phone books MIGHT provide clues - maybe former friends or neighbors who are still living??

[Jim Allen]

I forgot to mention: Am not sure who was issued the social security numbers beginning with a 9, (sorry, Nancy) - but Dick was mostly correct in stating numbers starting 700 - 719 were "Railroad Retirement Board". Actually, they were SS numbers that were issued to railroad workers in the early days. 'Railroaders', when they filed for retirement, or died (whichever came first) were then issued a six-digit claim number by the Railroad Retirement Board, a separate Federal agency. By the 1950's all these claim numbers were starting with a 9 (which is maybe what Nancy ran across). In around 1963 they were, or course, starting to 'run out' of these 6-digit numbers, & thereafter used the railroad worker's SS number as the claim number.

[Marilyn H]

To Ed in Pleasantville:
I have been helping my uncle, a Marine in Korea in 1951, find the members of his unit for yearly reunions. We have had great luck using www.veromi.net ( http://www.veromi.net/processor.asp) and then using www.zabasearch.com ( http://www.zabasearch.com/ )to look for addresses and phone numbers. Zaba doesn't update very often, so information is not current, but older people tend to have a land line and stay in one place for longer periods of time. If the phone is not listed in the man's name, use veromi to figure out his wife's name and look for her. Veromi lists ages of people, which helps greatly. Good luck with your reunion! My uncle just got back from his and I'll hear all about it Tuesday.

[John Harrison]

An example of an early SSDI listing is my father, Calvin Harrison, who died in Feb 1944 at age 35. I suspect that the listing has to do with my mother collecting survivors benefits for me until I was age 18. Calvin did not collect any form of Social Security benefit during his lifetime.

[Judy C.]

Certainly not every person who had a Social Security number is listed in the index. An example - my former husband, who died in 2000. I have a copy of his death certificate with his Social Security number on it, yet he is not listed in the SSDI. Is this because his death was not reported to the Social Security Department? Can i submit his death certificate to have him listed?

[Mike Stuart]

I was just checking the first three digits of my SSN and my family members against your formula / chart of the first three SSN digits and the state. This chart holds true in my case, but everyone else in my family falls in the 'unassigned' catagory, including my wife who is now in her mid-30s.

Coincidentally, I'm currently working on a project where we are cleaning up bad data, including SSNs. This is what a co-worker of mine found out from the Social Security Administration regarding valid SSNs (I'm not sure of the exact source, but I'll find out if anyone is interested...):

"To determine if an SSN is invalid consider the following: No SSNs with an area number in the 800 or 900 series, or "000" area number, have been assigned. No SSNs with an area number above 772 have been assigned in the 700 series. No SSN's with a "00" group number or "0000" serial number have been assigned. No SSNs with an area number of "666" have been or will be assigned."

All this got me to thinking, so I checked the following URL from the SSA:

http://www.ssa.gov/employer/stateweb.htm

To make a long story short, it looks like your chart is only partially complete?

Hope this helps,

Mike

[Mike Stuart]

As promised...
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=425

Mike

[Eileen]

Thank you Dick and others for all the great information regarding SSDI. Makes me think I should pay $27 and perhaps get through a brick wall I have encountered with some of my genealogy.

[Don Meierdiercks]

Several years ago when copies of SS-5s were affordable I obtained aver 70 copies for a surname study. I found that there were many revisions of the form but they all asked for essentially the same information that Dick and Ancestry.com list. However I have three copies that ask for married men to "give wife's full name before marriage." They are all dated September, 1939. The revision date is too small for me to read but I think it is April, 1939.

Even at $27 the SS-5s can be very valuable. They are one of the few first-person documents you will find. They are invariably printed or typed clearly with full names and spellings, parents names, dates and places of birth, etc. -- And a signature !!

[Bob P]

SS 5 form and photocopies can also be ordered on line in addition to getting them thru the mail.

[Louise]

I thought it was the middle 2-digit set of numbers that identified the state in which the SSN was issued. That's how I found out my father had lived in Missouri, a place I never would have looked for him. Dad is also an example of a person who died while receiving benefits and is still not listed in the SSDI. Fortunately, I found other ways of getting the information I needed.

[Lisa]

I have a question concerning SS-5.
I was tempted to send for my great grandfather's SS-5, but I don't have his social security number. It wasn't listed on his death certificate. He passed away in Jan 1945 in Pennsylvania. He was born Feb 1860 in West Prussia and came to the States in 1887. I noticed that the social security indicates that it has limitations and will not process a request for an SS-5 for individuals born before 1865 and no social security number. Any suggestions?
thanks!