What is a Social Security Number?
A Social Security Number (or SSN) is a 9 digit number issued to citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents of the United States of America.
The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an agency of the federal government. Its primary purpose is to track individuals for taxation purposes. In recent years the SSN has become a de facto national identification number.
The first SSNs were issued by the Social Security Administration in November 1936 as part of the New Deal Social Security program. By the end of 1937, over 37 million numbers had been issued.
Before 1986, people often did not have a Social Security number until the age of about 14, since they were used for income tracking purposes, and those under that age seldom had substantial income.
In 1986, American taxation law was altered so that individuals over 5 years old without Social Security numbers could not be successfully claimed as dependents on tax returns.
Since then, parents have often applied for Social Security numbers for their children soon after birth.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no law requiring a natural born US Citizen to apply for a Social Security number to live or work in the United States. Although some people do not have an SSN assigned to them, it is becoming ever increasingly difficult to engage in legitimate financial activities without one.
How To Decode a Social Security Number
Today we look at the structure of Social Security Numbers.
The Social Security number is a nine-digit number in the format “111-22-3333.” The number is divided into three parts.
- The first set of three digits (111) is called the “Area Number”
- The second set of two digits (22) is called the “Group Number”
- The final set of four digits (3333) is the “Serial Number”
AREA NUMBER
The Area Number is assigned by the geographical region. Prior to 1972, cards were issued in local Social Security offices around the country and the Area Number represented the State in which the card was issued.
This did not necessarily have to be the State where the applicant lived, since a person could apply for their card in any Social Security office.
Since 1972, when SSA began assigning SSNs and issuing cards centrally from Baltimore, the area number assigned has been based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the application for the original Social Security card.
The applicant’s mailing address does not have to be the same as their place of residence. Thus, the Area Number does not necessarily represent the State of residence of the applicant, either prior to 1972 or since.
Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving westward. So people on the east coast have the lowest numbers and those on the west coast have the highest numbers.
Note: One should not make too much of the “geographical code.” It is not meant to be any kind of useable geographical information. The numbering scheme was designed in 1936 (before computers) to make it easier for SSA to store the applications in our files in Baltimore since the files were organized by regions as well as alphabetically.
GROUP NUMBER
Within each area, the group number (middle two (2) digits) range from 01 to 99 but are not assigned in consecutive order.
For administrative reasons, group numbers are issued in the following order:
- ODD numbers from 01 through 09
- EVEN numbers from 10 through 98
- EVEN numbers from 02 through 08
- ODD numbers from 11 through 99
As an example, group number 94 will be issued before 15.
SERIAL NUMBER
Within each group, the serial numbers (last four (4) digits) run consecutively from 0001 through 9999.
