Deciphering SS #'s -informational purposes only

I saw this and thought it might be useful in some of the cases here.

The Social Security Number (SSN) is composed of 3 parts,*advertiser censored*-XX-XXXX, called the Area, Group, and Serial. For the most part, (there are exceptions), the Area is determined by where the individual APPLIED for the SSN (before 1972) or RESIDED at time of application (after 1972). The areas are assigned as follows:
000 unused 387-399 WI 528-529 UT

001-003 NH 400-407 KY 530 NV

004-007 ME 408-415 TN 531-539 WA

008-009 VT 416-424 AL 540-544 OR

010-034 MA 425-428 MS 545-573 CA

035-039 RI 429-432 AR 574 AK

040-049 CT 433-439 LA 575-576 HI

050-134 NY 440-448 OK 577-579 DC

135-158 NJ 449-467 TX 580 VI Virgin Islands

159-211 PA 468-477 MN 581-584 PR Puerto Rico

212-220 MD 478-485 IA 585 NM

221-222 DE 486-500 MO 586 PI Pacific Islands*

223-231 VA 501-502 ND 587-588 MS

232-236 WV 503-504 SD 589-595 FL

237-246 NC 505-508 NE 596-599 PR Puerto Rico

247-251 SC 509-515 KS 600-601 AZ

252-260 GA 516-517 MT 602-626 CA

261-267 FL 518-519 ID *Guam, American Samoa,

268-302 OH 520 WY Northern Mariana Islands,

303-317 IN 521-524 CO Philippine Islands

318-361 IL 525 NM

362-386 MI 526-527 AZ

627-699 unassigned, for future use

700-728 Railroad workers through 1963, then discontinued

729-899 unassigned, for future use

900-999 not valid SSNs, but were used for program purposes when state aid to the aged, blind and disabled was converted to a federal program administered by SSA.

The fourth and fifth digits of the SSN (the group number) are assigned sequentially, and knowing when that particular state reached that number, can give you a time frame as to when the SSN was assigned, hence a place and time of residence.

When searching the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), you can focuss your sort If you know where the person was from. For instance, if you are looking for a Joe Jones and you know that he always lived in Utah, then you can enter that state and your results will show all persons in the death index named Joe Jones who were issued a SSN from Utah. Knowing a birth date will help in narrowing the search even more, but keep in mind that mistakes can be made in data entry, or in memory of those who report the death.

Social Security Numbers are protected from release by Federal offices and by many (if not all) state offices. This is becoming more and more an issue due to problems with identity theft, and higher security concerns. Once a person dies, however, his or her SSN is no longer covered by any Privacy Act laws. In fact, it is published within a month on the SSDI.