What does your Social Security Numbers mean?

Social security numbers (SSNs) are not random numbers. They are assigned regionally and in batches.

The nine-digit SSN, which has been issued in more than 400 million different sequences, is divided into three parts:

• Area numbers – The first three numbers originally      represented the state in which a person first applied for      a social security card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved      westward. This meant that people on the east coast had the lowest numbers      and those on the west coast had the highest. Since 1972, the Social      Security Administration (SSA) has assigned numbers and issued cards based      on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the      original application form. Since the applicant’s mailing address doesn’t      have to be the same as his residence, his area number doesn’t necessarily      represent the state in which he resides. For many of us who received our      SSNs as infants, the area number indicates the state we were born in.
• Group numbers – These two middle digits, which range from 01 through 99, are simply used to break all      the SSNs with the same area number into smaller blocks to make      administration easier. (The SSA says that, for administrative reasons,      group numbers issued first consist of the odd numbers from 01 through 09, and then even numbers from 10 through 98, within each area number      assigned to a state. After all the numbers in group 98 of a specific area      have been issued, the even groups 02 through 08 are used, followed by odd      groups 11 through 99.)
• Serial numbers – Within each group designation, serial      numbers — the last four digits in an SSN — run consecutively from 0001 through 9999.

According to the SSA, the numbers are not recycled. Upon an individual’s death, the number is removed from the active files and is not reused. Recycling numbers might become an issue someday, but not any time soon — statisticians say that the nine-digit SSN allows for approximately one billion possible combinations!

 

When you think about your Social Security, think too about your overall income, assets and are they protected!  Do you have sufficient funds for a long-term care need?    Ask an Elder Law Attorney or join us for one of our monthly seminars. 

Call 919-256-7000 or email rick.messemer@wgalaw.com

Alexander Elder Law attorneys  Bill Alexander, Tovah M. Mitchell (both VA Accredited Attorneys)