Legal Restrictions on the use of your Social Security Number

by Barbara Bennett

The Social Security Number

SSA has continually emphasized the fact that the SSN identifies a particular record only and the Social Security Card indicates the person whose record is identified by that number. In no way can the Social Security Card identify the bearer. From 1946 to 1972 the legend "Not for Identification" was printed on the face of the card. However, many people ignored the message and the legend was eventually dropped. The social security number is the most widely used and carefully controlled number in the country, which makes it an attractive identifier.

With the exception of the restrictions imposed on Federal and some State and local organizations by the Privacy Act of 1974, organizations requiring a unique identifier for purposes of controlling their records are not prohibited from using (with the consent of the holder) the SSN. SSA records are confidential and knowledge of a person's SSN does not give the user access to information in SSA files which is confidential by law.

Many commercial enterprises have used the SSN in various promotional efforts. These uses are not authorized by SSA, but SSA has no authority to prohibit such activities as most are not illegal. Some of these unauthorized uses are: SSN contests; skip-tracers; sale or distribution of plastic or metal cards; pocketbook numbers (the numbers used on sample social security cards in wallets); misleading advertising, commercial enterprises charging fees for SSN services; identification of personal property.

The Social Security Number (SSN) is composed of 3 parts, XXX-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
• 001-003 NH
• 004-007 ME
• 008-009 VT
• 010-034 MA
• 035-039 RI
• 040-049 CT
• 050-134 NY
• 135-158 NJ
• 159-211 PA
• 212-220 MD
• 221-222 DE
• 223-231 VA
• 232-236 WV
• 237-246 NC
• 247-251 SC
• 252-260 GA
• 261-267 FL
• 268-302 OH
• 303-317 IN
• 318-361 IL
• 362-386 MI
• 387-399 WI
• 400-407 KY
• 408-415 TN
• 416-424 AL
• 425-428 MS
• 429-432 AR
• 433-439 LA
• 440-448 OK
• 449-467 TX
• 468-477 MN
• 478-485 IA
• 486-500 MO
• 501-502 ND
• 503-504 SD
• 505-508 NE
• 509-515 KS
• 516-517 MT
• 518-519 ID
• 520 WY
• 521-524 CO
• 525 NM
• 526-527 AZ
• 528-529 UT
• 530 NV
• 531-539 WA
• 540-544 OR
• 545-573 CA
• 574 AK
• 575-576 HI
• 577-579 DC
• 580 VI Virgin Islands
• 581-584 PR Puerto Rico
• 585 NM
• 586 PI Pacific Islands - Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Philippine Islands
• 587-588 MS
• 589-595 FL
• 596-599 PR Puerto Rico
• 600-601 AZ
• 602-626 CA
• 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.

As the Areas assigned to a locality are exhausted, new areas from the pool are assigned. This is why some states have non- contiguous groups of Areas.

The Group portion of the SSN has no meaning other than to determine whether or not a number has been assigned. SSA publishes a list every month of the highest group assigned for each SSN Area. The order of assignment for the Groups is: odd numbers under 10, even numbers over 9, even numbers under 9 except for 00 which is never used, and odd numbers over 10. For example, if the highest group assigned for area 999 is 72, then we know that the number 999-04-1234 is an invalid number because even Groups under 9 have not yet been assigned.

The Serial portion of the SSN has no meaning. The Serial is not assigned in strictly numerical order. The Serial 0000 is never assigned.

Before 1973, Social Security Cards with pre-printed numbers were issued to each local SSA office. The numbers were assigned by the local office. In 1973, SSN assignment was automated and outstanding stocks of pre-printed cards were destroyed. All SSNs are now assigned by computer from headquarters. There are rare cases in which the computer system can be forced to accept a manual assignment such as a person refusing a number with 666 in it.

A pamphlet entitled "The Social Security Number" (Pub. No. 05-10633) provides an explanation of the SSN's structure and the method of assigning and validating Social Security numbers.