RE: SSN Validity Checking -- MIDRANGE-L

We have found numerous duplicate SSNs assigned to different people.
Apparently in the 30's, a large portion of the tracking documents got
destroyed in a fire and some offices reissued SSN's that had already
been assigned.  So they are not necessarily unique.
jk

-----Original Message-----
From: Leif Svalgaard [mailto:leif@leif.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 6:56 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: SSN Validity Checking


http://www.ssa.gov/history/geocard.html

Number Has Three Parts

The nine-digit SSN is composed of three parts:

The first set of three digits is called the Area Number
The second set of two digits is called the Group Number
The final set of four digits 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. It was really just a
bookkeeping device for our own internal use and was never intended to be
anything more than that.



 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 issued first consist of the ODD numbers from 01
through 09 and then EVEN numbers from 10 through 98, within each area
number allocated to a State. After all numbers in group 98 of a
particular area have been issued, the EVEN Groups 02 through 08 are
used, followed by ODD Groups 11 through 99.


Group numbers are assigned as follows:
ODD - 01, 03, 05, 07, 09------EVEN - 10 to 98
EVEN - 02, 04, 06, 08------ODD - 11 to 99


See the latest Social Security Number Monthly Issuance Table for the
latest SSN area ranges issued to date. Alleged Social Security numbers
containing area numbers other than those found on that table are
impossible.


Serial Number

Within each group, the serial numbers (last four (4) digits) run
consecutively from 0001 through 9999.


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