how social security numbers work
with very few exceptions all u s citizens permanent residents and temporary or working residents have a social security number even non working residents citizens and non citizens alike can obtain an ssn due to its use by businesses and government entities the legal framework for assigning a social security number is provided under section 205 c 2 of the social security act 42 u s code chapter 7 subsection 405 social security numbers and cards are issued by the social security administration ssa 34social security numbers are now random streams of digits however before 2011 the numbers had specific purposes in those years the first three digits represented the state in which the number was issued the next two digits referenced group numbers of issuing offices and the last four represented the order within each group 5due to concern that this could be falsified the social security administration instead voted to have it represent a group number thus far no social security numbers have been reused though there have been some cases in which two people were issued the same number 67scammers are everywhere so it s important that you keep your information safe and secure you can avoid scams and report them directly to authorities through the federal trade commission s website the history of ssnsas noted above the social security number was established as part of a program developed by president franklin d roosevelt to help citizens of the united states following the great depression 1roosevelt signed the social security act in 1935 to help provide americans with economic stability especially to people over the age of 65 this included financial benefits that would be based on the amount of income they received before they entered retirement 5the social security board was established to maintain the social security act and to keep on top of recordkeeping this led to the creation in 1936 of a unique nine digit number assigned to each individual 56components of the ssnthe first group of three digits is the area number it represented the issuing state states could have more than one number depending on how many people needed ssns examples of area numbers include 001 to 003 for new hampshire and 575 to 576 for hawaii 5generally people on the east coast have the lowest ssns area numbers ascended as assignment moved westward so people on the west coast tend to have the highest ssns 2beginning in 1972 the area number was assigned based on the zip code associated with the mailing address which isn t necessarily the place of residence on the application 2there have been exceptions to the original area number assignment process 2the following group of two digits is the group number group numbers range from 01 to 99 they weren t necessarily assigned consecutively they originally represented the groups of 10 000 numbers issued to a state s post offices which were to help assign ssns they came to represent the issuing office 2the last four digits in the third group are the actual serial number they ascended from 0001 to 9999 within each group the serial number 0000 isn t used 2in 2011 ssns began to be issued randomly 5the usage of ssns has changed over its lifetime as well for instance in 1943 federal government agencies were required to use them in order to identify individuals other key moments in the ssn s timeline include 5although the issuing pattern for ssns called for numbers to be assigned starting with the most eastern state the lowest number 001 01 0001 was assigned in 1936 not to a maine citizen but to a woman residing in concord new hampshire 8