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Grace D. Owen of Concord, New Hampshire, applied for her new SSN number on November 24, 1936 and was issued the first card typed in Concord, which, because of the area number scheme, also happened to be the card with the lowest possible number - SSN  001-01-0001.  Why was this?  See below:

he nine-digit Social Security number is divided into three parts - 

  • The Area Number:

    The first three digits (123-45-6789) constitute the SSN's "area number."  This portion of the SSN indicates the state ot territory in which the holder resided at the time that the card was issued. Each state and territory has ben assigned unique area numbers.

    These digits once indicated the state where you applied for your first card. Now it this number is derived from the ZIP code in the mailing address on your application for a card.

    This geographic cue can significantly aid pre-employment screening investigations. If a job applicant lists Alabama as the state of his birth and formative years, but his SSN has a New York area number, a prospective employer should probably ask about New York contacts. There may be a logical explanation for this apparent discrepancy, but the applicant may also be hiding something in his background.

    Note that many possible area numbers have not been activated at all.

    Area Numbers were assigned geographically starting in the northeast and moving across the country to the northwest. But if you look closely at the distribution pattern you will see an apparent anomaly. The lowest area numbers are assigned to New Hampshire, rather than to Maine, even though Maine in the most northeasterly of the states. This was apparently done so that SSN 001-01-0001 could be given to New Hampshire's favorite son, Social Security Board Chairman John G. Winant (Winant was the former three-time Governor of New Hampshire). Chairman Winant declined to have the SSN registered to him, and this honor went to the first applicant from New Hampshire, a Grace D Owen of Concord, New Hampshire who received SSN 001-01-0001..
                  
  • The Group Numbers:

    The middle two digits, (123-45-6789) are the group numbers. They have no special geographic or data significance but merely serve to break the SSN numbers for a given state  into conveniently sized blocks for orderly issuance.

    While a group number theoretically may be any two-digit number from 1 to 99, many possible groups within each state's allotment have not yet been used. Any claimed SSN within one of these unused groups can be presumed to be invalid.
              
  • The Serial Number:

    The last four digits, (123-45-6789) are the serial numbers. They may be any four digit number between 0001 to 9999, and represent a straight numerical sequence of numbers within the group.

    No valid SSN's will have a serial number of 0000. Beyond this, any other serial numbers in a valid group and area are potentially valid.

The Numbering Sequence

For the residents of each state, social security numbers are assigned according to rules which, while logical, are not natural.  That is, the rules make sense once they are understood, but they do not follow the pattern which most people would expect.

Because of the unusual numbering system, it is quite likely that many applicants who intentionally or inadvertently supply incorrect social security numbers will actually pick "impossible" group and area combinations. Many of these can be easily detected.

There are two basic rules which govern the assignment of SSN's in each state's area.

Rule 1 - The Odd-Even-Even-Odd Rule

The two-digit group in the middle of the SSN is, in some respects, the key to determining validity. While these numbers may range from 01 to 99, groups for a given state are not assigned in straight numerical order. The Social Security Administration has adopted a unique "odd-even-even-odd" pattern for opening these groups. For SSN's in each state's area range, the first groups used are those with odd numbers below 10. These groups are simply taken in ascending order (01, 03, 05, 07, 09). After all SSN's allotted in these groups have been issued, even group numbers 10 and above (10, 12, 14, 16.... 98) are activated, also in ascending order.

When group 98 is reached, the Social Security Administration then returns to even group numbers below 10, and finally odd group numbers above 10.

Rule 2 - The Group Rollover Rule

For each state's area(s) all SSN's with a given group number are issued before any with the next group number are issued. Within the group, numbers are issued in all areas, from the lowest through the highest. For example, in New Hampshire (areas 001 to 003), the Group Rollover dictates that:

001-52-555 was followed by 001-52-5556

001-52-999 was followed by 002-52-0001, not 001-54-0001

003-52-9999 was followed by 001-54-0001 (new group)

Like the "Odd-Even-Even-Odd Rule," this goes counter to what most people would guess. Just remember that the group controls the area, not the other way around.

Social Security Number Validation

CriminaUSA.com can verify the validity of an applicant's Social Security Number. Just order a search.

                     

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SSN CARD? - If you have lost your SSN card, then call the Social Security Administration ( SSA) at 1-800-772-1213, or contact your local SSA office directly, and they will arrange a replacement. We are unable to help with lost or misplaced SSN cards, but another will be promptly issued by your local SSA office.  More

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BY LAW WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE OUT A PERSONS SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ANY THIRD PARTY - WE CAN ONLY MAKE A SEARCH BASED ON THE SSN INFORMATION THAT YOU PROVIDE. Although a DOB (date of birth) may be returned by an SSN search, by law we cannot provide that data to you. There are restrictions and limitations to the data that we provide. Please see our User Agreement. We do not use, sell or distribute any of the information that we collect from you in the course of our investigations. For a complete disclosure please click on the link for our Privacy Practice. The information that you give us is held in a secure system and is not available to any other third-party. Your use of this site will not be revealed to any other third party without your express permission.

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SSNUSA - In Brief:  On August 14th, 1935 as President Roosevelt signed the original Social Security Act. "This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health." To keep track of the millions of people eligible for these benefits the Social Security Number was invented. Originally intended to serve the limited purpose of enrolling persons covered by the original Social Security Act, this mammoth government insurance program needed a mechanism to efficiently and accurately segregate the earnings, payments and benefits of millions of individuals. The social security numbering system was designed to do just that. Its unique nine-digit format allows for individual registration of nearly one billion persons. Since issuance of the first SSN in 1936, some 300 million other numbers have been given out. However, the SSN has come to play a far bigger role than its creators could have ever envisioned. From job applications to tax returns, to driver licenses, to educational records, the SSN has become that standard identifier on a wide variety of records. Designed simply as a lifelong unique identity number to track payments into the Social Security Program, the use of the SSN has expanded . In 1961 it was adopted as the federal employee identifier, and by the IRS as the official taxpayer ID in 1962. Government agencies are bound by the restrictions of the  Privacy Act of 1974. But businesses, especially banks and credit card grantors, and private entities, such as universities and hospitals are not bound by any such restrictions, and now your SSN can appear on licenses, mailing labels and academic reports. It has become the de facto identifying number that we all carry with us through life. The role that the SSN has come to occupy is understandable. There is no more widely held identifying number in the country. Most people acquire an SSN at an early age, certainly by the time they enter the workforce.  And unlike names and addresses, a person's SSN cannot be duplicated or changed. An SSN once issued is yours to keep, it never changes. Utility companies, credit card grantors, banks and a host of other private entities all require a Social Security Number before they will open new accounts.  This means that searching by SSN is by far and away the most powerful search in existence.  The three major credit bureaus, Trans-Union, Experian (formerly TRW) and Equifax record the SSN, along with an individual's identifying information in the top portion or "header" of credit reports.  Unlike the full credit report itself, this information is made freely available and the subject is never notified that this information has been accessed. This report will return all current and reported addresses for the individual and possible listed phone numbers for the last 7-10 years. Also if the subject tries to use an SSN or an alias (including maiden and married names) that is different from their own, then it is usually flagged and reported. The validity and date of issuance of the SSN is reported, and if the subject is trying to use an SSN that was issued in a death claim file, then this will show up too.

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