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
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 A
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.