Social Security Death Index: Chronology

Following is a brief outline of some of the more important dates associated with the Social Security Death Master File beginning with the origins of the Social Security Administration in the 1930's:

14 August 1935 - Passage of the Social Security Act. Nine-digit numbers are assigned to individuals whose earnings must be recorded to correctly administer eventual benefits.

1 December 1936 - First Social Security card issued.

1 January 1937 - U.S. workers begin acquiring "credits" towards old age benefits, following a million social security numbers.

1951 - Domestic workers, farm & agricultural laborers, Americans working abroad for U.S. companies, temporary employees of the federal government, and the self-employed are covered under Social Security. (Permanent employees of the federal government are covered under the Civil Service Retirement System.)

1955 - Self-employed farmers are covered under Social Security.

1957 - Those serving in the Armed Forces are covered under Social Security.

1961 - Internal Revenue Service begins using Social Security numbers as taxpayer ID numbers.

1962 - SSA begins keeping records in electronic form.

1 July 1963 - Individuals registered with the Railroad Retirement Board are no longer issued special Social Security numbers; instead, they are issued normal numbers according to the states where they lived.

1965 - Medicare program enacted.

4 July 1967 - Freedom of Information Act provides public access to federal government files, including the Social Security Death Master File.

1973 - Social Security numbers are issued by SSA's central office. The first three digits of a person's Social Security number are determined by the zip code of the mailing address shown on the application for a social security number. Prior to 1973, Social Security numbers were assigned by SSA field offices. (Numbers merely established that a card was issued by an office in that state.)

1 January 1984 - All federal employees hired after this date earn retirement benefits under Social Security. Employees of nonprofit organizations receive mandatory coverage.

1990s - Information from the Social Security Death Master File becomes generally available to genealogists and other researchers.

Return to Jake Gehring's Article on the Death Master File
Return to the SSDI search page