Genealogy Starter

The U.S. government started issuing Social Security Numbers (SSN) in November 1936. In 1962, the “Death Master File” was created by the Social Security Administration and was the beginning of the Social Security Death Index. The SSDI currently contains over 80 million records, most of which are for people who have died since 1962. However, you may find records for people who died prior to 1962.

What Can I Find in the SSDI?

The SSDI contains the names, dates of birth, dates of death, and last known address, last payment address, SSN, and state of issue (see for anyone who died while receiving Social Security payments.

Why Can’t I Find Someone in the SSDI?

There are a few common reasons why you wouldn’t be able to find someone on the SSDI:

• The person was not receiving benefits at the time of his / her death
• The person died before 1962 when the master file was created
• The person’s death was never reported to the Social Security Administration
• A dependent is still receiving death benefits

SSN State Issue Codes

The SSDI search engines will show you the state of issue, but it can also be helpful to know that you can determine the state of issue by the first three digits of any Social Security Number as shown in the tables below: