How does the Social Security Administration assign numbers to individuals?

How does the social security administration assign numbers to individuals?

• Answer:

  The answer the other person gave is how Social Security USED to assign numbers. That is no longer the case effective with June, 2011. Numbers are now assigned from a central spot in numerical order no matter what part of the country you live in. Example: If someone has a # which begins with a 3 that means that they got their # in the Chicago region which encompasses five states. Beginning this year, that is no longer the case. Someone in San Francisco could just as easily get a # beginning with a 3. The reason for the change is because there are some areas of the country which are running out of #'s and San Francisco is a good example of this. It used to be that people in California and a few surrounding states were issued #'s beginning with a 5 but because of the population they are running out of nine digit #'s starting with 5 - if they haven't already run out. So no longer will a person be able to look at someones social security # and assume what area of the country they were living in when they were assigned their #.