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Frequently Asked Questions: What's Your Number?

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Everybody is supposed to have a Social Security card that has their Social Security number. This is the number that Social Security uses to keep track of your earnings throughout your life.

When people apply for Social Security benefits, Social Security uses this number to tell if they can get benefits and how much they can get. It is also the number the federal government uses to keep track of you in its records. You keep the same number throughout your life.

Your parents will need your Social Security number when they name you as one of their children on their income tax returns.

Today, parents can apply for Social Security numbers for their children at the hospital where they are born. It helps to give children a head start on life.

numbers
Click here to download an application for a social security card.

Social Security has a toll-free number that operates from 7a.m. to 7p.m., Monday to Friday: 1-800-772-1213 If you have a touch-tone phone, recorded information and services are available 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our toll-free "TTY" number, 1-800-325-0778, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Please have your Social Security number handy when you call us.

Or you could visit us: click here to find your Social Security office address.

 
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Last reviewed or modified Wednesday Jul 02, 2008
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