On this page:

• Contact Information
• Preface
• Notes
• Table of Contents
• Accessibility and Usability Information
• Other Editions of this Publication

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Contact Information

For questions pertaining to the data, please contact Jennie Park at oasdi.sc@ssa.gov or 410-965-9358.

For additional copies, please call 202-358-6274 or e-mail op.publications@ssa.gov.

Preface

This annual publication focuses on the Social Security beneficiary population—people receiving Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits—at the local level. It presents basic program data on the number and type of beneficiaries and the amount of benefits paid in each state and county. It also shows the numbers of men and women aged 65 or older receiving benefits. This report is a useful planning aid for Social Security Administration field offices and for those providing information to federal, state, and local government agencies.

State data on beneficiaries as a percentage of the total resident population and of the population aged 65 or older are shown in Table 1. State data on the number of beneficiaries with benefits in current-payment status and the amount of those benefits are shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectively; the comparable data, by county, are shown in Tables 4 and 5. The data include only persons whose benefits are currently payable. Those whose benefits were withheld are excluded.

Jennie H. Park in the Division of Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Statistics and Analysis programmed and compiled the data for this report. Staff of the Division of Information Resources edited the report and prepared the print and Web versions for publication.

Notes

The data in this report are derived from the Master Beneficiary Record, the principal administrative file of Social Security beneficiaries. The national ZIP + 4 file produced by the U.S. Postal Service is used to designate the beneficiary's state and county. The ZIP + 4 file, which specifies counties in terms of 9-digit ZIP Codes, provides a more accurate designation of counties in places where ZIP Code areas cross county boundaries than that which is available in the Master Beneficiary Record.

Some Social Security beneficiaries have a representative payee—a person designated by the Social Security Administration to receive their monthly benefit when such action is in the beneficiary's best interest. About 4 percent of all adult beneficiaries and virtually all child beneficiaries under age 18 have representative payees. For most children, the representative payee is the parent with whom the child resides. For beneficiaries with representative payees, the state and county designations are those of the representative payees, not those of the beneficiaries.

To avoid disclosure of the reason for eligibility of small groups and the amount of benefits received, a special procedure (controlled rounding) has been used in preparing Tables 4 and 5. Under this procedure, county data on the number of persons shown in Table 4 are changed according to the following formula:

1. If the number is evenly divisible by 5 (ends in 0 or 5), then the numbers are not changed.
2. Otherwise, the number is rounded either to the next higher multiple of 5 or the next lower multiple of 5, in such a way that the difference between each rounded and unrounded cell value, each rounded and unrounded row total, and each rounded and unrounded column total is less than 5.

After the numbers in Table 4 have been rounded, the dollar amounts in Table 5 are proportionately adjusted upward or downward, as appropriate. The totals in Tables 4 and 5 are true totals.

Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia contain at least one independent city that is not part of a county. For these states, the counties are listed in alphabetical order, followed by the independent cities in alphabetical order.

Table of Contents

Data tables are available by state or region.

The PDF and Excel (XLS) files for each state contains the following five tables:

• Table 1. Beneficiaries as a percentage of the total resident population and of the population aged 65 or older, by state, December 2005
• Table 2. Number of beneficiaries with benefits in current-payment status, by state or other area, type of benefit, and sex of beneficiaries aged 65 or older, December 2005
• Table 3. Amount of benefits in current-payment status, by state or other area, type of benefit, and sex of beneficiaries aged 65 or older, December 2005
• Table 4. Number of beneficiaries with benefits in current-payment status, by county, type of benefit, and sex of beneficiaries aged 65 or older, December 2005
• Table 5. Amount of benefits in current-payment status, by county, type of benefit, and sex of beneficiaries aged 65 or older, December 2005

The PDF and Excel (XLS) files for each region contains Tables 1–3 (which cover all states) and Tables 4 and 5 for each state in the particular region.

The HTML file for each state contains Tables 4 and 5 for the given state.

Accessibility and Usability Information

The HTML files for this document are Section 508 compliant—accessible to persons with disabilities. If you have comments on how to improve the accessibility of this document, please e-mail op.webmaster@ssa.gov.

In order to view and print the PDF files for this document, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not already have it, you may download the Acrobat Reader from Adobe's Web site at no charge.

Other Editions of this Publication

Next Expected Update

August 2009

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Other Editions

• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2007 (released November 2008)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2006 (released August 2007)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2005 (released September 2006)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2004 (released July 2005)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2003 (released August 2004)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2002 (released August 2003)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2001 (released November 2002) ^*
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 2000 (released July 2001)
• OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, 1999 (released January 2001)

^* Document currently available in print only.