There are several different websites that offer a search form for the Social Security Death Index, the public-access extract of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File.
Since November 2011, when new the restrictions were enacted, the search results I used to get have changed. RootsWeb's site (which used to have a good search form) doesn't offer a search of the SSDI anymore.
Does it make a difference which website I use? What fields will I find in a search result?
Over the past few years, there have been efforts to restrict ALL access to the SSDI. Some background to explain why RootsWeb's search form was taken down, and why other websites now have redacted information, follows at the end of this answer.
Steve Morse’s One-Step Web pages has a form for Searching the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) in One Step. His Frequently Asked Questions page has a detailed table of what parameters are returned by each site, but the information returned is volatile, and maintaining an accurate list is a nightmare. This answer is intended as a snapshot of the information given as I write this answer (April 2014); comments and additions are welcome.
I've collected the fields returned by searches from each website in his list and made a summary (compiled from the vendor's own descriptions of the collections and a search for one of the people in my database). Some of the restrictions are noted.
Ancestry.com See also their FAQ
DOBSearch (Morse notes: limited to 7 per day)
Restrictions: Due to data restrictions, entry of a Last Name is required, and must match the last name of the recorded death record, to see details in the search results.
Research Wiki: United States Social Security Death Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)
Genealogy Bank ($ - requires subscription)
In compliance with Section 203 ("Restriction on Access to the Death Master File") of the Budget Act of 2013, we are no longer able to display SSDI records for individuals who have died within the previous 3 years. You can learn more here. [downloadable PDF of the law detailing the restrictions]
American Ancestors (NEHGS) Marked as $ requires subscription at Steve Morse's website, but I was able to make a search in 2014 as an (unpaid) registered user (a guest account). As of 12 January 2019, their database is titled United States: Social Security Death Index, 1935-2012 and returns some results for deaths from 2012, although their database description still says:
Note: Data is current through January 2011. Access to the SSDI is FREE to all who visit AmericanAncestors.org.
As of 12 January 2019, American Ancestors' shows:
Different information is revealed in the search results than the detail page, so look at both to gather all the information.
As of 2014, the site displayed the following information:
The information below was taken from the banner on the search page at MyHeritage (retrieved 7 Jan 2019). I have changed the formatting to match the rest of the answer.
The source of this data is the Social Security Administration (SSA) Death Master File (DMF), which contains over 80 million records of deaths that have been reported to SSA. This file includes the following information on each deceased person, as applicable:
- name
- date of birth
- date of death
- state or country of residence (prior to Mar 1988)
- and ZIP code of last residence.
MyHeritage does not disclose the Social Security Number for any record for privacy reasons.
The search page says:
Discover relatives who have died between 1900 and 2012 in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). This index covers all fifty states and Puerto Rico.
As of 26 January 2019, Findmypast displayed the following fields for my test search:
It is not clear whether these records are part of Findmypast's acquisition of Mocavo's data or not, but the records appear to be part of Findmypast's free records.
Mocavo was acquired by Findmypast. The Basic search used to show:
RootsWeb is still around, but the SSDI search is gone - a pity, since the search functions there were better than many other sites. As of 2014 when I wrote this answer, the site said:
Due to sensitivities around the information in this database, the Social Security Death Index collection is not available on our free Rootsweb service but is accessible to search on Ancestry.com.
World Vital Records [No longer in business -- absorbed by MyHeritage]
WVR does not display results unless the user has a subscription. This list of fields is called "Questions Asked" in their collection description.
Family Tree Legends [2015 Update: redirects to My Heritage]
My 2014 search for a person who died in 2006 returned no results. Following bgwiehle's comment I searched for the record of a death from the 1970s and got the following fields:
As of March 27 2014, access to the Death Master File is limited to parties that have been certified. For more information see:
These earlier posts discuss the reduction in scope of the information available from a search of the SSDI:
For general information and history:
On her blog The Legal Genealogist, Judy G. Russell wrote about Ordering the SS-5 (posted on May 31, 2013).
...the SSA has made it harder to get the very information most useful from the SS-5 forms: the date and place of birth and the names of the parents. Here’s what the SSA says now: “under our current policy, we do not release the parents’ names on an SS-5 application unless the parents’ are proven deceased, have a birth date more than 120 years ago, or the number holder on the SS-5 is at least 100 years of age.”
She also says:
In a large number of cases, people who have ordered SS-5 forms since 2011 have found the copies they receive have had the names of the parents redacted (blacked out) and even on occasion the date and place of birth as well. To avoid that, you need to provide evidence that the parents are deceased, or that they would have been born more than 120 years ago, unless the person whose SS-5 you’re ordering was born more than 100 years ago. And, again, there’s no way to attach that proof in the online system.
She recommends sending in the printed SSA-711 form with supporting evidence to avoid getting redacted records. The end of her post also has recommendations for information you can send in if you need to appeal.
In November of 2016, the US National Archives added to its Access to Archival Databases (AAD) website a related group of records from the Social Security Administration, the NUMIDENT files. A PDF on the content and scope of these digital records can be downloaded here: Freqently Asked Questions: Series: Numerical Identification (NUMIDENT) Files, 1936 – 2007 Record Group 47. Section II.4 of this document addresses the differences between the data in the SSDI and this database.
2024 Update: Judy G. Russell, Ordering the SS-5: 2024 style
The Social Security Death Index is commonly used for information about birth and death dates, state of SSN issuance and state of death. This information can be quite useful in its own right and is an easily accessible post-1940 source of nationwide information, unlike the Census, which is lagged by decades for privacy reasons.
But it's just an index to a treasure trove of information. Many people who do genealogy are unaware that there is any information beyond the index, but it can be a very valuable tool for researching 20th century relatives. Beyond the basic vital stats of the index, you can request the Social Security Application Form SS-5 of the person in the index. The Form SS-5 provides more detailed information about the person being search:
- Full name
- Full name at birth, including maiden name
- Present mailing address
- Age at last birthday
- Date of birth
- Place of birth (city, county, State)
- Father's full name
- Mother's full name, including maiden name
- Sex
- Race as indicated by the applicant
- Whether the applicant ever applied for Social Security or Railroad Retirement before
- Current employer's name and address
- Date signed
- Applicant's signature
The request qualifies under FOIA, so you do not need to establish or assert any familial connection. You can even request information on people not listed in the Index, if they are dead (which you must establish by documentation unless their birth was 120+ years ago). Note that there is a moderate fee. The request is made with Form SSA-711.
Separately, please note that if you can prove familial link and death, then you can spend a little more money and apply for an earnings report that includes the names and addresses of all employers using Form SSA-7050. This firm is especially helpful for a person with a very recent gap in their family history (e.g. early death, family dissolution, non-marital event).
As pointed out by Steve Morse, sites vary with
[Supplementing Jan's answer ...]
And they keep changing:
GenealogyBank's SSDI database is "free" but a few months ago, they started masking all search result lists (newspaper & ssdi) behind subscription boxes. Recently, Genealogy Bank returned to allowing non-actively subscribed registered users to see SSDI search results without covering them up. All SSNs are redacted but verification codes are included.
Family Tree Legends only includes deaths up to about 2003. In 2011, they started omitting the last 10 years of data. This end-point updated monthly in 2011 and 2012 but then stopped. FTL is currently the only other site that includes the verification codes. As of 6 Oct 2014, the FamilyTreeLegends website, including the SSDI search page redirects to myheritage.com
And the loss of Old Search at Ancestry means you can't specify issuing state or last residence anymore. You can fudge them with birth and death locations or include an "Any event" location (without a limiting date), but it's not right. Ancestry is the only site that provides an issue year or range in the results, but I generally haven't found that field very helpful.
FamilySearch is peculiar in omitting the Last Benefit field altogether and often omitting the city in locations. They do include SSNs up to about 2012, where most other sites don't. Update: as of mid-March 2015, FamilySearch has redacted all? SSNs from the number field.
Mocavo used to have a separate SSDI offering, with a unique search engine, but it is no longer accessible from the navigation menu. SSDI results are included in global searches.
Under the 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act, the Death Master File is defined as containing first and last names, birth and death dates and SSN.
For more information see the article at http://www.forensicgenealogists.org Vol 4 #3 Special DMF edition.
I may have been one of the first genealogists to be NTIS certified and licensed for the online interactive DMF.
