SSA Fiscal Year Disability Claim Data

This documentation describes a publicly available dataset containing historical and current information about the processing by the Social Security Administration (SSA) of initial claims for disability benefits. The dataset includes information from federal fiscal year 2001 onwards concerning initial claims for disability benefits that were referred to a state agency for a disability determination. Specific data elements for each state are receipts, determinations, and the number of determinations which were allowances. Additional data is present allowing the calculation for separate eligible adult and child populations their respective SSA benefit receipt rate, disability application filing and allowance rates, and percent of claims with a favorable disability determination. This data may be used to examine disability application filing trends by time and by state, state agency workloads, and disability claims outcomes.

A dataset containing fiscal year data can be downloaded from: https://www.ssa.gov/disability/data/SSA-SA-FYWL.csv .

A dataset which contains also contains monthly state agency receipt, clearance and determination data is described at https://www.ssa.gov/disability/data/ssa-sa-mowl.htm.

These datasets are also available through the data.gov raw data catalog at https://www.data.gov/.

Index:
Agency Program Description
Data Set Description
Data Collection Description
Technical Documentation
Data Dictionary
Bibliographic Citation
Change History

Agency Program Description

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers several programs which provide benefits to those who are both disabled and meet other program eligibility requirements. The process for determining whether or not a claimant is disabled is complex. Depending upon a particular claim SSA might evaluate among other factors medical evidence establishing a disabling condition, medical and vocational evidence determining the capacity for work that might remain, the availability of possibly suitable employment, and severity and length of disability. For SSA purposes a claimant is either found disabled or not disabled as SSA awards disability benefits only for long term disability and not for partial or temporary disability. A description of SSA’s disability programs can be found at https://www.ssa.gov/disability.

SSA administers two different programs which pay disability benefits: Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (SSDI), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The disability standard for SSDI and SSI benefits are the same except for issues of blindness and for SSI Disabled Child benefits (SSI DC).

Eligibility for disability benefits for both programs administered by SSA have two sets of eligibility criteria, namely disability and non-disability criteria. A favorable finding is required for both disability and non-disability criteria in order for benefits to be awarded.
Pursuant to statute, initial claims for disability benefits are usually sent by SSA to a state agency which, following SSA rules and guidelines, makes the initial determination for SSA as to whether or not a claimant meets the disability criteria.

The state agencies’ primary responsibility is to make determinations for SSA on the issue of disability for claims filed by residents of the state or similar entity. However, states with heavy workloads might transfer cases to other state agencies or to a federal component, and states with available capacity may receive transferred cases from other state agencies.

The state agencies for Maine, New York, Michigan, Washington and Montana also process SSA disability claims for residents of Canada. In addition to the fifty states a disability unit exists for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The term “state agency” applies to these additional entities as well. SSA also refers to a state agency as a Disability Determination Service (DDS). Initial disability determinations for any other residents not mentioned are handled by a federal component.

Beyond the factor of disability, benefit eligibility and amount for SSDI depends primarily on the earnings of the person against which a claim is being made. In addition to being found disabled, benefit eligibility and amount for SSI benefits depends on income and resources available plus other factors such as residency and US citizenship status. While a state agency makes a determination concerning whether or not a claimant is disabled, SSA makes a separate determination as to whether all applicable non-disability eligibility requirements have been met. Both determinations must be favorable in order for disability benefits to be awarded.

Data Set Description

This dataset provides several key values by fiscal year from 2001 onwards by state which can be used to evaluate the SSA disability programs and workloads.

	Adult	Child	Combined
Population	Field H	Field R	---
SSA Disability Recipients	Field I	Field S	---
Percent of Population Receiving SSA Disability Benefits	Field J	Field T	---
Eligible Population	Field K	Field U	---
Disability Claims Receipts	Field L	Field V	---
Eligible Population Filing Rate	Field M	Field W	---
All Disability Determinations	Field P	Field Z	Field AB
Disability Favorable Determinations	Field N	Field X	Field AC
Disability Favorable Determination Rate	Field Q	Field AA	Field AD
Eligible Population Allowance Rate	Field O	Field Y	---

The adult population used is adults from 18 through 64, including both SSDI and SSI benefits. Population, beneficiary and workload case counts are by the person even if a beneficiary receives concurrent SSDI and SSI benefits. Except for certain determinations made on account of blindness, disability criteria for adult SSDI and SSI benefits are the same. Adult and child beneficiaries are treated separately since they represent different populations and since SSI Child Disability (DC) disability determination criteria are different from adult criteria. SSA disability benefits for those under age 18 on account of their own disability are payable only through the SSI program. (There are SSDI beneficiaries called “Childhood Disability Beneficiaries” or “Adult Child Beneficiaries,” but they receive benefits on account of their own disability only when they are age 18 and older, and the disability criteria used are the same as for any other adult.)

Since the SSI program is not available in Puerto Rico all SSI Disabled Child values for Puerto Rico are shown as zero. Data for Guam (GU) is absent.

SSA Disability Claim Workload Data is reported by federal fiscal year. Census Data is estimated as of July 1 of that same year. SSDI and SSI Beneficiary Data are as of the end of the calendar year in which the fiscal year ends.

Population and beneficiary data is available by state of residence. SSA workload data is available by the state agency receiving and disposing of the disability claim. Conclusions concerning the residency of disability applicants need to take into consideration that for workload management reasons claims for residents of one state might be referred to the state agency of another state.

This dataset includes only disability claims sent to a state agency. Disability claims which do not meet the non-disability criteria are normally not sent to a state agency. Claims pending in a state agency will be returned to SSA without a determination if SSA determines that non-disability criteria were not met while a claim is pending in a state agency. Some favorable disability determinations made by a state agency may still ultimately result in denials due to a failure to meet non-disability criteria uncovered after the favorable state agency determination was made. In a small number of cases a prior favorable or unfavorable decision may be adopted without the claim being sent to a state agency. In a small number of cases a new claim might be joined to an appeal for a prior claim with that new claim then bypassing the state agency.

SSA refers to the simultaneous filing by the same person of an SSI claim and an SSDI disability claim as a “concurrent" claim filing. Where an applicant applies for both SSI and SSDI benefits that claim is normally counted only once since there is usually no additional level of effort required if both types of claims are processed together. Simultaneous claims for the small number of cases where multiple SSDI benefits are filed by the same person at the same time are each counted separately. For example, an applicant could conceivably file a disability claim whose amount if awarded might be based upon their own earnings, those of a deceased spouse, or those of a parent already receiving SSDI benefits based on the parent’s own earnings.

A state agency may dispose of a claim by making a determination (fully favorable, partially favorable, or unfavorable), or by transferring the case to another location, or by terminating development and returning the case to SSA without a determination. The term “favorable” is used to refer to both fully and partially favorable determinations. A determination may be favorable but less than fully favorable when a disability is found to begin later than or end earlier than alleged by the claimant. Dispositions in the dataset provided include only determinations for initial claims and do not include any other method of disposing of the case, or any other claim level of appeal after the initial claim filing, or any other performed by a state agency for SSA.

Some states have multiple locations which process work for SSA while other states might have only one location. Data is provided here only by state regardless of how many locations process work for SSA within that state.

Data concerning decisions made by a federal component are not provided here as it is the function of this dataset to provide comparative filing and allowance rates by groupings of residents of the United States, such as a state.

Data Collection Description

SSA Disability Claim Workload Data:

The Disability Operational Data Store (DIODS) is considered SSA’s definitive data store for state agency workload management information about disability claims. DIODS contains information about all disability claims pending in or disposed of by state agencies and any similarly involved federal components. A record is created in DIODS whenever SSA electronically transfers a claim to a state agency or an adjudicative federal component. Data is captured by automated means. When a state agency or federal component updates, completes, or otherwise disposes of a claim, information concerning the transaction is entered into the state agency system, and that information is electronically communicated to numerous SSA systems, including DIODS.

This dataset’s disability claim receipt, determination, and favorable determination data comes entirely from DIODS. Disability claims which were filed but which were never referred to a state agency or adjudicative federal component for a disability determination are not part of the DIODS data store and are not included in any workload data in this dataset. SSA may occasionally make workload count adjustments where an identifiable error occurred in the workload measurement system, or where a claim was reported as being sent to a state agency but was never actually sent to a state agency, or for other technical reasons. Disability claim workload data is as of the end of the fiscal year.

SSA Disability Beneficiary Data:

Disability beneficiary data is as of the end of the calendar year. Although a new fiscal year is added with new SSA Disability Claim Workload data in about November of each year, Census and SSA Disability Beneficiary are carried forward unchanged until about May of the following year. SSA disability beneficiary data is extracted from annual “Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program” publications produced by SSA (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/index.html).

SSDI Beneficiary Data:

The tables below list the numbers of SSI disability beneficiaries age 18-64. In the tables from 2006 onwards, the column “Total/Total” is reduced by “Total/Number with SSI” and added to SSI adult beneficiary data (see next paragraph) to arrive at Field I, SSA Disability Beneficiaries age 18-64. In the tables from 2001 through 2005, the three individual “Total” columns for workers, widows and adult children are summed and reduced by the corresponding “Number with SSI” and added to SSI adult beneficiary data to arrive at Field I.

Beneficiary data for Puerto Rico comes from separate tables which report disabled workers but not disabled widows and disabled adult children. Disabled workers from these tables are inflated by the national ratio of disabled SSDI workers to all SSDI recipient receiving benefits on account of their own disability.

SSI Beneficiary Data:
In the tables below, the column “Age Under 18” is used as the source of Field S, SSI Disabled Child Beneficiaries. The column “Age 18-64” is used as the source of SSI beneficiaries in that age group as a component of Field I, SSA Disability Beneficiaries age 18-64 (see prior paragraph). The SSI Program is not available in Puerto Rico.

Census Data:

Census data is as of July 1 of each year. Although a new fiscal year is added with new SSA Disability Claim Workload data in about November of each year, Census and SSA Disability Beneficiary Data are carried forward unchanged until about May of the following year. A description of the Bureau of Census methodology is located at: http://www.census.gov/popest/methodology/index.html.
Data files are located at: http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/asrh/2013/index.html. The specific data file used is: “State Single Year of Age and Sex Population Estimates: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 – RESIDENT” with a file layout in pdf format here. Only rows with a “SEX” of 0 are used. Populations by age row and year of estimate columns are summed for ages 0-17 and 18-64. Data for Puerto Rico comes from a different Census data set locate at: http://www.census.gov/popest/data/datasets.html . The specific data file used is: “Puerto Rico Single Year of Age and Sex Population Estimates: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008” with a file layout in pdf form here.

Technical Documentation

File characteristics: This dataset is made available as a comma separated variable (CSV) file using ASCII characters with each line terminated with a carriage return + line feed combination (hex 0d, hex 0a). Fields are separated from each other by a comma, characters are not quoted, spaces are suppressed, no signs are used for numbers, dates are only a year and appear in yyyy format, leading zeros are suppressed from all numbers except for percentages less than 1.0, calculated percentages may contain a decimal point and may be displayed up to two places, and trailing zeros are suppressed after the decimal point from computed percentages. There is no header information in the first row.

Data is physically provided in ascending State Code and Date order. Only one Date Type, FY, is present in this file. Data is provided with one row for each State Code for each Date. The row with the combination of State Code plus Date is unique within the dataset. The earliest date is FY 2001. No row is provided which is a summary of other rows. File Name, File Version, Update Date and Date Type are the same for all rows for production, documentation, traceability and usability reasons.

Update Policy: This dataset is first updated approximately November of each year to include SSI Disability Claim Workload data from the prior fiscal year. Existing Census and SSA Disability Beneficiary data continue to be used unchanged from the second prior fiscal year. The dataset is updated again approximately May of each year with the addition of updated Census and SSA disability beneficiary data. Earlier time periods are retained. Since earlier time periods are not discarded, the dataset is updated by replacement of the entire prior file. The replacement file may reflect additional changes other than the addition of a new instance of the time period. The same file download URL will be used to point to datasets that are changed only by virtue of appending new data, correcting old data, appending new columns or altering sort order or other changes that do not affect the definition of data that appeared in earlier versions of the same file. However, if structural or substantive changes are made to the dataset the download URL for the dataset will be changed. The documentation for the dataset, this web page, will be updated as required but the URL for this documentation will not change. A Change History appears at the end of this document. Versions of the dataset other than the most recent version are not available once they have been replaced by an updated version.

Data Dictionary

Field A: File Name , alphabetic. Contains the name of the file (including the extension) from which this row came, and is the same for every row in the dataset.

Field B: File Version, unsigned numeric. Identifies the version of the file in which this row was found. Field B currently has a value of 1. File Version will be the same for every row in the dataset. The version number is incremented whenever a definitional change occurs to the dataset. The Change History will identify the differences between file versions.

Field C: Update Date , in mm/dd/yyyy format. Indicates the date the data in the file was produced, whether for update or correction purposes. This date will be the same for every row in the dataset.

Field D: Region Code , three positions, alphabetic. For management purposes each state is a part of one of ten SSA administrative regions. In addition to the fifty states a state agency also exists for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Limited data is available for Puerto Rico, and no data is available for Guam. No claims processed by a federal disability claims processing unit are included. The Region Code is one of the following ten codes.
ATL: Atlanta Region (SSA Region 4), includes AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN.
BOS: Boston Region (SSA Region 1), includes CT, MA ME, NH, RI, VT.
CHI: Chicago Region (SSA Region 5), includes IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI.
DAL: Dallas Region (SSA Region 6), includes AR, LA, NM, OK, TX.
DEN: Denver Region (SSA Region 8), includes CO. MT, ND, ST, UT, WY.
KCM: Kansas City Region (SSA Region 7), includes IA, KS, MO, NE.
NYC: New York Region (SSA Region 2), includes NJ, NY, PR.
PHL: Philadelphia Region (SSA Region 3), includes DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV.
SEA: Seattle Region (SSA Region 10), includes AK, ID, OR, WA.
SFO: San Francisco Region (SSA Region 9), includes AZ, CA, (GU), HI, NV.

Field E: State Code , two positions, alphabetic. See
http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip5-2.htm, tables 1 and 2, for a listing of possible FIPS two position alphabetic state codes. States which actually appear are listed in the description for field D. The row with the combination of State Code plus Date is unique per dataset.

Field F: Date Type , two positions, alphabetic. Always FY for the fiscal year/SSA year.

Field G: Date , in yyyy format. Indicates the applicable federal fiscal year. The Date for a specific time period will be the same for every State Code in the file.
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Field H: Population age 18-64, unsigned numeric. Source: Census Data as of July 1 of the year in Date, except for the period from about November to May of each year when Census data for the most recent posted fiscal year is from the year before Date.

Field I: SSA Disability Beneficiaries age 18-64, unsigned numeric. Source: SSDI Beneficiary Data and SSI Beneficiary Data as of the end of the calendar year in Date, except for the period from about November to May of each year when SSA Disability Beneficiary Data for the most recent posted fiscal year is from the year before Date.

Field J: Percent of Adult Population Receiving SSA Adult Disability Benefits, percentage. Field I, Disability Beneficiaries age 18-64, divided by Field H, Population age 18-64, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of persons per 100 adults receiving SSA disability benefits.
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Field K: Eligible Adult Population, unsigned numeric. Field H, Population Age 18-64, minus Field I, Disability Beneficiaries age 18-64. Adults already receiving SSA disability benefits are removed from the adult population to determine how many remaining adults could conceivably be eligible for SSA disability benefits.

Field L: Adult Receipts, unsigned numeric. Indicates the number of adult initial claims received by a state during the designated time period. Adult claims are all SSDI and SSI claims referred to a state agency other than SSI Disabled Child claims. Concurrent SSDI and SSI cases are only counted once. Not all disability claims are referred to a state agency for a disability determination, and those claims are not counted in this Field L. Not all disability claims received by a state agency result in a disability determination, and those claims are counted in Field L. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date.

Field M: Eligible Adult Population Filing Rate, percentage. Field L, Adult Receipts, divided by Field K, Eligible Adult Population, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 eligible adults who filed an application for disability benefits which was referred to a state agency.
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Field N: Favorable Adult Determinations, unsigned numeric. A fully or partially favorable disability finding made by a state agency for an adult initial claim. Unfavorable determinations, transfers, claims returned without a decision and anything else not a favorable determination for an adult initial claim are not included. Not all state agency favorable disability determinations result in a benefit award if the required non-disability related eligibility criteria are not also met. This Field N is a breakout of Field P, All Adult Determinations. SSI Disabled Children are not included in this Field N. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date.

Field O: Eligible Adult Population Allowance Rate, percentage. Field N, Favorable Adult Determinations, divided by Field K, Eligible Adult Population, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 eligible adults which received a favorable disability determination during the fiscal year in Date.
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Field P: All Adult Determinations, unsigned numeric. Field N, Favorable Adult Determinations, is a breakout of this Field P. The number of unfavorable adult determinations would be this Field P minus Field N. A determination is either a favorable or unfavorable decision concerning the issue of disability. Transfers, claims returned without a decision and anything else not a determination for an adult initial claim are not included. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date.

Field Q: Adult Favorable Determination Rate, percentage. Field N, Adult Favorable Determinations, divided by Field P, All Adult Determinations, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 adult disability determinations that received a favorable determination from a state agency during the fiscal year in Date. Not all state agency favorable determinations result in a benefit award if the required non-disability related eligibility criteria are not also met.
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Field R: Population under age 18, unsigned numeric. Source: Census Data as of July 1 of the year in Date, except for the period from about November to May of each year when Census data for the most recent posted fiscal year is from the year before Date.

Field S: SSI Disabled Child (DC) Beneficiaries, unsigned numeric. SSA benefits for those under age 18 on account of their own disability are payable only through the SSI program. Source: SSI Beneficiary Data as of the end of the calendar year in Date, except for the period from about November to May of each year when SSI Beneficiary Data for the most recent posted fiscal year is from the year before Date.

Field T: Percent of Population under age 18 Receiving SSI DC Benefits, percentage. Field S, SSI DC Beneficiaries, divided by Field R, Population under 18, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of persons per 100 children receiving SSI DC benefits.
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Field U: Eligible Child Population, unsigned numeric. Field R, Population under age 18, minus Field S, SSI Disabled Child Beneficiaries. Children already receiving SSI DC benefits are removed from the under age 18 population to determine how many remaining children could conceivably be eligible for SSA disability benefits. SSA benefits for those under age 18 on account of their own disability are payable only through the SSI program.

Field V: SSI Disabled Child (DC) Receipts, unsigned numeric. Not all SSI DC disability claims are referred to a state agency for a disability determination, and those claims are not counted in this Field V. Not all SSI DC disability claims received by a state agency result in a disability determination, and those claims are counted in Field V. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date.

Field W: Eligible Child Population Filing Rate, percentage. Field V, SSI DC Receipts, divided by Field U, Eligible Child Population, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 eligible children who filed an application for disability benefits which was referred to a state agency.
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Field X: Favorable SSI Child (DC) Determinations, unsigned numeric. A favorable determination is a fully or partially favorable finding made by a state agency. Unfavorable determinations, transfers, claims returned without a decision and anything else not a favorable determination are not included. Not all state agency favorable determinations result in a benefit award if the required non-disability related eligibility criteria are not also met. This Field X is a breakout of Field Z, All SSI Disabled Child Determinations. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date.

Field Y: Eligible Child Population Allowance Rate, percentage. Field X, SSI DC Favorable Determinations, divided by Field U, Eligible Child Population. This is the number of claims per 100 eligible children which received a favorable disability determination.
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Field Z: All SSI Disabled Child Determinations, unsigned numeric. Source: SSA Disability Claim Workload Data for the fiscal year in Date. The number of unfavorable SSI DC determinations would be this Field Z minus Field X. A determination is either a favorable or unfavorable decision concerning the issue of disability. Transfers, claims returned without a decision and anything else not a determination for an SSI DC claim are not included.

Field AA: SSI Disabled Child Allowance Rate, percentage. Field X, Favorable SSI Disabled Child Determinations, divided by Field Z, All SSI Disabled Child Determinations, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 SSI DC determinations that received a favorable determination from a state agency. Not all state agency favorable disability determinations result in a benefit award if the required non-disability related eligibility criteria are not also met.
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Field AB: All Determinations, unsigned numeric. Field P, All Adult Determinations, plus Field Z, All SSI DC Determinations. Indicates the total number of initial claim determinations made by a state during the designated time period. A determination is a favorable, partially favorable or unfavorable finding made by the state agency. Determinations do not include transfers to other SSA operating units or other state agencies for additional processing, or cases returned to SSA without a determination, or adjustments made on account of error or for other reasons.

Field AC: All Favorable Determinations, unsigned numeric. Field N, Favorable Adult Determinations, plus Field X, Favorable SSI DC Determinations. A favorable determination may be either fully favorable or partially favorable.

Field AD: Favorable Determination Rate, percentage. Field AC, All Favorable Determinations, divided by Field AB, All Determinations, expressed as a percentage. This is the number of claims per 100 disability determinations that received a favorable determination from a state agency. Not all state agency favorable determinations result in a benefit award if the required non-disability related eligibility criteria are not also met.

Bibliographic Citation

The author and publisher is the Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of Retirement and Disability Policy (ORDP), Office of Disability Programs (ODP) located in Baltimore, Maryland. The title for the file SSA-SA-FYWL.csv is “SSA State Agency Fiscal Year Workload Data.” The date of production is in Field C, Update Date, of the specific file used. The most recent update date as well as the release date are also posted in https://www.data.gov/. The URL to access the dataset is listed above but is subject to change. See “Update Policy” above for additional information. The name of the website is https://www.ssa.gov. This page should be copied at the same time the dataset is downloaded as this page is the documentation for this dataset. The documentation URL will not change. The date the dataset and documentation were downloaded should also be retained for documentation and citation purposes.

Change History:

This change history does not reflect the date the dataset was last updated, and may not reflect changes to the documentation that are of an insubstantial nature.
1/20/2010: Initial release, SSA-SA-FYWL.csv file version 1.