Racial Equity Research, Statistics, and Data Resources

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is assessing the current and historical equity of its programs in response to Executive Order 13985 (January 2021) and Executive Order 14091 (February 2023).

To support that assessment, we have compiled the following list of currently available information on the racial and/or ethnic characteristics of the Social Security–covered population. In addition to research and statistical publications, we include surveys that provide public-use data used in many of our publications.

The list includes resources produced by SSA and those produced, with SSA funding or support, by independent (nongovernmental) researchers or the Census Bureau.

SSA

Research and evaluation

• Selected Research & Analysis: Race and Ethnicity
  From one-page fact sheets to in-depth scholarly articles

Statistics

• Annual Statistical Supplement
  • Tables 3.C7a, 3.C7b, and 3.C8—Demographic characteristics of SSA program participants
  • Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits in Current-Payment Status: Summary (5.A) Expanded by Race
• Population Profiles
  • Child Beneficiaries
  • Child Beneficiary Families
  • Never Beneficiaries
• National Beneficiary Survey: Disability Statistics—Tables 1 and 2
• Statistics At A Glance
  • Earnings of Men Aged 20–59, by Age Group and Race/Ethnicity
  • Earnings of Men Aged 20–59, by Race and Ethnicity
  • Earnings of Women Aged 20–59, by Age Group and Race/Ethnicity
  • Earnings of Women Aged 20–59, by Race and Ethnicity
• Fact sheets for demographic groups
  Earnings and population size profiles for selected groups

Projections

• From our Modeling Income in the Near Term microsimulation model
  • Fact sheets
    • Beneficiary Race/Ethnicity
    • Divorced Spousal Beneficiaries
    • Early Eligibility Age Beneficiaries
    • Lifetime Low Earners
    • Oldest Old Beneficiaries
    • Spousal-Only Beneficiaries
    • Survivor-Only Beneficiaries
    • Taxpayer Race/Ethnicity
  • Tables
    • Profile of Beneficiaries by Race & Ethnicity
    • Profile of Taxpayers by Race & Ethnicity
    • Projected effects of proposed Social Security retirement policy changes
• From the Office of the Chief Actuary
  • Distributional analysis of the musculoskeletal impairments rule

Funded or supported by SSA

Research and evaluation

• Retirement and Disability Research Consortium projects
  Scholarly projects from SSA-funded research centers

Surveys

• American Community Survey (Census Bureau)
  Detailed data by race and ethnicity on income and other economic and demographic characteristics for the nation's civilian institutionalized and noninstitutionalized populations
• Current Population Survey (Census Bureau)
  Monthly survey of 60,000 U.S. households with annual supplemental surveys, including the March Annual Social and Economic Supplement; covers labor force statistics for the U.S. population
• Health and Retirement Study (University of Michigan)
  A longitudinal panel survey of a representative sample of Americans aged 51 or older with about 20,000 living respondents
• Household Pulse Survey (Census Bureau)
  Biweekly online survey studying how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting households across the country from a social and economic perspective
  • Public-Use Data
• National Beneficiary Survey (Mathematica)
  A nationally representative survey that collects data on the employment-related activities of working-age Disability Insurance beneficiaries and Supplement Security Income recipients.
• Survey of Income and Program Participation (Census Bureau)
  A household-based survey consisting of multi-year panels that each have a nationally representative sample. It provides data on income, participation in government assistance programs, economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, childcare, and food security.
  • Social Security Supplement, 2014 Panel
• Understanding America Study (UAS) (University of Southern California)
  A nationally representative Internet panel with about 9,000 respondents covering the U.S. population aged 18 or older. The UAS includes over 300 surveys on Social Security retirement and disability programs, retirement planning, economic well-being, and cognition and personality measures. Registration is required for access.
  • UAS COVID-19–related survey