Figures

• Figure 1. SSA Total Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year
Month
• Figure 2. SSA Full-Time PermanentTotal Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year
, by Data Source
• Figure 3. SSA Total Work Years, by Type
• Figure 4. State Disability Determination Services (DDS) Total Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year
• Figure 5. State DDS Total Work Years

Tables

• Table 1. Estimated SSA Staff on Duty from Agency Contingency Plans, by Office
• Table 2. Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employees, by Component
• Table 3. SSA Total Staff on Duty, by State or Area
• Table A-1. Historical Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Data, by Metric

Appendixes

• Appendix. Data Underlying Historical Staffing Figures and FTEAdditional Data

For data on SSA's recent and historical staffing levels by state or area, see CRS Report R48911, Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Levels by State or Area: Data Brief. For additional data on SSA's staffing levels, see the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) Federal Workforce Data website at https://data.opm.gov/. Recent Staffing Levels Figure 1 shows SSA total staff on duty at the end of the month for January 2019-February 2026. SSA's total staffing level at the end of February 2026 was 49,683.

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Figure 1. SSA Total Staff on Duty at the End of the Month

January 2019-February 2026. Figure is interactive in HTML report version.

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Entries for some offices are blank (i.e., "—") because the office did not exist at the time or no longer exists. SSA underwent several reorganizations in 2025 that closed some offices, created new offices, and transferred staff and functions to different offices. As a result, office-level staffing data for 2025 may not be comparable with previous years. Table 1. Estimated SSA Staff on Duty from Agency Contingency Plans, by Office

2018-2025

45

—

32

Hearings Operations/Disability Adjudication

—

—

171

Table 2 shows full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, by component, for FY2019-FY2026. An FTE is the equivalent of one employee working full-time for one year (2,080 hours), excluding overtime and lump-sum leave. The table separates out SSA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) from the rest of the agency. It also provides data on state DDSs, which are state agencies that conduct disability determinations and reviews on behalf of, and under agreements with, SSA. State DDS personnel are state employees, and their salaries and related activities are fully funded by SSA, subject to certain conditions. The FY2026 data in the table are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification. Table 2. Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employees, by Component

FY2019-FY2026

Office	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Total	61,663	63,203	62,987	62,971	61,757	61,869	59,058
' + '● ' + '{series.name}:	{point.y:,.0f}
Source: CRS analysis of data from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) Federal Workforce Data site.
Office	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Total	61,663	63,203	62,987	62,971	61,757	61,869	59,058	51,825
Actuary	57	56	50	51	50	50	51	Actuary	57	56	50	51	50	50	51
Analytics, Review, and Oversight	2,086	2,307	1,996	1,939	1,964	1,945	1,920
Budget, Finance, and Management /Finance and Management	931	916	880	884	891	870	859 679
Commissioner	25	31	27	29	27	28	32 11
Communications	155	146	142	141	148	150	144
Hearings Operations	9,664	9,386	8,370	8,156	7,675	8,086	7,471 7,148
General Counsel	723	747	724	741	758	744	722
Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO)	—	—	—	—	67	143	148
Human Resources (HR)	412	413	381	420	416	845	854 286
HR/CREO—Reasonable Accommodations	203	216	212	218	213	213	213
Inspector General	493	529	542	523	529	534	515
Legislation and Congressional Affairs	54	56	58	58	59	60	60
Operations	43,221	44,694	45,927	46,131	45,129	44,316	42,250 442
Retirement and Disability Law and Policy — Policy	533	525	495	489	493	482	504
Systems/Chief Information Officer	3,106	3,181	3,183	3,191	3,338	3,403	3,303
Transformation	—	—	—	—	—	—	12 792
Legislation and Congressional Affairs	54	56	58	58	59	60	60	—
Operations	43,221	44,694	45,927	46,131	45,129	44,316	42,250	37,395
Risk and Quality	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,861
Retirement and Disability Policy	533	525	495	489	493	482	504	—
Security and Resiliency	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	372
Systems/Chief Information Officer	3,106	3,181	3,183	3,191	3,338	3,403	3,303	2,591
Transformation	—	—	—	—	—	—	12	—

Component	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	FY2026
SSA Total (Excluding OIG)	60,470	59,574	59,195	57,568	58,485	57,998	54,063	51,205
Field Offices/Field Operations	27,358	27,230	27,251	26,997	27,673	26,839	26,514	24,966
Teleservice Centers/Digital Services	4,307	4,567	4,790	4,167	4,078	3,947	3,865	5,231
Regional Offices	1,348	1,309	1,281	1,347	1,221	1,396	—	—
Program Service Centers and Office of Central Operations	9,467	9,463	9,548	9,345	9,348	9,214	8,916	7,268
Office of Hearings Operations/Disability Adjudication	9,335	8,549	7,970	7,553	7,465	7,512	8,845	6,764
Risk and Quality	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,865
Office of Systems/Chief Information Officer	3,084	3,048	3,138	3,074	3,285	3,293	3,081	2,943
Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight	2,107	2,050	1,928	1,834	1,869	1,923	—	—
Office of General Counsel	720	691	721	704	698	713	—	—
Security and Resiliency	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	92
Law and Policy	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,050	879
Headquarters/Agency-Level Support	2,744	2,667	2,567	2,547	2,848	3,161	1,792	1,196
State DDS	13,149	12,780	13,421	13,462	13,166	13,424	12,797	12,226
OIG	508	519	499	479	500	508	473	455

Source: CRS analysis of data from SSA, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2027, and earlier editions.

Notes: OIG = Office of the Inspector General. DDS = Disability Determination Services. Subtotals may not sum to totals due to rounding. The FY2026 data are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification. The SSA FTE data for FY2023-FY2026 include reimbursable work. (The SSA FTE data in the Appendix exclude reimbursable work.) Historical Staffing Levels Figure 2 shows SSA total staff on duty at the end of the fiscal year for FY1964-FY2026. The figure uses data from two different sources: SSA (FY1964-FY1998) and OPM (FY1974-FY2026). The OPM data for FY2026 are through February 2026.

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Figure 2. SSA Total Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year, by Data Source

FY1964-FY2026 (Selected Years). Figure is interactive in HTML report version.

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Source: CRS analysis of data from Social Security Advisory Board, How the Social Security Administration Can Improve Its Service to the Public, September 1999; various SSA responses to questions for the record; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Annual Report, 1967, and earlier editions; OPM's Federal Workforce Data and FedScope systems; and the Internet Archive's Federal Employment Data from the Office of Personnel Management.

Notes: The FY2026 data are through February 2026.

Figure 3 shows SSA total work years for FY1964-FY2026. SSA calculates total work years as the sum of FTE employment and overtime and lump-sum leave (i.e., the number of FTE employees plus the number of overtime and lump-sum leave work years). The figure displays two types of work-year metrics: LAE-only activities (FY1964-FY2026) and all activities (FY1975-FY2026). The metric LAE-only activities includes only those work years that are attributable to SSA's Limitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE) account or equivalent historical account. The LAE account is SSA's primary administrative appropriations account and funds SSA's activities related to Social Security, SSI, and portions of Medicare.¹ The metric all activities includes LAE work years in addition to work years that are attributable to reimbursable work,² SSA's OIG,³ special temporary workloads,⁴ and, prior to FY1998, certain other programs and activities for which SSA had administrative responsibilities.⁵ Figure 4 shows state DDS total work years for FY1980-FY2026. The FY2026 data in both figures are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification.

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Figure 3. SSA Total Work Years, by Type

FY1964-FY2026 (Selected Years). Figure is interactive in HTML report version.

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Source: CRS analysis of data from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2024, and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Report to the Congress, 1994, and earlier editions; various SSA responses to questions for the record; and the FY1966 President's budget.

Notes: LAE = Limitation on Administrative Expenses. The FY2026 data are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification.

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Figure 4. State Disability Determination Services (DDS) Total Work Years

FY1980-FY2026, Figure is interactive in HTML report version.

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Source: CRS analysis of data from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification and earlier editions; various SSA responses to questions for the record; and General Accounting Office, Social Security: Increasing Number of Disability Claims and Deteriorating Service, November 1993.

Notes: The FY2026 data are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification.

Appendix. Data Underlying Historical Staffing Figures and Additional Data Table A-1 provides the data underlying the historical staffing figures shown in the body of the report. The table includes additional years of data for SSA total staff on duty (SSA data) and SSA total work years (LAE-only activities), as well as data on SSA full-time permanent staff, SSA and OIG FTEs, and state DDS total staff on duty. Data for some metrics are not available for all years shown below, because CRS was unable to find publicly available data for certain years. In some cases, the entries for certain metrics are blank (i.e., "—") because the particular metric was not captured or produced by SSA at that time or the particular entity did not exist at that time (e.g., SSA's OIG was established in the second half of FY1995). Table A-1. Historical Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Data, by Metric

FY1936-FY2026 (Selected Years)

Fiscal Year

SSA Total Staff on Duty

SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty

SSA Total Work Years

SSA and OIG FTEs

State DDS

SSA Data

OPM Data

SSA Data

OPM Data

LAE-Only Activities

All Activities

SSA (Excluding OIG)

OIG

Total Staff on Duty

Total Work Years

1936

634

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1937

5,748

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1938

9,612

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1939

9,661

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1940

12,164

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1941

12,682

—

—

—

9,037

—

—

—

—

—

1942

13,297

—

—

—

9,853

—

—

—

—

—

1943

10,585

—

—

—

9,502

—

—

—

—

—

1944

10,045

—

—

—

8,268

—

—

—

—

—

1945

10,629

—

—

—

8,269

—

—

—

—

—

1946

11,261

—

—

—

9,624

—

—

—

—

—

1947

12,830

—

—

—

10,616

—

—

—

—

—

1948

12,889

—

—

—

11,450

—

—

—

—

—

1949

12,854

—

—

—

11,069

—

—

—

—

—

1950

11,899

—

—

—

11,137

—

—

—

—

—

1951

14,821

—

—

—

13,301

—

—

—

—

—

1952

14,814

—

—

—

13,853

—

—

—

—

—

1953

14,623

—

—

—

14,402

—

—

—

—

—

1954

14,634

—

—

—

13,983

—

—

—

—

—

1955

18,514

—

—

—

16,363

—

—

—

27

—

1956

18,591

—

—

—

17,729

—

—

—

237

—

1957

22,472

—

—

—

21,984

—

—

—

491

—

1958

23,540

—

—

—

23,297

—

—

—

868

—

1959

26,322

—

—

—

25,207

—

—

—

1,142

—

1960

26,071

—

—

—

25,829

—

—

—

—

—

1961

32,100

—

—

—

30,063

—

—

—

1,497

—

1962

35,304

—

—

—

34,741

—

—

—

—

—

1963

34,796

—

—

—

34,959

—

—

—

—

—

1964

35,056

—

—

—

35,448

—

—

—

—

—

1965

35,897

—

—

—

35,345

—

—

—

—

—

1966

44,774

—

—

—

48,473

—

—

—

2,114

—

1967

48,092

—

47,004

—

49,650

—

—

—

2,191

—

1968

53,142

—

52,459

—

54,770

—

—

—

2,411

—

1969

53,543

—

50,488

—

54,405

—

—

—

2,710

—

1970

54,164

—

50,048

—

53,648

—

—

—

2,711

—

1971

56,443

—

52,225

—

55,438

—

—

—

3,225

—

1972

56,260

—

52,485

—

56,443

—

—

—

4,400

—

1973

68,340

—

62,609

—

59,542

—

—

—

6,300

—

1974

76,762

77,811

71,187

68,763

77,956

—

—

—

10,300

—

1975

82,791

80,024

74,993

70,306

84,037

86,168

—

—

10,100

—

1976

87,125

83,632

77,920

71,979

87,487

89,045

—

—

9,300

—

1977

88,257

85,036

80,054

77,017

89,848

90,835

—

—

9,400

—

1978

86,563

85,948

77,684

77,428

86,449

88,088

—

—

9,600

—

1979

84,629

83,994

75,230

75,630

85,996

87,725

—

—

—

9,625

1980

84,269

82,931

74,498

74,271

84,937

86,539

—

—

—

9,701

1981

86,948

85,802

74,330

74,863

84,262

85,958

78,842

—

—

10,794

1982

88,611

88,267

74,880

74,820

86,640

88,163

82,000

—

—

12,513

1983

86,131

86,004

74,604

74,430

88,254

89,299

82,483

—

—

12,887

1984

83,980

83,398

73,944

72,047

86,185

87,864

79,951

—

—

12,924

1985

83,505

84,194

72,225

73,186

82,131

83,406

77,741

—

—

13,074

1986

77,358

81,113

68,962

71,596

78,746

79,225

75,494

—

—

13,302

1987

71,024

75,730

64,529

68,726

72,721

73,408

70,784

—

—

12,502

1988

68,908

68,116

63,029

61,903

68,558

69,286

66,835

—

—

11,963

1989

66,597

65,885

61,131

60,328

66,311

66,931

64,621

—

—

11,634

1990

65,978

65,161

61,067

60,281

64,155

65,025

62,836

—

—

11,177

1991

68,270

67,371

63,715

62,653

64,844

66,040

62,850

—

—

11,738

1992

67,398

66,362

62,398

61,538

66,164

68,135

64,324

—

—

13,225

1993

65,906

64,925

61,640

60,818

66,202

66,623

63,771

—

—

13,298

1994

67,590

66,362

62,434

61,161

66,259

66,741

64,017

—

14,325

13,267

1995

67,925

66,719

62,504

61,304

66,537

67,063

64,135

109

14,591

13,478

1996

67,398

67,132

62,133

61,294

66,154

66,726

63,418

247

14,298

12,938

1997

67,750

67,328

61,224

60,386

68,710

69,378

64,574

314

15,063

14,118

1998

65,407

65,629

59,943

59,719

66,540

67,210

63,339

388

15,563

14,330

1999

—

63,957

59,752

58,900

65,760

66,459

62,312

428

15,792

14,611

2000

—

64,521

60,434

59,322

64,771

65,521

61,698

517

15,659

14,231

2001

—

65,377

61,490

60,565

64,557

65,562

61,743

559

—

14,397

2002

—

64,648

61,914

60,791

64,829

65,742

62,214

564

—

14,947

2003

—

64,903

63,569

61,410

64,515

65,343

62,264

566

—

14,700

2004

—

65,258

63,186

61,882

64,764

66,154

62,513

594

—

14,772

2005

—

66,147

63,696

62,654

65,182

68,026

61,790

610

—

15,038

2006

—

63,647

61,692

61,394

64,604

66,878

61,468

608

—

14,653

2007

—

62,407

60,206

60,022

63,076

63,939

60,814

597

—

13,916

2008

—

63,990

61,920

61,486

63,485

64,358

60,456

583

15,361

13,605

2009

—

67,632

65,203

64,696

66,302

67,170

63,187

576

16,814

14,224

2010

—

69,963

67,548

66,666

69,891

70,758

66,398

583

18,268

16,021

2011

—

67,136

64,744

64,539

69,077

69,936

66,749

574

17,064

16,739

2012

—

65,113

62,943

62,599

66,333

67,208

63,760

569

16,075

14,913

2013

—

62,543

59,823

59,643

63,807

64,601

61,627

558

15,279

14,081

2014

—

64,684

62,956

61,946

63,230

64,006

60,105

539

16,966

14,187

2015

—

65,717

63,466

62,813

66,247

67,004

63,170

528

16,168

14,925

2016

—

64,394

62,685

62,560

65,062

65,798

62,949

522

16,797

15,152

2017

—

62,297

61,250

60,879

63,222

63,957

60,664

512

15,458

14,522

2018

—

62,519

61,011

60,726

63,360

64,095

60,160

496

14,750

13,665

2019

—

61,991

60,450

60,170

63,828

64,576

60,470

508

14,906

13,429

2020

—

61,447

60,364

59,829

61,553

62,291

59,574

519

14,891

13,028

2021

—

59,808

58,952

58,582

61,112

61,830

59,195

499

15,297

13,758

2022

—

57,754

56,907

56,461

59,903

60,570

57,568

479

14,571

13,825

2023

—

61,410

60,026

59,912

61,225

61,771

58,293

500

15,343

13,554

2024

—

58,409

57,148

56,931

60,127

60,817

57,820

508

14,469

13,643

2025

—

52,045

—

51,157

55,805

56,444

53,906

473

13,700

13,017

2026

—

49,683

—

48,893

54,352

55,082

50,935

455

—

12,561

Sources: CRS analysis of data from Social Security Advisory Board, How the Social Security Administration Can Improve Its Service to the Public, September 1999; various SSA responses to questions for the record; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Annual Report, 1970, and earlier editions; Federal Security Agency, Annual Report of the Federal Security Agency, 1952, and earlier editions; Social Security Board, Annual Report of the Social Security Board, 1945, and earlier editions; OPM's Federal Workforce Data and FedScope systems; the Internet Archive's Federal Employment Data from the Office of Personnel Management; SSA, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2027, and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2024, and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Report to the Congress, 1994, and earlier editions; Office of Management and Budget, Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1996, and earlier editions; SSA, SSA Weekly Operational Report Meeting, April 25, 2025; SSA, "Total State DDS Employees by State FY2010 to FY2023"; SSA, Office of the Inspector General, The Social Security Administration's Progress in Reducing the Initial Disability Claims Backlog, April 2014; SSA, "FY 2000 State Agency Operations Report," and earlier editions; General Accounting Office (GAO), More Diligent Followup Needed To Weed Out Ineligible SSA Disability Beneficiaries, March 1981; U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Committee Staff Report on the Disability Insurance Program, 93^rd Cong., 2^nd sess., July 1974; and GAO, Social Security: Increasing Number of Disability Claims and Deteriorating Service, November 1993.

Notes: "—" = not available or not applicable. The data for SSA Total Staff on Duty for FY1936-FY1946 are for the Social Security Board, which was replaced by SSA in July 1946. For the metric SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty, the SSA data include seasonal employees, while the OPM data exclude seasonal employees. The data for LAE-Only Activities for FY1941-FY1962 are for the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance. Prior to FY1979, the President's budget referred to the LAE account as the Limitation on Salaries and Expenses account, the Salaries and Expenses account, or the Salaries account. The data for LAE-Only Activities and SSA FTEs exclude reimbursable work. (The SSA FTE data for FY2023-FY2026 in Table 2 include reimbursable work.) The FY1972-FY1978 and FY2025 data for State DDS Total Staff on Duty are rounded. The FY2026 data for SSA Total Staff on Duty and SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty are through February 2026. The FY2026 data for SSA Total Work Years, SSA and OIG FTEs, and State DDS Total Work Years are estimates from SSA's FY2027 congressional budget justification.

Footnotes

1.

See CRS Report R47097, Social Security Administration (SSA): Trends in the Annual Limitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE) Appropriation.

2.

Reimbursable work is work that SSA performs on behalf of another entity under a reimbursable agreement.

3.

SSA's Office of the Inspector General is funded primarily by a separate administrative appropriations account.

4.

Examples of special temporary workloads include SSA's work related to Medicare reform and the implementation of Part D in the mid-2000s, its work related to Medicare replacement cards in the mid-to-late 2010s, and its work related to recovery rebates (also known as economic impact payments or stimulus payments) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

5.

Examples of SSA's past administrative responsibilities include federal credit unions; all of Medicare; Black Lung (Part B); refugee assistance; Aid to Families with Dependent Children; the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program; child support enforcement; and cash assistance for the aged, blind, and disabled in the territories.

Source: Social Security Administration agency contingency plans for 2018-2024.

Notes: "—" = not applicable. The office Operations includes field offices, teleservice centers, regional offices, program service centers, and the Office of Central Operations.