Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Levels: Data Brief

Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Levels: Data Brief

Social Security Administration (SSA) Staffing Levels: Data Brief

September 29, 2025 (R48725)

Contents

Introduction

Historical Staffing Levels

Recent Staffing Levels by Office or Component

Recent Staffing Levels by State or Area

Figures

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

Figure 2. SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year

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 Figures and FTE Data

Introduction

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency in the executive branch headed by the commissioner of Social Security. It is responsible for administering Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which are the nation's primary income support programs for older adults and individuals with disabilities. SSA is also responsible for supporting the administration of a number of non-SSA programs and activities, such as portions of Medicare. In FY2024, SSA employed about 58,000 federal workers and funded about 14,000 state disability determination services (DDS) employees to carry out its programs and other administrative responsibilities.¹ The agency operates more than 1,500 offices across the country and around the world. SSA is headquartered in Woodlawn, MD, outside of Baltimore.

This report provides selected data on SSA's historical and recent staffing levels (including state DDS staffing levels) across a number of different metrics. The historical and recent periods used in this report are based, in part, on the public availability of data for each metric.

Historical Staffing Levels

Figure 1 shows SSA total staff on duty at the end of the fiscal year for FY1964-FY2024. This metric includes full-time, part-time, and temporary employees.

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

FY1964-FY2024

Sources: Office of Personnel Management, "FedScope," https://www.fedscope.opm.gov/; Social Security Advisory Board, How the Social Security Administration Can Improve Its Service to the Public, September 1999, Table 1, p. 22, https://www.ssab.gov/research/how-the-social-security-administration-can-improve-its-service-to-the-public/; various Social Security Administration responses to questions for the record; and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Annual Report, 1967, December 1967, and earlier editions.

Note: See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the underlying data, as well as additional years of data.

Figure 2 shows SSA full-time permanent staff on duty at the end of the fiscal year for FY1967-FY2024.

Figure 2. SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year

FY1967-FY2024

Sources: Social Security Administration (SSA), Annual Statistical Supplement, 2024, December 2024, Table 2.F3, https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/, and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Report to the Congress, 1994, July 1994, and earlier editions; and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Annual Report, 1970, December 1970.

Note: See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the underlying data.

Figure 3 shows SSA total work years for FY1964-FY2024. According to SSA, a work year "is a measure of time spent doing work or being paid for some element of time (e.g., leave). It is the equivalent of one person working for one year (2,080 hours) and may consist of regular hours, overtime, or lump sum leave, which is payment for unused annual leave upon leaving the agency."² Work years include work performed by full-time, part-time, and temporary employees. SSA calculates total work years as the sum of full-time equivalent (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).

Figure 3 displays two types of work-year metrics across two partially overlapping periods: LAE-only activities (FY1964-FY1997) and all activities (FY1975-FY2024). 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.³ The metric all activities includes LAE work years in addition to work years that are attributable to reimbursable work,⁴ SSA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG),⁵ special temporary workloads,⁶ and, prior to FY1998, certain other programs and activities for which SSA had administrative responsibilities.⁷

Figure 3. SSA Total Work Years, by Type

FY1964-FY2024 (Selected Years)

Sources: Social Security Administration (SSA), Annual Statistical Supplement, 2024, Table 2.F3, https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/, and earlier editions; SSA, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2026, May 2025, https://www.ssa.gov/budget/, and earlier editions; SSA, Annual Report to the Congress, 1994, and earlier editions; various SSA responses to questions for the record; and Bureau of the Budget, Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1966, January 1965.

Notes: LAE = Limitation on Administrative Expenses. See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the underlying data, as well as additional years of data for LAE-Only Activities.

Figure 4 shows state DDS total staff on duty at the end of the fiscal year for FY2008-FY2024. State DDSs 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.⁸

Figure 4. State Disability Determination Services (DDS) Total Staff on Duty at the End of the Fiscal Year

FY2008-FY2024

Sources: Social Security Administration (SSA), SSA Weekly Operational Report Meeting, April 25, 2025, slide 26, https://web.archive.org/web/20250429140916/https://www.ssa.gov/news/assets/materials/wor/2025-04-25.pdf; SSA, "Total State DDS Employees by State FY2010 to FY2023," https://www.ssa.gov/foia/resources/proactivedisclosure/2025/Total%20State%20DDS%20Employees%20by%20State%20FY2010%20to%20FY2023.xlsx (Excel spreadsheet); and SSA, Office of the Inspector General, The Social Security Administration's Progress in Reducing the Initial Disability Claims Backlog, April 2014, Table 1, p. 5, https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-07-13-13073_0.pdf.

Note: See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the underlying data.

Figure 5 shows state DDS total work years for FY1979-FY2024.

Figure 5. State DDS Total Work Years

FY1979-FY2024

Sources: Social Security Administration (SSA), Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2026, and earlier editions; various SSA responses to questions for the record; and General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office), Social Security: Increasing Number of Disability Claims and Deteriorating Service, HRD-94-11, November 1993, Figure 1.1, p. 9, https://www.gao.gov/products/hrd-94-11.

Note: See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the underlying data.

See Table A-1 in the Appendix for the data underlying the figures shown in this section, additional years of data for certain metrics, and historical data on FTEs.

Recent Staffing Levels by Office or Component

Table 1 shows estimated SSA staff on duty from agency contingency plans, by office, for 2018-2024. The staff counts are estimated for the end of September or the beginning of October of the year shown using actual staff counts from July or August of that year. Entries for some offices are blank (i.e.,—) because the office did not exist at the time. Because SSA underwent several reorganizations in 2025, some of the offices shown in the table may no longer exist, and their staff and functions may have been transferred to other offices.⁹

Table 1. Estimated SSA Staff on Duty from Agency Contingency Plans, by Office

2018-2024

Office

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Total

61,663

63,203

62,987

62,971

61,757

61,869

59,058

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

931

916

880

884

891

870

859

Commissioner

25

31

27

29

27

28

32

Communications

155

146

142

141

148

150

144

Hearings Operations

9,664

9,386

8,370

8,156

7,675

8,086

7,471

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

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

Retirement and Disability 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

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.

Table 2 shows FTE employees, by component, for FY2019-FY2024. As discussed earlier, some agency components shown below may no longer exist due to organizational changes in 2025.

Table 2. Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employees, by Component

FY2019-FY2024

Component

FY2019

FY2020

FY2021

FY2022

FY2023

FY2024

SSA Total (Excluding OIG)

60,470

59,573

59,195

57,568

58,485

57,998

Field Offices

27,358

27,230

27,251

26,997

27,673

26,839

Teleservice Centers

4,307

4,567

4,790

4,167

4,078

3,947

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

Office of Hearings Operations

9,335

8,549

7,970

7,553

7,465

7,512

Office of Systems/Chief Information Officer

3,084

3,048

3,138

3,074

3,285

3,293

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

Headquarters

2,744

2,667

2,567

2,547

2,848

3,161

State DDS

13,149

12,780

13,421

13,462

13,166

13,424

OIG

508

519

499

479

500

508

Source: Social Security Administration (SSA), Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2026, and earlier editions.

Notes: DDS = Disability Determination Services. OIG = Office of the Inspector General. Subtotals may not sum to totals due to rounding. The SSA FTE data for FY2023 and FY2024 include reimbursable work. (The SSA FTE data in Table A-1 in the Appendix exclude reimbursable work.)

Recent Staffing Levels by State or Area

Table 3 shows SSA total staff on duty, by state or area, for September 2018-2024 and March 2025. The data reflect SSA employees in pay status at the end of the applicable period and are grouped by the state or area in which each employee's official duty station is located (as defined by the Office of Personnel Management). In some cases, the data are suppressed due to small cell size or certain other reasons. In other cases, the data are not reported for a given period.

Table 3. SSA Total Staff on Duty, by State or Area

September 2018-2024 and March 2025

State or Area

Sept. 2018

Sept. 2019

Sept. 2020

Sept. 2021

Sept. 2022

Sept. 2023

Sept. 2024

Mar. 2025

All Areas

62,519

61,991

61,447

59,808

57,754

61,410

58,409

56,263

50 States and DC

62,092

61,576

61,053

59,423

57,368

60,960

57,898

55,776

Alabama

2,494

2,433

2,554

2,525

2,341

2,600

2,545

2,459

Alaska

47

45

42

37

42

40

39

37

Arizona

709

707

699

669

647

694

635

634

Arkansas

451

448

436

433

432

445

422

410

California

6,138

6,175

6,126

5,892

5,774

6,199

5,773

5,600

Colorado

695

671

681

662

628

670

628

600

Connecticut

343

339

338

327

320

359

289

278

Delaware

105

101

105

100

104

113

107

101

District of Columbia

227

220

212

207

195

231

951

904

Florida

2,660

2,703

2,669

2,604

2,547

2,860

2,694

2,621

Georgia

1,727

1,679

1,667

1,620

1,615

1,680

1,634

1,605

Hawaii

137

136

128

124

130

144

137

127

Idaho

148

153

146

141

141

149

140

135

Illinois

2,896

2,825

2,758

2,728

2,667

2,772

2,596

2,452

Indiana

774

757

738

722

698

747

695

669

Iowa

259

252

254

246

257

269

253

236

Kansas

268

262

257

258

259

254

234

227

Kentucky

760

750

725

705

681

756

724

704

Louisiana

663

646

633

612

594

650

607

580

Maine

175

175

178

168

171

178

169

170

Maryland

10,589

10,466

10,411

10,176

9,736

10,307

9,751

9,480

Massachusetts

1,055

1,050

1,034

1,016

979

1,010

983

950

Michigan

1,305

1,322

1,286

1,281

1,259

1,303

1,241

1,199

Minnesota

426

432

420

417

398

429

404

390

Mississippi

563

546

542

520

508

552

537

520

Missouri

2,559

2,540

2,510

2,511

2,353

2,539

2,401

2,311

Montana

118

114

114

113

108

117

110

101

Nebraska

147

148

143

144

148

153

146

150

Nevada

280

284

269

261

252

274

267

255

New Hampshire

135

139

136

129

138

144

143

140

New Jersey

854

877

843

801

778

862

840

822

New Mexico

884

892

821

784

703

753

722

672

New York

3,655

3,770

3,730

3,611

3,539

3,666

3,468

3,381

North Carolina

1,374

1,343

1,314

1,310

1,263

1,377

1,319

1,278

North Dakota

98

93

93

87

83

89

77

80

Ohio

1,475

1,460

1,439

1,400

1,349

1,411

1,341

1,286

Oklahoma

483

473

468

458

474

498

469

455

Oregon

399

391

394

389

360

374

345

339

Pennsylvania

3,937

3,891

4,107

3,926

3,766

3,886

3,791

3,654

Rhode Island

155

141

143

143

141

152

143

142

South Carolina

628

607

609

606

594

632

604

583

South Dakota

83

84

83

85

85

88

78

80

Tennessee

1,020

992

960

936

928

968

927

908

Texas

3,294

3,291

3,271

3,277

3,134

3,352

3,291

3,185

Utah

173

173

179

176

173

191

176

167

Vermont

54

49

53

52

51

59

54

55

Virginia

1,919

1,855

1,742

1,632

1,526

1,520

719

678

Washington

1,489

1,435

1,381

1,269

1,165

1,257

1,149

1,110

West Virginia

361

347

331

303

310

337

309

300

Wisconsin

600

586

575

556

553

562

541

524

Wyoming

36

38

42

39

38

40

35

32

Suppressed

268

270

264

235

233

248

245

a

U.S. Territories

396

382

363

354

357

419

437

a

American Samoa

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

a

Guam

14

14

NA

15

16

17

17

a

Northern Mariana Islands

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

a

Puerto Rico

364

347

331

318

320

378

398

a

U.S. Virgin Islands

b

b

b

b

b

13

b

a

Foreign Countries

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

a

Unspecified

31

33

31

31

29

31

74

a

Source: Office of Personnel Management, "FedScope," https://www.fedscope.opm.gov/.

Notes: DC = District of Columbia. Data for March 2025 are preliminary.

a. FedScope's preliminary March 2025 dataset does not report data for the rows suppressed, U.S. territories, foreign countries, and unspecified. Instead, the dataset includes an entry titled "Redacted," which was 487.

b. The data for this area are suppressed (i.e., FedScope reports "NA" for this area).

Appendix. Data Underlying Figures and FTE Data

Table A-1 provides the data underlying the figures shown in the body of the report. The table includes additional years of data for SSA total staff on duty and SSA total work years (LAE-only activities), as well as data on SSA FTEs and OIG FTEs. 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-FY2024 (Selected Years)

Fiscal Year

SSA Total Staff on Duty

SSA Full-Time Permanent Staff on Duty

SSA Total Work Years

State DDS Total Staff on Duty

State DDS Total Work Years

SSA FTEs (Excluding OIG)

OIG FTEs

LAE-Only Activities

All Activities

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

—

—

—

—

—

1956

18,591

—

17,729

—

—

—

—

—

1957

22,472

—

21,984

—

—

—

—

—

1958

23,540

—

23,297

—

—

—

—

—

1959

26,322

—

25,207

—

—

—

—

—

1960

26,071

—

25,829

—

—

—

—

—

1961

32,100

—

30,063

—

—

—

—

—

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

—

—

—

—

—

1967

48,092

47,004

49,650

—

—

—

—

—

1968

53,142

52,459

54,770

—

—

—

—

—

1969

53,543

50,488

54,405

—

—

—

—

—

1970

54,164

50,048

53,648

—

—

—

—

—

1971

56,443

52,225

55,438

—

—

—

—

—

1972

56,260

52,485

56,443

—

—

—

—

—

1973

68,340

62,609

59,542

—

—

—

—

—

1974

76,762

71,187

77,956

—

—

—

—

—

1975

82,791

74,993

84,037

86,168

—

—

—

—

1976

87,125

77,920

87,487

89,045

—

—

—

—

1977

88,257

80,054

89,848

90,835

—

—

—

—

1978

86,563

77,684

86,449

88,088

—

—

—

—

1979

84,629

75,230

85,996

87,725

—

9,625

—

—

1980

84,269

74,498

84,937

86,539

—

9,701

—

—

1981

86,948

74,330

84,262

85,958

—

10,794

78,842

—

1982

88,611

74,880

86,640

88,163

—

12,513

82,000

—

1983

86,131

74,604

88,254

89,299

—

12,887

82,483

—

1984

83,980

73,944

86,185

87,864

—

12,924

79,951

—

1985

83,505

72,225

82,131

83,406

—

13,074

77,741

—

1986

77,358

68,962

78,746

79,225

—

13,302

75,494

—

1987

71,024

64,529

72,721

73,408

—

12,502

70,784

—

1988

68,908

63,029

68,558

69,286

—

11,963

66,835

—

1989

66,597

61,131

66,311

66,931

—

11,634

64,621

—

1990

65,978

61,067

64,155

65,025

—

11,177

62,836

—

1991

68,270

63,715

64,844

66,040

—

11,738

62,850

—

1992

67,398

62,398

66,164

68,135

—

13,225

64,324

—

1993

65,906

61,640

66,202

66,623

—

13,298

63,771

—

1994

67,590

62,434

66,259

66,741

—

13,267

64,017

—

1995

67,925

62,504

66,537

67,063

—

13,478

64,135

109

1996

67,398

62,133

66,154

66,726

—

12,938

63,418

247

1997

67,750

61,224

68,710

69,378

—

14,118

64,574

314

1998

65,629

59,943

—

67,210

—

14,330

63,339

388

1999

63,957

59,752

65,760

66,459

—

14,611

62,312

428

2000

64,521

60,434

—

65,521

—

14,231

61,698

517

2001

65,377

61,490

—

65,562

—

14,397

61,743

559

2002

64,648

61,914

—

65,742

—

14,947

62,214

564

2003

64,903

63,569

—

65,343

—

14,700

62,264

566

2004

65,258

63,186

—

66,154

—

14,772

62,513

594

2005

66,147

63,696

—

68,026

—

15,038

61,790

610

2006

63,647

61,692

—

66,878

—

14,653

61,468

608

2007

62,407

60,206

—

63,939

—

13,916

60,814

597

2008

63,990

61,920

—

64,358

15,361

13,605

60,456

583

2009

67,632

65,203

—

67,170

16,814

14,224

63,187

576

2010

69,963

67,548

—

70,758

18,268

16,021

66,398

583

2011

67,136

64,744

—

69,936

17,064

16,739

66,749

574

2012

65,113

62,943

—

67,208

16,075

14,913

63,760

569

2013

62,543

59,823

—

64,601

15,279

14,081

61,627

558

2014

64,684

62,956

—

64,006

16,966

14,187

60,105

539

2015

65,717

63,466

—

67,004

16,168

14,925

63,170

528

2016

64,394

62,685

—

65,798

16,797

15,152

62,949

522

2017

62,297

61,250

—

63,957

15,458

14,522

60,664

512

2018

62,519

61,011

—

64,095

14,750

13,665

60,160

496

2019

61,991

60,450

63,828

64,576

14,906

13,429

60,470

508

2020

61,447

60,364

61,553

62,291

14,891

13,028

59,574

519

2021

59,808

58,952

61,112

61,830

15,297

13,758

59,195

499

2022

57,754

56,907

59,903

60,570

14,571

13,825

57,568

479

2023

61,410

60,026

61,225

61,771

15,343

13,554

58,293

500

2024

58,409

57,148

60,127

60,817

14,469

13,643

57,820

508

Footnotes

1.

Social Security Administration (SSA), Annual Performance Report for Fiscal Year 2024, January 2025, p. 6, https://www.ssa.gov/agency/performance/materials/2024/SSA_FY24_APR.pdf.

2.

SSA, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees for Fiscal Year 2026, May 2025, p. 7, https://www.ssa.gov/budget/assets/materials/2026/FY26-JEAC.pdf.

3.

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

4.

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

5.

SSA's OIG is funded primarily by a separate administrative appropriations account.

6.

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.

7.

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. For more information, see SSA, "Organizational History," https://www.ssa.gov/history/orghist.html; National Archives, "Records of the Social Security Administration [SSA]," https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/047.html; and Rita L. DiSimone, "Social Security Administration Created as an Independent Agency: P.L. 103-296," Social Security Bulletin, January 1995, p. 59, https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v58n1/v58n1p57.pdf.

8.

For more information on state DDSs, see Social Security Advisory Board, "Social Security: Improving Hiring Processes at State Disability Determination Services," September 2025, https://www.ssab.gov/announcements/social-security-improving-hiring-processes-at-state-disability-determination-services/.

9.

For more information on SSA's reorganizations in 2025, see SSA, "Press Releases," https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/index.html.