Social Security Death Index, where is it?

January 15, 2019 7:49 PM

It seems unbelievable but I am searching on Google and I am not seeing a site where I can search the Social Security Death Index (for the US in case that wasn't clear) for free and without registering. How can it be possible that these public records aren't online? I would have thought (given all the trouble I had to go through to access it 25 years ago, going to the local LDS church and looking it up on microfiche) that by now it would be easily findable and free. What am I missing, researchers? Thanks.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

Easiest way in is via Family Search (LDS). It's free
posted by jessamyn at 7:50 PM on January 15, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks Jessamyn but there is a registration for that. Any sites that do not require registration (because my info is no one's business).
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 7:52 PM on January 15, 2019

Best answer: There's this much less nice interface which seems to work OK.
posted by jessamyn at 8:00 PM on January 15, 2019 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Wow, that's incredible. I had no idea. Social Security Death Index

(and yeah jessamyn's second link worked great for my test case)
posted by intermod at 8:42 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That's perfect actually! Thanks!
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 9:10 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: w/r/t "by now it would be easily findable and free"

Because of lazily-handled concerns about identity theft, access to the Social Security Death Master File became more restricted in 2011 and 2013. People like me who advocate shaping policy around open access rather than vice versa were very discouraged by this large public dataset becoming less public.

Some more details here from a research genealogist.
posted by Glomar response at 5:07 AM on January 16, 2019 [7 favorites]