The social security index is a list of people who have died, and is kept by the Social Security Administration. It is kept by this agency as these are the details of people who have had a social security number, but have died - so the Social Security Administration needs to keep track of these identities to prevent fraud and identity theft.

Because of the Freedom of Information Act, government agencies are required to make information of this nature available to the general public for any legitimate (non-illegal) use.

As a side effect of this, these records have become invaluable for anyone seeking to do research about someones life, whether it is for a history project, researching a family tree, or tracing missing persons.

In order to access the full database directly from the SSA, you need to order a DVD with the complete list of records on it. This is purchased through a subscription which costs $6,900 for US, Canadian and Mexican citizens. This is much more money than most people are willing to pay.

Luckily, there are third party services available which provide access to this information at a tiny fraction of the price. They know that you do not want all the information on the entire database, just certain records relating to the people you are researching. So they have put the database on line, making it possible for you to search through a web site to find only the data you need.

The best services offer access to the social security index searches and other databases together in one interface, allowing you to coordinate the information you find to get a complete picture.

To see which service I recommend most of all, click on the link below.