Are There “Hot Spots” of Primary Impairments among New SSDI Awardees – and Do We Know Why?
Evidence | Publications

Are There “Hot Spots” of Primary Impairments among New SSDI Awardees – and Do We Know Why?

WP#2021-23
Published: Dec 01, 2021
Publisher: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Health Disability Economic Well Being and Income Support Federal
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Full Publication
Associated Project

Retirement and Disability Research Consortium

Time frame: 2018-2023

Prepared for:

Social Security Administration

Authors

Jody Schimmel Hyde

Anna Hill

Jonathan Schwabish

Aaron R. Williams

Key Findings
  • SSDI awards by impairment groups have geographic patterns that show important variation across state lines as well as within state borders.
  • The general geographic patterns that show cross- and within-state differences are stable over time, but PUMA “hot spots” are not always the same in each year.
  • Regression analysis shows that demographic and socioeconomic factors explain part of the observed variation in award shares, but the estimated effects are small, suggesting that other factors may be critical determinants of local-level variation in award shares.

This study examines local-level variation in the primary disabling conditions of new awardees for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) from 2005 through 2018.

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