Scripps Howard News Service identified 31,931 Americans who had been falsely listed as deceased by the Social Security Administration in its Death Master File.
Of these, the federal agency provided enough information to determine the state of residence of 24,045 people. Below are the numbers or errors per state and the error rate per 100,000 population within each state.
States with unusually high levels of errors are Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.
State ......... Errors .......... Rate
Alabama .......... 415 ........... 8.7
Alaska ............ 11 ........... 1.6
Arizona .......... 404 ........... 6.3
Arkansas ......... 242 ........... 8.3
California ..... 2,872 ........... 7.7
Colorado ......... 322 ........... 6.4
Connecticut ...... 350 ........... 9.8
Delaware .......... 88 ........... 9.8
D.C. ............. 108 .......... 17.9
Florida ........ 1,194 ........... 6.4
Georgia .......... 766 ........... 7.9
Hawaii ............ 89 ........... 6.5
Idaho ............. 77 ........... 4.9
Illinois ....... 1,695 .......... 13.2
Indiana .......... 450 ........... 6.9
Iowa ............. 149 ........... 4.9
Kansas ........... 147 ........... 5.2
Kentucky ......... 351 ........... 8.1
Louisiana ........ 682 .......... 15.0
Maine ............. 85 ........... 6.4
Maryland ......... 505 ........... 8.8
Massachusetts .... 661 .......... 10.1
Michigan ......... 882 ........... 8.9
Minnesota ........ 296 ........... 5.6
Mississippi ...... 267 ........... 9.0
Missouri ......... 453 ........... 7.6
Montana ........... 68 ........... 6.8
Nebraska .......... 96 ........... 5.3
Nevada ........... 124 ........... 4.6
New Hampshire ..... 66 ........... 5.0
New Jersey ....... 715 ........... 8.1
New Mexico ....... 139 ........... 6.8
New York ....... 1,794 ........... 9.3
North Carolina ... 642 ........... 6.7
North Dakota ...... 29 ........... 4.3
Ohio ........... 1,054 ........... 9.1
Oklahoma ......... 357 ........... 9.5
Oregon ........... 234 ........... 6.1
Pennsylvania ... 1,191 ........... 9.4
Rhode Island ..... 134 .......... 12.7
South Carolina ... 243 ........... 5.3
South Dakota ...... 39 ........... 4.8
Tennessee ........ 481 ........... 7.6
Texas .......... 1,511 ........... 6.0
Utah .............. 97 ........... 3.5
Vermont ........... 34 ........... 5.4
Virginia ......... 511 ........... 6.4
Washington ....... 446 ........... 6.6
West Virginia .... 144 ........... 7.8
Wisconsin ........ 314 ........... 5.5
Wyoming ........... 21 ........... 3.7
USA ........... 24,045 ........... 7.8
Source: Scripps Howard News Service analysis of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File for 1998, 2008 and 2011.
wdgnas posted at 4:24 am on Tue, Jul 12, 2011.
i'm not dead yet. from monty python and the holy grail.