Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

There is wide geographic variation in Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplementary Security Income (SSI) participation across the U.S. Some policy makers and members of public may assume that the administrative inconsistencies are a major reason for the geographic variation. To determine if this is the case and to also explain the variation, we decompose the total variation into components: disability prevalence, participation among persons with disabilities, and the correlation between disability prevalence and participation among persons with disabilities. We further decompose the variation in participation among persons with disabilities into socioeconomic components. Our findings strongly suggest that that the wide geographic variation is mainly an indication of geographic variation in disability prevalence and socioeconomic characteristics and that inconsistency in program administration is not a major reason for the variation. Approximately 90% of the geographic variation in DI/SSI participation can be accounted for by the wide geographic variations in disability prevalence and socioeconomic characteristics. The accounting is different for DI compared to SSI. More of the variation in DI participation is accounted for by variation in disability prevalence and less by socioeconomic characteristics compared to SSI. Compared to DI, variation in the characteristics associated with economically disadvantaged areas accounts for more of the variation in SSI participation.