The Jacksonville Social Security Offices on Bentley Road, Dunn Avenue and in St. Augustine

Which Social Security office serves a Jacksonville ZIP code?

It depends on which part of the area you live in. Social Security's office locator assigns each ZIP code it lists to one field office, and the Jacksonville area is divided among three. Assignments can change, so enter your address in the locator rather than going by the city in your mailing address.

Despite its name, the Jacksonville South office covers far more than the Southside. Downtown, Riverside, Arlington, the Westside, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and the Clay County ZIP codes in the table go to Bentley Road, while Jacksonville North takes a smaller set of Northside ZIP codes plus Nassau County. The office the locator names handles the non-medical side of your claim, so it is the place to call about that part of a pending claim before it reaches a hearing office. You can apply online, by phone or at a field office.

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Addresses, Phone Numbers and Mail for the Three Offices

The locator lists all three as open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on weekends. Hours and closures can change, so check the office's own locator page before you go.

• Jacksonville South: Suite 1, 7185 Bentley Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256. Phone 1-877-409-8424, fax 1-833-554-0369.

• Jacksonville North: 1685 Dunn Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32218. Phone 1-866-635-0789, fax 1-833-950-2216.

• St. Augustine: 2428 Old Moultrie Road, St. Augustine, FL 32086. Phone 1-877-405-5867, fax 1-833-921-1883.

All three list their street addresses for mail. When you answer a notice, use the return address printed on it. The national number, 1-800-772-1213, can also schedule a phone or in-person appointment, and a phone appointment can save a trip if you only need to ask about a letter.

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What the field office handles and what Florida's disability division decides

The field office checks the eligibility points that have nothing to do with your health, such as age, employment, marital status and Social Security coverage, then sends the case on for the medical decision, as Social Security's page on the disability determination process describes. The state agency usually asks your own doctors and clinics for records first and can schedule a consultative examination when they are unavailable or not enough.

In Florida that agency is the Division of Disability Determinations in the Florida Department of Health. It makes the medical decision, not the non-medical one, on Social Security disability and SSI claims and on claims under Florida's Medically Needy program, and it also conducts the periodic continuing disability reviews of people already receiving benefits.

Reconsideration, the first appeal after a denial, generally must be requested within 60 days after you receive the denial notice (Social Security assumes you received it 5 days after the date on it unless you show otherwise), online, by phone, by mail or in person, and when the denial was medical the review goes back to the division. A hearing request after a reconsideration denial moves the case to a hearing office.

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Which hearing office takes a Jacksonville disability appeal

All three offices are on the list of the Jacksonville hearing office, at Building 400, Suite 400, 8880 Freedom Crossing Trail, Jacksonville, FL 32256, phone 1-866-931-0124. The hearing office list behind Social Security's hearing office locator, Appendix F of the agency's privacy notice for hearing records and the offices' locator records agree on that. The same list takes the Gainesville, Lake City, DeLand and Port Orange field offices, and Appendix F names a satellite office of the Jacksonville hearing office in Port Orange for the Port Orange and DeLand areas.

The hearing office and the Jacksonville South field office are both on the Southside, in ZIP code 32256, but they do different jobs: the field office takes applications and appeal requests, and the hearing office schedules and holds hearings, which may be held by phone or video rather than in that building.

Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is set by the claimant's residence address. To ask for a different hearing office, make the request through a Social Security field office with a signed statement giving your reasons, and Social Security decides whether to transfer the case. A hearing can be in person, by agency video at a Social Security site, by phone, or by online video if you agree to it, and you can object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing within 30 days after you receive the notice of the ways you can attend, or later with good cause, although Social Security can still schedule a phone hearing over an objection in limited circumstances. The Notice of Hearing names the office and the format. Separately, Social Security's hearings manual lets management move a batch of cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, and the office that receives the cases notifies you and your representative. Our Jacksonville disability lawyer page covers the hearing office in more detail, and our hearing office directory lists the rest.

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Clay, Nassau, St. Johns and Baker Counties: where the edges go

At the edges of the area, the field office is not always the one closest to you, and the county line does not decide it. The locator assigns the Clay County ZIP codes in the table, from Orange Park and Fleming Island to Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, Penney Farms and Keystone Heights, to Jacksonville South, and so does Macclenny in Baker County. The Nassau County ZIP codes in the table, including Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Callahan and Hilliard, go to Jacksonville North, and the St. Johns County ZIP codes, including St. Johns, Ponte Vedra and Hastings, go to St. Augustine.

Starke, in Bradford County, goes to the Gainesville field office at 4562 NW 13th Street, which is also on the Jacksonville hearing office list. Because every office named here is on that list, a move within the area generally leaves you with the Jacksonville hearing office, although jurisdiction follows your residence address. If you move, update your address with Social Security and check the new one in the locator. Our Florida disability lawyer page maps the rest of the state's hearing offices.

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