The Philadelphia Social Security Offices: Seven City Offices and Three Hearing Offices

Which Social Security office serves a Philadelphia ZIP code?

It depends on which part of the city you live in. Social Security's office locator assigns each ZIP code it lists to one field office. Assignments can change, so enter your address in the locator rather than going by a list.

A few assignments are easy to guess wrong. North Philadelphia ZIP codes 19121 and 19122 go to the Downtown office, not Nicetown, and Manayunk and Roxborough (19127, 19128) go to Germantown. Several Montgomery County towns near the city line, including Cheltenham, Elkins Park, Jenkintown and Glenside, also go to Germantown. The office the locator names handles the non-medical side of your claim and can answer questions 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 Seven Philadelphia Offices

The locator lists all seven offices 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.

• Downtown: Suite 2000A, 20th Floor, 2 Penn Center, 1500 John F Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19102. Phone 1-866-613-3969, fax 1-833-950-2882. Its locator note says in-person visits can be by appointment, with walk-ins still available for urgent issues.

• Aramingo: Imperial Plaza, Unit 10, 3400 Aramingo Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19134. Phone 1-855-248-0233, fax 1-833-950-2880.

• South: Stadium Plaza, 3336 S Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145. Phone 1-877-575-5191, fax 1-833-950-2876.

• University City: 4240 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, between 42nd and 43rd streets. Phone 1-877-445-9977, fax 1-833-515-0393.

• Germantown: 701 E Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144. Phone 1-866-495-0255, fax 1-833-346-7158. Its locator note says SEPTA buses stop in front of the building and the lot at Chelten and McMahon has free parking.

• Nicetown: 2929 N Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19132. Phone 1-877-319-0727, fax 1-833-612-0140.

• Northeast: Unit 4, 9300 Ashton Road, Philadelphia, PA 19114. Phone 1-866-331-7840, fax 1-833-950-3521.

The locator lists the same mailing address for every Philadelphia area office, with the office's own code: Social Security, WBDOC / FO (code), PO Box 10, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18767. When you answer a notice, use the return address printed on it. For a new or replacement Social Security card, the Aramingo office's locator note sends Philadelphia residents to the Philadelphia Social Security Card Center, Suite 2000B in the same 2 Penn Center building as the Downtown office, at 1-877-541-5846. The national number, 1-800-772-1213, can also schedule a phone or in-person appointment.

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Upper Darby, Chester, Norristown and the other suburban offices

• Upper Darby, 8645 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, PA 19082: 19082 (Upper Darby), 19083 (Havertown), 19026 (Drexel Hill), 19050 (Lansdowne and Yeadon), 19023 (Darby), 19018 (Clifton Heights), 19079 (Sharon Hill). Phone 1-866-964-0780.

• Chester, 807 Crosby Street, Chester, PA 19013: 19013 (Chester), 19063 (Media), 19064 (Springfield), 19008 (Broomall), 19014 (Aston), 19061 (Boothwyn), 19078 (Ridley Park), 19081 (Swarthmore), 19113 (Lester) and other Delaware County towns. Phone 1-866-398-1456.

• Norristown, Suite 120, 1700 Markley Street, Norristown, PA 19401: 19401, 19403 (Norristown), 19406 (King of Prussia), 19428 (Conshohocken), 19446 (Lansdale), 19003 (Ardmore), 19010 (Bryn Mawr), 19044 (Horsham), 19090 (Willow Grove). Phone 1-866-964-6305.

• Fairless Hills, 444 Lincoln Highway, Fairless Hills, PA 19030: 19020 (Bensalem), 19053 (Feasterville), 19054 to 19057 (Levittown), 19007 (Bristol), 18974 (Warminster), 18901 (Doylestown). Phone 1-866-964-7318.

• West Chester, 1101 West Chester Pike, West Chester, PA 19382: 19380, 19382 (West Chester), 19320 (Coatesville), 19341 (Exton), 19460 (Phoenixville). Phone 1-888-306-3216.

• Pottstown, Suite A, 80 Robinson Street, Pottstown, PA 19464: 19464 (Pottstown). Phone 1-866-964-7415.

These offices keep the same weekday hours and the same Wilkes-Barre mailing address with their own office codes.

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What the field office handles and what Pennsylvania's disability agency 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 Pennsylvania that agency is the Bureau of Disability Determination Services (BDD), part of the Department of Labor & Industry. The department's page for applicants says the bureau evaluates Pennsylvanians' medical eligibility for Social Security disability benefits. Applications still go through Social Security, not to the bureau directly.

A request for reconsideration, the first appeal after a denial, must be made in writing, generally within 60 days after you receive the denial notice. Social Security treats you as receiving a notice 5 days after the date on it unless you show otherwise, and if you miss the deadline you can ask in writing for more time and explain why; Social Security extends it only if it finds you had good cause. You can file online, or mail, fax or bring a written request, such as the request form, to a field office. Calling 1-800-772-1213 can start the request, but a call alone does not protect the deadline: the appeal is not filed until Social Security has a written request, though a mailed request counts as filed on its U.S. postmark date if the arrival date would make it late. When the denial was medical, the Bureau of Disability Determination Services reviews the claim again, with an examiner who did not make the first decision; a non-medical denial, such as one based on income or work record, is reviewed by Social Security. After a reconsideration denial, a written hearing request, also generally due within 60 days after you receive that notice, moves the case to a hearing office.

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Which of the three hearing offices takes a Philadelphia appeal

Philadelphia's field offices feed three hearing offices. Which one takes your hearing generally depends on your residence address, and Social Security lists each hearing office's area by the field offices it covers. 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 the split.

• Philadelphia hearing office: 21st Floor, 1601 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, phone 1-866-964-6288. Its list covers the Downtown, Aramingo, South and University City field offices (the hearing office list calls University City "Philadelphia (West)"), plus Norristown and West Chester.

• Philadelphia East hearing office: Suite 502, 833 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, phone 1-866-572-9721. Its list covers Germantown and Nicetown, plus Upper Darby and Chester.

• Elkins Park hearing office: Suite 250, 8380 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, phone 1-866-964-7369. Its list covers Philadelphia Northeast, plus Fairless Hills and Pottstown (listed as Limerick on the hearing office list and as Limerick/Pottstown in Appendix F) and offices from the Lehigh Valley to Reading.

The names can mislead. Residents of Elkins Park itself go through the Germantown field office to the Philadelphia East hearing office on Chestnut Street, while Northeast Philadelphia and Bensalem go to the Elkins Park hearing office. Upper Darby and most of Delaware County go to Chestnut Street, while King of Prussia, Norristown and West Chester go to Market Street.

Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is set by the claimant's residence address. To ask for a different hearing office, give a signed statement of your reasons with your hearing request, which a field office forwards to the hearing office, 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. 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 if you show good cause. 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 any representative you have. Our Philadelphia disability lawyer page covers the three hearing offices in more detail, our hearing office directory lists the rest, and our Pennsylvania disability lawyer page covers the state as a whole.

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