Area codes 713, 281, 832, 346, and 621 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) forming an overlay complex for Houston, Texas and its environs. Area code 713 is one of the original four area codes established for Texas in 1947.
History
When the concept of the North American Numbering Plan was established in 1947, Texas was divided into four numbering plan areas (NPAs), roughly outlining four quadrants in the state. Area code 713 was assigned to the southeastern part, from the Sabine River to the Brazos Valley.
On March 19, 1983, the numbering plan area was divided for the first time, when the immediate Houston area retained 713, while the northern, eastern and western portions received area code 409.
On November 2, 1996, area code 713 was split again, with most of Houston's suburbs switching to the new code 281. The dividing line roughly followed Beltway 8. Generally, most of Houston and most of the suburbs inside the beltway kept 713, while 281 served the area outside the beltway. 713 was retained by all existing cellphone customers in the Houston area.
This was intended as a long-term solution, but rapid growth in demand for telephone services from the proliferation of pagers and cellphones required additional numbering resources within two years in both numbering plan areas. On January 16, 1999, the 713/281 boundary was removed, creating an overlay for the combined area, while simultaneously adding a third area code, 832, to the entire region. As a result, ten-digit dialing became required for all calls in the Houston area.
On May 9, 2013, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) announced the addition of yet another code, 346, to the Houston overlay as of July 1, 2014.1 This had the effect of allocating over 31 million telephone numbers to a service territory of eight million people. Exhaust projections of 2022 forecasted that the Houston area would require a fifth area code by late 2025.2 621 was reserved as the fifth overlay code; the PUC approved its implementation in 2023 with an in-service date of January 23, 2025.3
Service area
Counties served by these area codes:
- Harris (shared with 936)
- Brazoria (shared with 979)
- Chambers (shared with 409)
- Fort Bend (shared with 979)
- Galveston (shared with 409)
- Liberty (shared with 936)
- Montgomery (shared with 979 and 936)
- Waller (shared with 979 and 936)
Towns and cities served by these area codes:
- Addicks
- Alvin
- Arcola
- Bacliff
- Baytown
- Bellaire
- Brookshire
- Brookside Village
- Bunker Hill Village
- Channelview
- Cleveland
- Clodine
- Conroe
- Crosby
- Cypress
- Deer Park
- El Lago
- Dickinson
- Fresno
- Friendswood
- Fulshear
- Galena Park
- Hedwig Village
- Highlands
- Hilshire Village
- Hitchcock
- Hockley
- Houston
- Huffman
- Humble
- Hunters Creek Village
- Iowa Colony
- Jacinto City
- Jersey Village
- Katy
- Kemah
- Kingwood
- Klein
- La Marque
- La Porte
- League City
- Liverpool
- Magnolia
- Manvel
- Meadows Place
- Missouri City
- Mont Belvieu
- Montgomery
- Nassau Bay
- New Caney
- Pasadena
- Pattison
- Pearland
- Pinehurst
- Piney Point Village
- Plum Grove
- Porter
- Richmond
- Romayor
- Rosenberg
- Rosharon
- Rye
- Santa Fe
- Seabrook
- Simonton
- South Houston
- Splendora
- Spring
- Spring Valley Village
- Stafford
- Sugar Land
- Taylor Lake Village
- Texas City
- The Woodlands
- Thompsons
- Tomball
- Webster
- West University Place
See also
- Texas portal
Further reading
- Hlavaty, Craig (May 9, 2013). "Wait, area code pride is still a thing?". The Texican (blog). Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
External links
- "Area Code Maps". NANPA.
| North: 936 | ||
| West: 979 | Area codes 281/346/621/713/832 | East: 409 |
| South: Gulf of Mexico |
References
Hlavaty, Craig (May 9, 2013). "Houston gets new area code to keep from running out of phone numbers". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-05-09. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-gets-new-area-code-to-keep-from-running-4502991.php ↩
"2022-1 NRUF and NPA Exhaust Analysis" (PDF). NANPA. 2021-04-21. Retrieved April 24, 2021. https://nationalnanpa.com/reports/2022-1_NPA%20Exhaust_Projections.pdf ↩
"Planning Letter 623: NPA 621 and 281/346/713/832 All-Services Distributed Overlay (Texas)" (PDF). NANPA. 2023-12-06. Retrieved 2025-02-22. https://www.nanpa.com/sites/default/files/planning_letters/PL-623.pdf ↩