Area code 254 is a telephone
area code
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...
in the
North American Numbering Plan
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...
for the
Waco/
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
/
Killeen area in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. It was created on May 25, 1997, in an
area code split
In telecommunications, an area code split is the practice of introducing a new telephone area code by geographically dividing an existing numbering plan area (NPA), and assigning area codes to the resulting divisions, but retaining the existing a ...
of
area code 817.
Despite having only a single area code, even local calls in the numbering plan area require
ten-digit dialing
Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when Dialling (telephony), dialing to initiate a t ...
, because prior to October 2021, area code 254 had telephone numbers assigned for the
central office code 988. In 2020, ''988'' was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the United States, or Suicide Crisis Helpline in Canada, and formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, is a suicide prevention and crisis help line to a network of a large number of crisis ce ...
, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit
seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore transitioned to
ten-digit dialing
Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when Dialling (telephony), dialing to initiate a t ...
by October 24, 2021.
Service area
The counties served by this area code include:
*
Bell County
*
Bosque County
*
Callahan County
*
Comanche County
*
Coryell County
*
Eastland County
*
Erath County
Erath County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the United States Census bureau its population was 42,545 in 2020. The county seat is Stephenville, Texas, Stephenville. The county is named fo ...
*
Falls County
*
Freestone County
*
Hamilton County
*
Hill County
*
Hood County
*
Limestone County
*
McLennan County
*
Milam County
*
Navarro County
*
Robertson County
*
Somervell County
*
Stephens County
*
Williamson County
See also
*
List of Texas area codes
References
External links
List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 254 Area Code
{{Area code box, State=TX,
This= area code 254 ,
N=
214/
469/
945/
972,
682
__NOTOC__
Year 682 (Roman numerals, DCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 682 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the preval ...
/
817,
940 ,
S=
512/737 ,
E=
430/
903,
979 ,
W=
325
Telecommunications-related introductions in 1997
254
254
McLennan County, Texas