Area codes 503 and 971 are 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 ...

s 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 ...

(NANP) for the northwestern region of 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 ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the cities of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Salem, and Astoria. Area code 503 was one of the

original North American area codes The original North American area codes were established by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. The assignment was in accord with the design of a uniform nationwide telephone numbering plan that supported the goal of dialin ...

of 1947, assigned to the entire state until 1995, when its extent was reduced to the northwestern corner. Area code 971 was assigned to the service area in stages, completed in 2008, to form an overlay in the area with

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 ...

History

In the initial configuration of the nationwide

telephone numbering plan 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, reach ...

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

in 1947, the state of Oregon was assigned a single area code, 503. Despite Oregon's growth in the second half of the twentieth century, particularly in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...

(Portland and

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

), this remained so for 48 years, making Oregon one of the largest states by area with a single area code. By the early 1990s, the proliferation of cell phones and pagers, particularly in the Portland area, put this status in jeopardy with the threat of exhaustion of the telephone numbering pool. On November 5, 1995, the numbering plan area was reduced to the more densely populated northwestern corner of the state, including Portland. The rest of the state received the new

area code 541 Area codes 541 and 458 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for most of the U.S. state of Oregon, excluding only the northwestern corner of the state. The service area includes the cities of Eugene, Springfield, C ...

. Although this was intended as a long-term solution, the Portland area remained home to the great majority of Oregon's landlines, as well as most of its cell phones and pagers, the area continued to experience a shortage in telephone numbers. Within three years, further relief planning commenced. On July 1, 1999, area code 971 was created as a concentrated overlay for most of the numbering plan area, with the exceptions of

Clatsop The Clatsop ( Lower Chinook: ) are a Chinookan-speaking Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Co ...

and Tillamook counties. Initially,

was to become mandatory in that service area on January 30, 2000, but the date was extended until October 1, 2000. The previously exempted Clatsop and Tillamook counties were added to the overlay on April 27, 2008.

Service area

The service area includes the following counties: *

Clackamas County Clackamas County ( ) is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the na ...

* Clatsop County * Columbia County * Linn County (far northern parts, including Scio,

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and Mill City) * Marion County (except southernmost parts around Jefferson) *

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

* Polk County * Tillamook County * Washington County * Yamhill County

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Area codes 503 And 971 1947 establishments in Oregon Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947

503 __NOTOC__ Year 503 ( DIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Volusianus and Dexicrates (or, less frequently, year 1256 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...