Area code 562 is a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

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, r ...

that was split from

area code 310 Area codes 310 and 424 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area includes the West Los Angeles and South Bay areas of Los Angeles County, a small portion of ...

on January 25, 1997. It is the

for much of southeastern

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, including

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

, and parts of northern Orange County.

History

Prior to November 2, 1991; this region had been part of

area code 213 Area codes 213 and 323 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. They are assigned to a numbering plan area (NPA) that comprises, roughly, the area of central Los Angeles, and includes ...

. On that date, most of the western and southern portions of the old 213 region became

. On January 25, 1997, the southern portion of the old 310 territory split again to become the 562 area code. 562 was originally meant to be an overlay code exclusively for cellular telephones and pagers for existing 310 area code customers in late 1995. However, the overlay (and all others in CA since 2008) was cancelled after cellular companies sued the

California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...

to prevent a repeat of a similar split in New York City, where all 212 & 718 mobile customers were changed over to a new 917 NPA. Cellular technology was relatively new, and the industry argued that separate area codes for cellular customers created a stigma and would hurt sales as people wanted their home and cell phone numbers to be in the same area code. After years in court, the CPUC sided with the cellular industry, and so plans were made to split 310 instead. Prior to October 2021, area code 562 had telephone numbers assigned for the

central office code The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a 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 and has the international calling ...

988. In 2020, ''988'' was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 200+ crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9- ...

, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit

seven-digit dialing Seven-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure customary in some territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for dialing telephone numbers in the same numbering plan area (NPA). NANP telephone numbers consist of ten digits, of wh ...

. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories that are members of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when dialing to initiate a telep ...

by October 24, 2021.

County anomaly

One anomaly in this area code is that all of it is in

except for the cities of Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, which are in the very northwest corner of the Orange County coastline, portions of the city of

La Habra La Habra (archaic spelling of ''La Abra'', ) is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California, United States. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. A related city, La Habra Heights, is located to the north o ...

, and the very small and northwest part of the city of Brea in the very northwest corner of inland Orange County. These exceptions exist because, at the time of 310's creation,

Pacific Bell The Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific Bell or Pac Bell) is a telephone company that provides telephone service in California. The company is owned by AT&T through AT&T Teleholdings, and, though separate, is now marketed as “AT&T”. The ...

(now part of AT&T Inc.) was the primary telephone company for most of Southern California, whereas this region's primary telephone company was GTE (later

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

and now part of

Frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts ...

). In fact, when 310 was carved out of the southern portion of the old 213 territory, Pacific Bell chose to move all of GTE's area code 213 exchanges into the 310 area code. As the primary telephone provider in Southern California, PacBell had the right to decide what exchanges stayed in 213.

Cities and neighborhoods in the 562 area code

Los Angeles County

* Artesia * Bell Gardens (also in the 213/323 area code) * Bellflower * Cerritos (small portion in the 657/714 area code) *

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, natio ...

(mostly in the 213/323 area code) *

Downey Downey may refer to: People * Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US * Downey, Idaho, US * Downey, Iowa, US Businesses * W. & D. Downey, photographic studio * Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Scho ...

* East Whittier * Hacienda Heights (mostly in the

626 area code Area code 626 is a telephone area code that was split from area code 818 in the U.S. state of California, on June 14, 1997. It covers most of the San Gabriel Valley and nearby areas in the northeastern portion of Los Angeles County, California ...

) * Hawaiian Gardens * Industry (mostly in the

and small portion in the 840/909 area code) * La Habra Heights *

La Mirada La Mirada ( Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre ...

(small portion in the 657/714 area code) * Lakewood *

* Norwalk * Paramount *

Pico Rivera Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as the ...

* Rowland Heights (mostly in the

626 __NOTOC__ Year 626 ( DCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 626 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

and 840/909 area codes) * Santa Fe Springs * Signal Hill * South Gate (mostly in the 213/323 area code and small portion in the 310/424 area code) * South Whittier * West Whittier-Los Nietos * Whittier

Orange County

* Brea (mostly in the 657/714 area code) * Buena Park (mostly in the 657/714 area code) *

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the l ...

(mostly in the 657/714 area code) * Fullerton (mostly in the 657/714 area code) *

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

(mostly in the 657/714 area code; only the Sunset Beach neighborhood is in the 562 area code) *

(small portion in the 657/714 area code) *

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

(mostly in the 657/714 area code) * Los Alamitos (small portion in the 657/714 area code) * Rossmoor * Seal Beach

References

External links

North American Numbering Plan AdministrationSouthern California area code map

Area 562 Directory
{{coord, 33.9, -118.1, region:US-CA, display=title

562 __NOTOC__ Year 562 ( DLXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 562 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

Los Angeles County, California Orange County, California Cerritos, California Lakewood, California Long Beach, California Norwalk, California Pico Rivera, California Telecommunications-related introductions in 1997 1997 in California