Area codes 713, 281, 832, 346, and 621 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) forming an

overlay complex In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbe ...

for

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 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 Area code 409 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Texas. The numbering plan area comprises the Beaumont and Galveston areas. It was created on March 19, 1983, in an area code split of area ...

. 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 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County, Texas, Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway mai ...

. 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 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 ...

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. 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. 621 was reserved as the fifth overlay code; the PUC approved its implementation in 2023 with an in-service date of January 23, 2025.

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 Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

(shared with 409) *

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

(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 Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

* Clodine * Conroe * Crosby *

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

* Deer Park * El Lago * Dickinson *

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

* Friendswood * Fulshear * Galena Park * Hedwig Village *

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Africa * Highlands, Johannesburg, South Africa * Highlands, Harare, Zimbab ...

* Hilshire Village * Hitchcock * Hockley *

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

* Huffman * Humble * Hunters Creek Village * Iowa Colony * Jacinto City * Jersey Village * Katy * Kemah * Kingwood * Klein * La Marque * La Porte * League City *

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

* Manvel * Meadows Place * Missouri City * Mont Belvieu * Montgomery * Nassau Bay * New Caney *

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

* Pattison * Pearland * Pinehurst * Piney Point Village * Plum Grove *

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

* Romayor * Rosenberg * Rosharon *

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

* Santa Fe * Seabrook * Simonton * South Houston *

Splendora Splendora was an American all-female alternative rock band from New York City. Formed in 1993 by Janet Wygal (lead vocals, guitar), Tricia Wygal (lead vocals, bass), Delissa Santos (drums), Cindy Brolsma (cello), and Jennifer Richardson (violi ...

* Spring * Spring Valley Village *

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

Sugar Land Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

* Taylor Lake Village * Texas City * The Woodlands * Thompsons * Tomball * Webster * West University Place

References

External links

{{Area code box, State=TX, This= Area codes 281/346/621/713/832, N= 936 , S=

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, E= 409 , W=

979 Year 979 (Roman numerals, CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It was the 979th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation, the 979th year of the 1st millennium, the 79th year of the 10th century, ...

Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1996 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1999 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2014 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2025 281 281 Houston

History

Service area

See also

References

Further reading

External links