Area codes 714 and 657 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 southern part 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 ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The numbering plan area comprises northern Orange County, a portion of

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

, and the Sleepy Hollow and Carbon Canyon areas of Chino Hills in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

. Area code 714 was assigned to a part of numbering plan area 213 in 1951, and 657 was added in 2008 to form 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 ...

History

In 1947, when the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(AT&T) devised the first 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 ...

and assigned 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 ...

, the state of California was divided into three numbering plan areas: 213, 415, and 916, for the southern, central, and northern parts of the state, respectively. The area served by 213 extended from Mexican border to the Central Coast. Starting in the 1950s, Southern California experienced rapid expansion of telephone service, requiring area code 213 to be split five times by 1998. The first split became necessary in 1951, when most of the southern and eastern portion, including

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and most of Orange County, was assigned area code 714 in a flash cut, without a permissive dialing period. This included most of Southern California, generally south and east of Los Angeles, extending to the

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

state lines to the east, and south as far as the Mexican border (what is now area codes 442/760, 619, 858, 909, and 951). Despite Southern California's growth in the second half of the 20th century, this configuration remained in place for 31 years. On January 1, 1982, most of the southern and eastern portion, centered around

and the desert areas, became area code 619. In 1992, eastern

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (commonly abbreviated as the IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County and Or ...

became area code 909. On April 18, 1998, the southern cities of Orange County were split from 714, creating

area code 949 Area code 949 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California in southern Orange County. The area code was assigned on April 18, 1998, to a numbering plan area that resulted from a boundary c ...

. By 2007, 714 was running out of telephone numbers due to Southern California's continued growth and the proliferation of mobile telephones. As a solution, area code 657 was overlaid onto the 714 territory on September 23, 2008.

Service area

The service area includes northern and western Orange County, except for portions of La Habra and all of Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, the far northwestern portion of Brea, and the western portions of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

, which have always been in the same area code as

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

—currently the 562 area code. This is probably because at the time those splits first occurred, while most cities in Southern California were provided primary local telephone service from what was then Pacific Bell (now

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 ...

), the cities listed above were served by

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

, the primary telephone provider for Long Beach (this territory has since become part of

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

, and now

Frontier Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications pr ...

). Today, five cities "straddle" the 657/714 and 949 area codes:

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

, Irvine, Santa Ana, Tustin, and

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

. Cities in the numbering plan area include Tustin, Placentia,

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

, Buena Park,

(unique because it is split between the 714/657 and 949 area codes, at Wilson Street and along Newport Boulevard),

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'' ...

, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Orange, Garden Grove, Santa Ana,

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

, Yorba Linda, portions of La Habra, and most of Brea and Huntington Beach.

Los Angeles County

* Cerritos (mostly in the 562 area code) * La Mirada (mostly in the 562 area code)

Orange County

* Brea (small portion in the 562 area code) * Buena Park *

(small portion in the 949 area code) *

(small portion in the 562 area code)City of Cypress, CA Area Codes
/ref> * Fountain Valley * Fullerton (small portion in the 562 area code) * Garden Grove * Huntington Beach (small portion in the 562 area code) * Irvine (mostly in the 949 area code) * La Habra (mostly in the 562 area code) *

(small portion in the 562 area code) * Los Alamitos (mostly in the 562 area code) * Midway City * Modjeska Canyon *

(mostly in the 949 area code) * North Tustin * Orange Park Acres * Orange * Placentia * Santa Ana (small portion in the 949 area code) * Santiago Canyon * Seal Beach (mostly in the 562 area code) * Silverado * Stanton * Tustin Foothills * Tustin (small portion in the 949 area code) *

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

* Yorba Linda

San Bernardino County

* Chino Hills (mostly in the 909 area code)

References

External links

714 Area code history
California PUC {{Coord, 33.8, -117.9, region:US-CA_type:adm2nd_dim:40km, display=title 657 and 714 657 and 714 Los Angeles County, California Orange County, California San Bernardino County, California Telecommunications-related introductions in 1951 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2008