As WA grows, it needs more area codes for phone numbers. A new one is coming here
A new area code is coming to the Seattle area to overlay one of the current ones that will soon run out of numbers. It will become the state’s seventh area code.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission announced Thursday that it has approved a plan to introduce a new area code, 564, to overlay parts of the 206 code.
The area’s current 206 code is expected to run out of numbers by late 2025, according to projections from the state UTC. Phone users who plan to receive a new Seattle-based phone number sometime in the next few years will receive a 10-digit number with the 564 code when the 206 code is almost out of 10-digit options. Current phones won’t have their area codes changed.
An overlay area code is one that is added atop a geographic area that already has a single area code, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administrator. The numbering plan administration is the organization that sets the country’s area codes.
Washington state has six area codes currently:
206 – Seattle
425 – Bellevue, Everett and eastern King County
509 – Central and eastern Washington
253 – Tacoma and parts of Pierce and Thurston counties
360/564 – Majority of western Washington
The state’s 360 and 564 numbers are overlay codes, according to the administration’s map. The 360 code was implemented in 1995 over the 206 code, according to area code website AllAreaCodes.com. Portions of the 360 code were expanded in 2017 with the 564 number.
When will other area codes run out?
The UTC outlines in one of its Thursday memo documents when the North American Numbering Plan Administrator expects Washington’s other area codes will run out of 10-digit numbers:
- 509: Fourth quarter of 2026
- 425: Third quarter of 2033
206/564: Third quarter of 2044
- 253: First quarter of 2051
- 360/564: Second quarter of 2058
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 12:17 PM.
