Newest US Area Codes in 2026: New & Upcoming Codes

The newest US area codes in 2026 are 465 (New York City), 483 (central and southeast Alabama) and 471 (northern Mississippi), plus 686 in metro Richmond, Virginia, which finally started issuing numbers in August 2026 after 804 ran out. All are overlays, so existing numbers never change. Two more are approved but have no start date: 761 in Kentucky, whose schedule regulators suspended, and 565 in Georgia.

Key takeaways

• Three US area codes reached network activation in 2026: 471 (January 30), 483 (February 23) and 465 (June 18).
• 686 in Virginia was activated back in February 2024 but only began issuing numbers in August 2026, which is why it counts as a 2026 change.
• 483 and 686 are assigning numbers today. 465 and 471 are live in the network but gated until their parent codes exhaust.
• Every new code is an overlay: your existing number never changes, and only new lines get the new code.
• Neither upcoming code has a start date: Kentucky suspended 761’s schedule, and Georgia never set one for 565.
• Last verified August 14, 2026 against state regulator releases and NANPA planning letters.

What is the newest area code in the USA?

It depends which milestone you mean, and the two answers are different codes.

The most recently activated US area code is 465 in New York City, live in the network since June 18, 2026, though it will not issue numbers to customers until roughly the third quarter of 2027. The most recent code to actually start giving people numbers is 686 in metro Richmond, Virginia, in August 2026.

That gap is the single most misreported thing about new area codes. A code can sit activated in the network for years before a single customer gets a number in it, which is exactly what 686 did between February 2024 and August 2026.

Newest US area codes at a glance

The table below covers the codes that became newly relevant in 2026, with the distinction that matters most: whether numbers are actually being assigned yet. “Network activated” means the code exists in the routing network. “Assigning” means new customers can receive a number in it.

Every code above is a pure overlay. No existing numbers changed at activation. To look up any active code by region, use the US area code directory.

The newest US area codes, code by code

686, metro Richmond, Virginia

686 is the most recent US area code to start putting numbers in customers’ hands, in August 2026. It overlays 804 across central and eastern Virginia, including Richmond, Petersburg, Henrico, Chesterfield, and Ashland.

Its history is the clearest example of activation and assignment being years apart. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission approved the overlay in November 2022, and NANPA planning letter PL-608 set the code in service on February 1, 2024, with carrier network preparation from May 1, 2023. Ten-digit dialing had already been mandatory in the region since October 24, 2021, a change driven by the 988 hotline rollout rather than by 686.

No customer received a 686 number for more than two years after that. Numbers only began flowing once 804 exhausted its supply, which the SCC confirmed in August 2026. New lines in the region may now be issued either an 804 or a 686 number, depending on what a carrier has available. The SCC expects 686 to cover the region’s needs for roughly three decades.

465, New York City

465 is the most recently activated US area code, live in the network since June 18, 2026, but not yet issuing numbers. It overlays the 347/718/917/929 complex covering the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Marble Hill section of Manhattan.

New York’s Department of Public Service is explicit that the new code “will not be available until all numbers from the existing 347/718/917/929 area code have exhausted,” currently projected for the third quarter of 2027. So while 465 is technically the newest activated code in the country, nobody in New York can request one yet.

483, central and southeast Alabama

483 went into service on February 23, 2026 and began assigning numbers straight away. It overlays 334 across Montgomery, Auburn, Opelika, Dothan, Selma, Prattville, and surrounding communities.

Unlike 465, there was no waiting period: new lines in the 334 region can be issued a 483 number today. The Alabama PSC ran mandatory ten-digit dialing ahead of the launch, effective January 23, 2026, and moved when it did because 334 was projected to exhaust in the third quarter of 2026.

471, northern Mississippi

471 reached its in-service date on January 30, 2026, but numbers are issued only after 662 exhausts. It overlays 662 across northern Mississippi, including Southaven, Tupelo, Greenwood, Oxford, Starkville, and Corinth.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission’s notice states that from January 30, 2026 customers “may be assigned a number in the new 471 area code when they request new service or an additional line, but only after the 662 area code is exhausted.” Broad day-to-day assignment had not begun as of this update.

New area codes activated in 2024 to 2025

These overlays are all in service and assigning numbers. Every row was checked against the relevant state commission release or NANPA record; see the methodology section for sources.

Code	Activated	Overlay of	Region
679	Nov 7, 2025	313	Detroit and inner suburbs, Michigan
457	Sep 25, 2025	318	Northern Louisiana (Shreveport, Monroe)
729	Sep 5, 2025	423	Eastern Tennessee (Chattanooga, Johnson City)
748	Jul 7, 2025	970	Western and northern Colorado
357	Mar 26, 2025	559	Central California (San Joaquin Valley)
837	Jan 31, 2025	530	Northeastern California (Redding, Chico)
621	Jan 23, 2025	713 / 281 / 832 / 346	Greater Houston, Texas
738	Nov 1, 2024	213 / 323	Downtown Los Angeles
924	Aug 30, 2024	507	Southern Minnesota (Rochester, Mankato)
821	Aug 19, 2024	864	Upstate South Carolina (Greenville)
235	Mar 24, 2024	573	Central and eastern Missouri
436	Mar 1, 2024	440	Northeastern Ohio (Cleveland ring)
324	Feb 26, 2024	904	Northeast Florida (Jacksonville)
327	Feb 20, 2024	870	Northern, eastern and southern Arkansas

What new area codes are coming next?

Two codes are approved by state regulators and not yet in service. Neither currently has an in-service date, and you should treat any specific date published elsewhere with suspicion.

Code	Overlay of	Region	Status
761	502	North-central Kentucky (Louisville region)	Approved, schedule suspended, no date
565	912	Southeast Georgia (Savannah, Brunswick, Statesboro)	Approved, no in-service date set

761, north-central Kentucky

761 is approved for the Louisville region, but its implementation schedule is currently suspended and no in-service date is set. Kentucky’s Public Service Commission selected the code on August 19, 2025 as an all-services distributed overlay of 502, covering Louisville, Frankfort, Shelbyville, and the surrounding region.

This one is widely misreported, so the docket history matters. In Case No. 2024-00333, the Commission adopted a thirteen-month implementation schedule on July 31, 2025, which is where the December 2026 and June 2027 dialing dates still circulating online come from. The Commission then suspended that schedule on January 28, 2026, and its order of June 23, 2026 directs that it “is to remain suspended,” with NANPA and carriers to file a new proposed schedule only once 502 is within 22 months of projected exhaust.

The PSC’s own announcement said plainly that “a specific date for the introduction of the 761 area code has not been set,” and as of this update that is still true. Existing 502 numbers will not change whenever it does arrive, and the one real change for residents will be the ten-digit dialing requirement.

565, southeast Georgia

565 is approved for southeast Georgia but has no in-service date. The Georgia Public Service Commission announced it on June 10, 2025, in coordination with NANPA, as the overlay for 912: Savannah, Brunswick, Statesboro, Waycross, and the rest of southeast Georgia.

No implementation date has been set. The second-quarter-2028 figure often quoted is the projected 912 exhaust timeframe, not a launch date, though the overlay would need to be in place some months before that.

Also in the pipeline

California’s 626 region, covering Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, is in active relief proceedings at the CPUC, with NANPA projecting 626 exhaust in the fourth quarter of 2027. No overlay code has been assigned to it yet, so there is no number to report. Codes are added to this page once a regulator publishes one.

Activation vs assignment: what’s the difference?

The most common confusion about new area codes is treating the activation date as the day you can get a number. They are two different events, sometimes years apart.

Network activation is when carriers finish programming the new code into their switches so calls to it will route. Customer assignment is when a carrier can actually hand a new subscriber a number in that code.

For most overlays, the two happen close together, as with 483 in Alabama, activated and assigning in February 2026. But regulators often hold assignment back until the parent code is genuinely exhausted, so that a region is not pushed onto a new code before it needs one.

686 in Virginia is the extreme case: in service February 1, 2024, first customer numbers August 2026. Two and a half years separated the two events, which is why most published lists put 686 in the wrong year. 465 in New York City is running the same pattern with a longer gap still: activated June 18, 2026, with no customer numbers until the 347/718/917/929 pool runs out, projected for the third quarter of 2027.

The practical test is simple. If you want a number in a new code, the activation date tells you nothing. What matters is whether the parent code has exhausted.

2026 US area code changes

Not every area code change is a brand-new code. Four distinct things happened across US numbering plans in 2026:

• Newly activated codes. 471 (January 30), 483 (February 23) and 465 (June 18) entered the routing network.
• Newly assignable codes. 483 began issuing numbers in February, and 686 in metro Richmond began issuing numbers in August once 804 exhausted. These are the only two codes where a new number actually reaches a customer in 2026.
• Dialing changes. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory across Alabama’s 334 region on January 23, 2026. Kentucky’s 502 region was scheduled to begin permissive ten-digit dialing in December 2026, but the Commission suspended that schedule in January 2026 and kept it suspended in June 2026, so the date no longer stands.
• Codes commonly listed as new that are not. 686 is frequently reported as a 2026 activation when it was activated in 2024, and 564 in Washington is sometimes listed as a new Seattle code when it is a 2017 western Washington overlay that expanded into the 206 region in June 2025.

Nothing in 2026 required anyone to change an existing phone number. Every US relief plan currently in effect is an overlay, not a split.

Why are most new area codes overlays?

Through the 1990s, a growing region was often split: part of it kept the old code and part was forced onto a new one, changing numbers. That approach has effectively ended.

Splits made businesses reprint materials, update listings, and retrain staff, and customers missed calls from numbers they no longer recognized as local. Regulators moved to overlays as the default relief method.

Under an overlay, the new code is layered over the same geography. Only new subscribers and new lines receive it, and existing numbers never change. The trade-off is mandatory ten-digit dialing for everyone in the region. For the precise definition, see our glossary entry on the overlay area code.

What changes when a new area code launches?

For anyone who already has a number in the region, the answer is: very little.

• Your existing number stays exactly the same, keeping its original area code.
• You dial ten digits for every call, including local ones, if you were not already.
• New phone lines you add may be issued a number in the new overlay code.
• Call costs do not change; an overlay affects dialing, not rates.

Business checklist for a new overlay

If your business operates in a region getting a new overlay, a short checklist keeps the transition clean:

• Confirm all internal and outbound systems dial ten digits (phones, PBX, fax, alarm and elevator lines, stored contacts).
• Update speed-dial lists, call-forwarding rules, and autodialers to ten-digit format.
• Check that website, invoices, and directory listings show your full area code.
• Reprogram any device that dials automatically, since seven-digit dialing will fail.
• Remember that your existing numbers do not change; only new lines may carry the new code.

How NANPA decides when a new area code is needed

New codes are not issued on a schedule. They are a response to a specific area code running low on numbers.

When a state’s number pool nears exhaustion, the state public utility or service commission works with the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) on a relief plan. NANPA evaluates the options, a split or an overlay, and issues a planning letter; the commission holds proceedings and approves the new code.

The underlying unit being tracked is the three-digit exchange, or NXX, prefix inside each area code; for how those prefixes work, see our explainer on NPA and NXX. Our analysis of NXX prefix allocation shows how close the busiest codes are to running out, which is what triggers relief in the first place. For the full process, read our guide on how area codes are assigned.

Geographic vs non-geographic new area codes

Every code on this page is a geographic area code: it maps to a physical region. The North American Numbering Plan also defines non-geographic codes, which are not tied to a place.

Toll-free codes (800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, 833) are the most familiar non-geographic type, and personal-communications code 500-series and similar ranges also exist. New geographic overlays like 465 or 483 relieve number demand in one region; non-geographic codes serve a nationwide function instead. When people ask about “new area codes,” they almost always mean the geographic overlays covered here.

Frequently asked questions about new US area codes

What is the newest area code in the USA? +

It depends on the milestone. The most recently activated US area code is 465 in New York City, live in the network since June 18, 2026, though it will not issue customer numbers until roughly the third quarter of 2027.

The most recent code to actually start giving customers numbers is 686 in metro Richmond, Virginia, which began assigning in August 2026 after 804 exhausted. If you want a number you can actually get today, 483 in Alabama and 686 in Virginia are the two newest options.

What new area codes were added in 2026? +

Three US area codes reached network activation in 2026: 471 (northern Mississippi, January 30), 483 (central and southeast Alabama, February 23) and 465 (New York City, June 18).

A fourth code, 686 in metro Richmond, Virginia, began issuing numbers in August 2026, although it was activated back on February 1, 2024. All are overlays. 483 and 686 are assigning numbers now; 465 and 471 are activated but still gated on their parent codes exhausting.

What new area codes are coming next? +

Two are approved but not yet in service, and neither has a date. 761 will overlay 502 in the Louisville region of Kentucky. Kentucky's PSC adopted an implementation schedule in July 2025 but suspended it in January 2026, and its June 23, 2026 order keeps it suspended until 502 is within 22 months of projected exhaust.

565 will overlay 912 in southeast Georgia, approved in June 2025 but with no implementation date set. The second quarter of 2028 sometimes cited for Georgia is the projected 912 exhaust timeframe, not a launch date.

Will my number change when a new area code is added? +

No. Every new US area code is an overlay, which means the new code is layered over the same geography and only new lines receive it.

Your existing number keeps its original area code permanently. The one operational change in an overlay region is ten-digit dialing: you dial the area code for every call, including local ones.

Can I get a number in a newly activated area code immediately? +

It depends on the code. Activation of the code in the network is not the same as numbers being available to customers, and the two can be years apart.

483 (Alabama) and 686 (Virginia) are assigning numbers now. 465 (New York City) activated in June 2026 but will not issue numbers until the existing 347/718/917/929 pool is exhausted, projected for the third quarter of 2027. 471 (Mississippi) is gated on 662 running out. 686 waited two and a half years between activation and its first customer number.

Why do area codes run out of numbers? +

Each area code holds a fixed pool of seven-digit numbers, and numbers are allocated to carriers in blocks rather than one at a time.

Population growth, additional phone lines, and demand from mobile and connected devices draw that pool down. When it nears exhaustion, the state regulator and NANPA plan relief, almost always a new overlay code.

Does a new overlay change local calling rates? +

No. An overlay changes the dialing procedure to ten digits, not the cost of a call. A call that was local before the overlay stays local after it.

What counts as a local versus long-distance call is set by your carrier's rate plan and does not change because a new area code was added to the region.

Sources and update methodology

This page tracks US area code changes from primary sources: state public utility and public service commission releases, and North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) planning letters. Where a regulator and NANPA both publish a date, we separate the two events rather than merging them, listing the network in-service date and the date customer assignment actually began.

Two details are commonly misreported elsewhere. First, 686 (Virginia) is widely listed as a 2026 activation. It was placed in service on February 1, 2024 under NANPA planning letter PL-608; what happened in August 2026 is that 804 exhausted and 686 numbers finally began reaching customers. Second, 564 in Washington is sometimes listed as a new 2025 Seattle code; it is an existing western Washington overlay from 2017 that expanded into the 206 region in June 2025, so it is not counted above as a new code.

Primary sources for the 2026 codes: New York Department of Public Service (465), Alabama PSC (483), Mississippi PSC (471), and the Virginia State Corporation Commission (686).

Upcoming codes: Georgia PSC (565) and, for 761, the Kentucky PSC announcement plus the live docket in Case No. 2024-00333, which carries the January 28 and June 23, 2026 suspension orders. For federal context on how numbering resources are administered, see the FCC numbering resources page.

Dates for planned codes can move. This page was last verified on August 14, 2026 and is updated when a regulator publishes a new activation or planning notice.

Get a business number in a US area code

Numbers in 465 (New York City) and 471 (Mississippi) are not being assigned yet, so no provider can offer one today. In regions where numbers are already live, such as 483 in Alabama, 686 in metro Richmond, or an established code anywhere in the country, DialPhone provisions local US business numbers from $24 per user per month, with instant setup and no contracts.

If you want a number in a specific region, browse the area code directory or see the business phone overview, then start on the pricing page.