201 is the North American telephone area code for the state of New Jersey covering most of Bergen County, as well as parts of Essex, Hudson and Passaic. It is overlaid with area code 551.
The 201 area code was the first area code to be assigned in the United States, as part of the North American Numbering Plan.[1][2] While it was part of the original set of area codes assigned to the U.S. in 1947, this area code was not placed into service until 1951. In that year, the first direct-dialed long distance call was made from Englewood, New Jersey to Alameda, California.[2] Until 1958, it was the only area code serving New Jersey; that year, the state split the area code, with the southern portion of the state becoming area code 609.[3]
After the split in 1958, area code 201 served the northern counties in the state: Essex, Bergen, Hudson, Union, Morris, Passaic, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, Sussex and Warren counties. New Jersey's southern counties, including the southern Jersey Shore, as well as the Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware suburbs (in New Jersey) were served by 609.
As the central region of New Jersey grew during the 1980s, the northeastern section of the state lost sizeable chunks of its population due to the decline of its major cities, including Newark, Paterson, Clifton, and Elizabeth. On June 8, 1991, area code 908 split off from 201; it primarily serves the North/Central regions of the state.[4]
The northernmost counties continued to use 201, while the southern half of the state kept 609, which is the area code of Trenton, the state's capital.
During the mid-1990s, businesses began to flourish once again in North Jersey, while cell phones and internet dial-up connections proliferated. In response to the pressure for the addition of more telephone numbers, New Jersey added more area codes, going from three to six. As of June 1, 1997, Essex and Passaic counties, home to Newark and Paterson respectively (the state's first and third-most populous cities), as well as the more rural northwestern counties of New Jersey, Morris and Sussex, were broken away from area code 201, forming the new area code, 973.[4][5] Hudson County and Bergen County, the state's two northeastern counties (as well as being two of the state's most densely populated counties) and the closest two counties to New York City, became the last remaining counties in the state to be served by area code 201.
As Hudson and Bergen Counties developed further, and even more telephone numbers were demanded, it was debated whether 201 should split again, or if an overlay area code should be added instead. The latter option was chosen, to avoid the costs and frustration associated with splitting an area code. However, with the implementation of the overlay area code on December 1, 2001, 10-digit dialing became mandatory. Area code 551 was created in 2001, along with area codes 862 and 848 which overlay area codes 973 and 732 respectively.[6]
| New Jersey area codes: 201, 551, 609, 732, 848, 856, 862, 908, 973 | ||
|---|---|---|
| North: 845 | ||
| West: 862/973 | 201/551 | East: 212/646, 347/718, 914, 917 |
| South: 347/718, 917 | ||
| New York area codes: 212, 315, 347, 516, 518, 585, 607, 631, 646, 716, 718, 845, 914, 917 | ||