Area codes 201 and 551

Map of area code 201

Area codes 201 and 551 are the North American telephone area code for the state of New Jersey covering most of Hudson and Bergen counties. Major cities in the area code include Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Hackensack, Secaucus, Englewood and Englewood Cliffs. 201 is the historical area code, first established, while 551 is an overlay covering the same area.

201 was the first original area code when AT&T devised the North American Numbering Plan in 1947. It originally covered the entire state of New Jersey.^[1][2] Having only one area code for the entire state which is the most densely populated state in the US, was unusual. New Jersey is centered between the New York metropolitan area in the north east and the Delaware Valley with the suburbs of Philadelphia in the south west.

In 1958, 201 was restricted to northern New Jersey, when southern New Jersey, including the state capital, Trenton, the southern Jersey Shore and the New Jersey side of the Delaware Valley, was assigned area code 609.^[3] For the next 33 years, area code 201 served Bergen, Hudson, Ocean, Essex, Union, Morris, Passaic, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, Sussex and Warren counties--a region largely coextensive with the New Jersey side of the New York City area.

As the central region of New Jersey grew during the 1980s, the northeastern section of the state lost sizable portions of its population due to the decline of its major cities, including Newark, Paterson, Clifton, and Elizabeth. On June 8, 1991, area code 908 was split from 201; it primarily serves the north-central regions of the state.^[4]

Within 4 years, 201 was close to exhaustion once again due to the proliferation of cell phones and Internet dial-up connections. The supply of numbers was smaller because the entire northern half of the state is a single LATA, meaning numbers in 908 were not available for use. On June 1, 1997, Essex and Passaic counties, home to Newark and Paterson, respectively, the state's largest and third-largest cities, as well as Morris and Sussex counties, were split as a separate plan area as area code 973.^[4][5] This left Hudson and Bergen counties, the two most densely populated counties in the state and the closest to New York City, as the only counties in the 201 plan area.

The 1997 split was intended as a long-term solution. However, demand for new numbers continued in Hudson and Bergen counties. It was debated whether 201 should be split again, or whether an overlay area code should be added. Overlays were a new concept at the time, and were somewhat controversial because they required implementation of ten-digit dialing. However, Verizon, the dominant telephone company in New Jersey, opted for an overlay to spare its customers the burden of having to change telephone numbers for the second time in a decade.

Area code 551 was created in 2001 to overlay 201, along with area codes 862 and 848, which overlay area codes 973 and 732, respectively.^[6] With the implementation of the overlay area code on December 1, 2001, 10-digit dialing became mandatory.

Area code 201 was the first area code in which Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) service became available. In 1951, the first direct-dialed long distance call was made from Englewood, New Jersey to Alameda, California.^[2]

See also

• List of North American Numbering Plan area codes
• North American Numbering Plan
• List of original NANP area codes

References

External links

• NANPA Area Code Map of New Jersey
• 201 area code
• List of exchanges, 201 Area Code
• List of exchanges, 551 Area Code

Coordinates: 40°52′04″N 74°26′16″W / 40.8678°N 74.4379°W / 40.8678; -74.4379