Area code 859

Last updated
Approximate service area of Area Code 859 is in red. Area Code 859 map.png
Approximate service area of Area Code 859 is in red.

Area code 859 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the city of Lexington and the central portion of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was created in a split from area code 606 in 1999.

Contents

History

Area code 859 was created in a split from area code 606 in 1999.

When an area code is split, normal practice calls for the largest city to retain the old area code in order to minimize disruption to existing businesses and the community. Thus, conventional wisdom would have suggested that Lexington and Northern Kentucky should have retained 606 in the 1999 split. Lexington was by far the largest city in the old 606 territory. Combined, Lexington and Northern Kentucky accounted for two-thirds of the old 606's population, along with the great majority of its landlines and cell phones. However, several counties in eastern Kentucky are among the poorest in the nation. The Kentucky Public Service Commission and BellSouth (now part of AT&T), then the region's main telephone carrier, decided to let the rural portion retain 606 to spare this notoriously impoverished area the added expense and burden of switching to a new area code.

Under current projections, 859 is expected to remain in its current configuration until about 2047. [1] This is despite the fact that the Cincinnati local toll area extends into both Northern Kentucky and southern Indiana, meaning that several numbers in Cincinnati's 513 and the Indiana suburbs' 812/930 are not available for use.

Prior to October 2021, area code 859 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021. [2]

Service area

The numbering plan area comprises the following Kentucky counties. The boundary closely, but not exactly, tracks county lines.

By far the largest city is Lexington. The next largest area is Northern Kentucky, the Kentucky portion of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It includes smaller cities and towns such as Nicholasville, Richmond, Danville, Covington, Versailles, Florence, Mount Sterling and Winchester.

The digits 859 spell out "UKY" on a standard telephone keypad—a nod to Lexington being home of the University of Kentucky.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 914</span> Area code of Westchester County, New York

Area code 914 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Westchester County, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 775</span> Area code for Nevada, United States

Area code 775 is a Nevada telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan. It was split from area code 702 on December 12, 1998, and it covers the entire state except for Clark County, which retained area code 702 after the split. Major cities in this area code include Reno, Carson City, Elko, and Pahrump. While it appears to be rural, more than 80 percent of its numbers are located in the far western portion around Reno and Carson City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 804</span> Telephone area code in east-central Virginia, United States

Area code 804 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the east-central portion of Virginia. The numbering plan area is anchored by Virginia's capital, Richmond, and includes most of its metropolitan area. Other communities included are Chesterfield, Henrico, Hopewell, Mechanicsville, Powhatan, Midlothian, Petersburg, and Colonial Heights. This also includes the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula. The two southernmost counties on the Middle Peninsula, Gloucester and Mathews, are part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, but use 804 instead of the area code 757 used by the rest of Hampton Roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 928</span> Area code in Arizona, United States

Area code 928 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the U.S. state of Arizona. The numbering plan area comprises the northern, eastern, and western portions of the state. It includes Beaver Dam, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Lake Havasu City, Littlefield, Kingman, Prescott, Sedona, Wickenburg, Winslow and Yuma, and also serves most of Greenlee County, some areas on the western and northern fringes of the Phoenix metropolitan area, such as Lake Pleasant Regional Park in Peoria, and the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 951</span> Area code for western Riverside County, California

Area code 951 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for western Riverside County in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It was assigned in 2004 to a new numbering plan area that was created by an area code split of area code 909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 616</span> Area code for Western Michigan

Area code 616 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan. The numbering plan area also includes the towns of Holland, Greenville, and Grand Haven. This comprises all of Kent and Ottawa counties, and parts of neighboring counties, including the western and central parts of Ionia County. It was one of the original North American area codes created in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 607</span> Area code in the Southern Tier of New York

Area code 607 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the U.S. state of New York. It serves parts of its Southern Tier. It was created in 1954 by combining the southern portion of 315 and the eastern portion of 716. Initially, in the late 1940s, area codes with a middle digit of "0" (x0x-xxx-xxxx) were assigned only to jurisdictions covering an entire state. Along with 507 in Minnesota and 606 in Kentucky, 607 was among the first such area codes to be added to a jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 915</span> Area code in Texas, United States

Area code 915 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the area around El Paso, Texas, U.S. It is one of the original North American area codes established in October 1947, when it was assigned to the north-western part of the state, north of Austin and west of Fort Worth, and stretched from the Oklahoma border to the Mexican border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 409</span> Area code in southeast Texas, United States

Area code 409 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Texas. The numbering plan area comprises the Beaumont and Galveston areas. It was created on March 19, 1983, in an area code split of area code 713, the first since 619 split from 714 four months earlier. Initially, it consisted of a horseshoe-shaped area that almost completely surrounded Houston, but in 2000 it was divided into three sections. Area code 409 was retained by the eastern segment, while the central portion, centered on Nacogdoches, received area code 936 and the western portion centered on Bryan–College Station, was assigned area code 979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 660</span> Telephone area code for northern and western Missouri, United States

Area code 660 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northern and western part of the U.S. state of Missouri. It was created on October 12, 1997, in a split of the 816 numbering plan area (NPA)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 989</span> Area code in Michigan, United States

Area code 989 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for Central Michigan, the northeastern Lower Peninsula, and portions of the Thumb. It is the highest-numbered area code in use in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), as well as the highest possible under the current system, in which a middle digit of 9 is forbidden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 219</span> Area code that serves northwest Indiana

Area code 219 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for Northwest Indiana, including the state's portion of the Chicago metropolitan area. The numbering plan area includes the cities of Schererville, Chesterton, Lake Station, Lowell, Crown Point, Cedar Lake, Hobart, Whiting, Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Munster, Griffith, Highland, Portage, Valparaiso, Michigan City, Ogden Dunes, St. John, La Porte, DeMotte, Roselawn, Kouts, Lake Village, and Rensselaer. 219 is largely co-extensive with the Indiana side of the Chicago metropolitan area, of which it includes the Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, and Jasper counties. Service is provided by AT&T, Frontier Communications, and Northwestern Indiana Telephone Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 810</span> Telephone area code in east-central Michigan

Area code 810 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the east-central part in the U.S. state of Michigan. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the cities of Flint, Lapeer, Port Huron, and the southern portion of the Thumb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area codes 513 and 283</span> Area code in southwest Ohio, US

Area codes 513 and 283 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southwest of the U.S. state of Ohio, including Cincinnati and surrounding cities, such as Forest Park, Hamilton, Lebanon, West Chester, Mason, Maineville, Middletown, Milford, Norwood, Oxford, Harrison, Cleves, Miamitown and Trenton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 662</span> Telephone area code for the northern half of Mississippi, US

Area code 662 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northern half of the U.S. state of Mississippi, including the six counties that are part of the Memphis metro area. It also includes the cities that are home to the state's two largest universities, Oxford and Starkville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 785</span> Area code in northern Kansas, United States

Area code 785 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for most of the northern part of the U.S. state Kansas. It was created in a split of the numbering plan area 913 on July 20, 1997. The numbering plan area stretches from the Colorado state line on the west to the Missouri state line on the east, while excluding the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which retained 913. The largest city by population isTopeka, the state capital city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 606</span> Area code that serves the easternmost part of Kentucky

Area code 606 is a telephone area code serving the eastern half of south-central and all of the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Cities and towns in the area code include Ashland, Morehead, Hazard, Middlesboro, Somerset, Stanford, London, Corbin, Greenup, Paintsville, Pikeville and Maysville. Most of its service area lies within the Kentucky region known as the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield. It runs along the entire length of the state's borders with Virginia and West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 912</span> Telephone area code for southeastern Georgia, United States

Area code 912 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The numbering plan area contains Savannah, Richmond Hill, Hinesville, Vidalia, Metter, Reidsville, Homerville, Waycross, Brunswick, Folkston, Douglas, Statesboro, Ludowici, Jesup and Kingsland. The area code was created in 1954 in an area code split from area code 404, which had been assigned to the entire state in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 574</span> Area code that serves South Bend and mishawaka and north-central Indiana

Area code 574 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northern part of the U.S. state of Indiana. It was created in a three-way area code split from area code 219 in 2002.

Area code 731 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the western part of the U.S. state of Tennessee.

References

  1. 2023-1 NRUF and NPA Exhaust Analysis (PDF) (Report). East Brunswick, New Jersey: North American Numbering Plan Administrator. April 2023. p. 7. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  2. "Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Hotline)" (PDF). North American Numbering Plan Administrator. January 8, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
Kentucky area codes: 270/364, 502, 606, 859
North: 513
West: 502, 812/930 area code 859East: 606
South: 270/364
Indiana area codes: 219, 260, 317/463, 574, 765, 812/930
Ohio area codes: 216, 330/234, 419/567, 440, 513, 614/380, 740/220, 937/326