Area code 202 - wikipedia Area code 202 The area colored red indicates the geographical region of the District of Columbia, served by area code 202 Area code 202 is the North American telephone area code for Washington, D.C.. The area code was one of the original area codes established in October 1947 by AT&T in the North American Numbering Plan ( NANP ). After the State of New Jersey with area code 201, the District of Columbia was the second Numbering Plan Area ( NPA ). NPAs that covered an entire administrative region received a code in which the second digit was ' 0 '. As of 2012, no plans exist to overlay the 202 area code, as NANPA estimates the current supply of numbers is sufficient at least to the year 2019. Washington is thus one of the largest cities where seven - digit dialing is still possible. However, calls are connected if the area code is dialed. There is no provision for long - distance calls within the area code. From 1947 to 1990, area code 202 was an unpublished alternate area code for the nearby suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, which were officially in area codes 301 and 703, respectively. This was possible because the entire Washington metropolitan area is a single LATA. Every number on the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Washington metropolitan area was given a non-published alternate number in 202. This arrangement allowed local calls throughout the metropolitan area to be dialed using only seven digits. For example, a telephone number in Kensington, Maryland, that was officially 301 - 949 - xxxx could be dialed as 202 - 949 - xxxx. One side effect was that a prefix could only be duplicated in jurisdictions a safe distance from the metropolitan area, such as the Eastern Shore of Maryland or southwestern Virginia. However, on October 1, 1990, due to pending number exhaustion, the ability to dial the suburbs using area code 202 ended. This did not free up enough numbers to meet demand on either side of the metropolitan area, forcing the split of area code 410 from 301 in 1991 and the split of area code 540 from 703 in 1995. The metro area 's single - LATA status meant that several prefixes on both sides of the Potomac River were unavailable for use amid the region 's continued growth, forcing 703 to be overlaid with 571 and 301 's overlaying with 240. Years after the introduction of mobile number portability, a large number of cell phone customers on the Virginia and Maryland sides of the metro have 202 numbers. See also Area code 710 List of North American Numbering Plan area codes References Jump up ^ AT&T, Notes on Nationwide Dialing ( 1955 ) Jump up ^ 2011 NRUF and NPA Exhaust Analysis Jump up ^ NANPA Administration System : Area Code 202 Archived January 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. External links NANPA Area Code Map of District of Columbia District of Columbia area codes : 202 North : 240 / 301 West : 571 / 703 area code 202 East : 240 / 301 South : 571 / 703 Maryland area codes : 240 / 301, 410 / 443 / 667 Virginia area codes : 276, 434, 540, 571 / 703, 757, 804 Lists of area codes in the North American Numbering Plan Canada Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Caribbean Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Jamaica Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Oceania American Samoa Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Guam United States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah U.S. Government Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Coordinates : 38 ° 54 ′ N 77 ° 2 ′ W ﻿ / ﻿ 38.900 ° N 77.033 ° W ﻿ / 38.900 ; - 77.033 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Area_code_202&oldid=799913379 '' Categories : Area codes in the United States Area codes in Washington, D.C. Telecommunications - related introductions in 1947 Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Coordinates on Wikidata Talk About Wikipedia Français Română 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 10 September 2017, at 15 : 40. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what is the area code of washington dc
Answer: 202