An apartment for rent in Gary or Hammond draws calls from many strangers.
List it with a 219 number, take the calls on your own phone and burn the number once the lease is signed.
Local 219 numbers
Get a 219 phone number for Gary and northwest Indiana.
Ask for 219 when you create a number on ExpressNumber, and the number you hand out reads as northwest Indiana, from Gary to Valparaiso. It rings the phone you already carry, and you burn it in one tap.
$0 todayLive in about a minute
This is how you get a 219 number.
- Start your 7 days free and open Create a number.
- Type 219 as the area code and give the number a name.
- Hand it out. Calls ring the phone you already carry, and texts land in your inbox.
- Burn it in one tap when you are done. Calls and texts to it stop at once.
9:41
Your numbers
Apartment for rent
(219) 555-0126
Forwarding
Used boat
(219) 555-0161
Texts only
Roofing quote
(219) 555-0104
Blocked
People ask for 219 when the search is in Gary, Hammond or Valparaiso.
A used truck or a fishing boat for sale near Portage brings texts from buyers all week.
Post a 219 number with the photos, set it to Texts only and keep your own number off the ad.
A moving job or a roofing quote in Valparaiso ends in follow-up calls.
Give each company its own 219 number. Block the ones you did not choose.
This is where a 219 number is from.
Area code 219 serves the northwest third of Indiana, which includes the Gary-Lake County area, as the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission puts it. It has never had a second code laid over it.
The commission's 2001 release names Gary, East Chicago, Michigan City, Valparaiso and Rensselaer as 219 cities, and the numbering administrator adds La Porte. South Bend and Elkhart use 574, and Fort Wayne uses 260.
Northwest Indiana, IN
Area code 219 and the codes around it, oldest first.
1948
219
This code
2002
574
Split off
2002
260
Split off
- Gary
- Hammond
- Valparaiso
- Michigan City
- Merrillville
- Portage
- Crown Point
- East Chicago
- Hobart
- La Porte
- Chesterton
- Highland
These are the facts about area code 219.
From the public records of the body that runs US phone numbering, read October 21, 2026.
- Place
- Northwest Indiana, Indiana
- In service since
- 1948
- Local calls are dialed with
- Ten digits
- Shares its area with
- No other code
- Codes split from it
- 574 (2002) and 260 (2002)
219 was assigned in 1948 and once covered all of northern Indiana. On January 15, 2002 the middle part took 574 and the east took 260, and 219 kept the northwest.
Dialing all ten digits for local calls became mandatory on October 24, 2021.
Try it free for 7 days.
Then pick the plan that fits how many numbers you hand out.
Basic
7 days free$9.99/mo
- 5 numbers, one for each site, store or dealer
- 100 forwarded minutes a month
- Burn a number in one tap
- Extra numbers $1 a month each
Pro
7 days free$29.99/mo
- 100 numbers
- 1,000 forwarded minutes a month
- A number per vendor, client or listing
- Extra numbers 50¢ a month each
$0 today. Monthly plans, cancel any time.
People ask these questions about getting a 219 number.
More in the full FAQ.
Create a number in your dashboard, type 219 as the area code and give it a name, such as Apartment for rent. It is live in about a minute. You do not need to live in Indiana: calls ring the phone you already carry.
Yes, for taking calls and texts. A roofer, a tutor or a mover in Gary can put a 219 number on the flyer and the website, take the calls on their own phone and burn the number when the job is done.
Yes. The 219 area takes in Gary, Hammond, Valparaiso, Michigan City, Merrillville and Portage.
No. Your numbers are receive-only: they take calls and texts, and they never make them. You answer calls on your own phone, and you cannot reply to a text from the inbox.
You get 7 days free and pay $0 today. After 7 days your plan starts: $9.99 a month for Basic or $29.99 a month for Pro. Cancel before then and you pay nothing.
More area codes
Every fact on this page comes from public numbering records.
The state, the dates and the related codes are rows of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator's area code database. The places are from its planning letters and the state’s own pages. Read October 21, 2026.
- North American Numbering Plan Administrator, area code database
- NANPA planning letter PL-309, October 31, 2001
- NANPA planning letter PL-556, January 8, 2021
- Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, news release on the 219 area code update, November 28, 2001
- Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, ten-digit dialing for the 219 and 574 area codes
Put 219 on a number you can burn.
Hand out a number you can burn. Keep the one your family calls.
Try it free for 7 days