A room near the university in Moscow or Pocatello draws calls from many students and parents.
List it with a 986 number, take the calls on your own phone and burn the number once the lease is signed.
Local 986 numbers
Get a 986 phone number for Idaho.
Ask for 986 when you create a number on ExpressNumber, and the number you hand out reads as Idaho, from Boise to the northern panhandle. It rings the phone in your pocket, and you burn it in one tap.
$0 todayLive in about a minute
This is how you get a 986 number.
- Start your 7 days free and open Create a number.
- Type 986 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
Student room
(986) 555-0128
Forwarding
Food truck
(986) 555-0157
Forwarding
Used boat
(986) 555-0192
Texts only
People ask for 986 when the search covers the whole state of Idaho.
A food truck or a mobile detailing job in Boise gets calls from customers you have never met.
Put a 986 number on the window and the page, keep your own number private and end it when the season does.
A used boat or a snowmobile for sale in Coeur d'Alene brings texts from buyers all week.
Post a 986 number with the photos, set it to Texts only and burn it at the handover.
This is where a 986 number is from.
Area code 986 is an all-services overlay of 208, so it covers the same area: the entire state of Idaho.
The numbering administrator's rate center map names Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Coeur d'Alene, Twin Falls, Post Falls, Lewiston, Moscow, Mountain Home and Sandpoint, among well over a hundred others.
Idaho, ID
Area code 986 and the codes around it, oldest first.
1947
208
Shares the area
2017
986
This code
- Boise
- Nampa
- Caldwell
- Idaho Falls
- Pocatello
- Coeur d'Alene
- Twin Falls
- Post Falls
- Lewiston
- Moscow
- Mountain Home
- Sandpoint
These are the facts about area code 986.
From the public records of the body that runs US phone numbering, read October 22, 2026.
- Place
- Idaho, Idaho
- In service since
- 2017
- Local calls are dialed with
- Ten digits
- Shares its area with
- 208 (1947)
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved the overlay on November 2, 2015, in Order No. 33414, so no one had to change a number. It chose an overlay over a split of the state.
Permissive ten-digit dialing began on November 5, 2016, ten digits became mandatory for local calls on August 5, 2017, and 986 entered service on September 5, 2017.
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 986 number.
More in the full FAQ.
Create a number in your dashboard, type 986 as the area code and give it a name, such as Student room. It is live in about a minute. You do not need to live in Idaho: calls ring the phone you already carry.
Yes, for taking calls and texts. A hay seller, a river guide or a roofer can put a 986 number on the sign and the website, take the calls on their own phone and burn the number when the job is done.
Yes. 986 covers the whole state, so it reads as local in Boise, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls and Lewiston alike. 208 numbers cover the same area.
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 22, 2026.
Put 986 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