Pick 208 if the number should read as Boise.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission and the numbering administrator both say that 208 covers the entire state, and it has never been split.
The area codes for Boise are 208 and 986.
Area codes in Boise
Get a phone number with the right area code for Boise.
Boise uses 208 and 986, and so does every other town in Idaho. 208 was assigned in 1947, and 986 was laid over it in 2017.
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Pick 208 for Boise, the one code Idaho had for 70 years.
Pick 986 if you want the newer code.
986 entered service on September 5, 2017. The commission chose an overlay over a split of the state.
Pick 801 if the number is for Salt Lake City.
801 serves the greater Salt Lake City area, with Ogden and Provo, and 385 was laid over it in 2009.
People filed 437 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from Boise area codes in 12 months.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 437 unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC gave a caller ID number that started with 208 and 986. 208 was named most, on 405 of them (93%).
- 437unwanted-call complaints named a Boise code
- 208was named on the most of them, 405
- 93%of the Boise complaints named 208
Source: Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", read on November 4, 2026. Caller ID can be faked, so a code shows what appeared on the phone, not where the caller was.
This is how you get a Boise number.
- 1
Start your free week.
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- 2
Type the code you picked.
Open Create a number, type the three digits and give the number a name.
- 3
Hand the number out.
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People ask these questions about Boise area codes.
More in the full FAQ.
No. Idaho was assigned 208 in 1947 and it has never been split. Number pooling stretched its life by about fifteen years.
Ten digits became mandatory for local calls on August 5, 2017, and 986 entered service a month later.
A local call in Boise is dialed with ten digits, whichever of its codes the number starts with. The area code is part of every number you give out.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people filed 437 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from numbers that start with a Boise code: 208 (405) and 986 (32). A complaint is one person's report. Caller ID can be faked, so a code shows what appeared on the phone, not where the caller was.
Yes. You type the area code you want when you create a number, and you do not need to live in Boise. Calls ring the phone you already have, and texts land in your ExpressNumber inbox.
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.
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Codes around Boise
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Every fact on this page comes from public numbering records.
The codes, the places and the years are rows of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator's area code database, and the complaints are the FCC's own.
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