Pick 312 if the number should read as downtown Chicago.
312 covers the center of the city on the lakefront, and it is the oldest of the three codes, from 1947.
The area codes for Chicago are 312, 773 and 872.
Area codes in Chicago
Get a phone number with the right area code for Chicago.
312 is downtown and the Loop. 773 is the rest of the city, airports included. 872 was laid over both in 2009.
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Pick 312 for the Loop, 773 for a neighborhood, or 872 for anywhere in the city.
Pick 773 if the number should read as a neighborhood.
773 covers the city outside the Loop, from Rogers Park and Lakeview to Hyde Park and South Chicago, plus O’Hare and Midway airports.
Pick 872 if you do not want to say which part of the city.
872 serves all of Chicago, the same area as 312 and 773. It is assigned only for new numbers inside the city.
People filed 295 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from Chicago area codes in 12 months.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 295 unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC gave a caller ID number that started with 773, 312 and 872. 773 was named most, on 128 of them (43%).
- 295unwanted-call complaints named a Chicago code
- 773was named on the most of them, 128
- 43%of the Chicago complaints named 773
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.
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People ask these questions about Chicago area codes.
More in the full FAQ.
No. 312 is downtown, 773 is the rest of the city and 872 covers all of it. The suburbs have other codes, among them 708, 630, 847 and 224, and each has its own page here.
Both airports are in the area of 773. 872 is laid over 773, so a number there can start with either code.
A local call in Chicago is dialed with 1 plus 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 295 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from numbers that start with a Chicago code: 773 (128), 312 (95) and 872 (72). 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 Chicago. 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 Chicago
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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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