Pick 202 for a number inside the District.
202 has been in service since 1947 and covers the whole of the District.
The District of Columbia has two area codes: 202 and 771.
Area codes in the District of Columbia
Get a phone number with the right area code for the District of Columbia.
202 covers the whole of the District, and a second code was laid over it in 2021. The suburbs across the line use Virginia and Maryland codes.
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The District of Columbia has two area codes.
In the order they opened.
- 202Since 1947Washington, D.C.
823 FCC complaints
Get a 202 number - 771Since 2021No page yet
136 FCC complaints
771
The newest area code in the District of Columbia is 771.
771 went into service in 2021, laid over 202, so both codes cover the whole of the District.
Pick 202 for the District, 703 for Virginia across the Potomac, or 301 for Maryland.
Pick 703 or 571 for Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax.
These two cover Northern Virginia on exactly the same ground, and 571 was laid over 703 in 2000.
Pick 301 or 240 for Bethesda and Silver Spring.
301 covers Montgomery County and western Maryland, and 240 was laid over it in 1997.
People filed 959 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from the District of Columbia area codes in 12 months.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 959 unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC gave a caller ID number that started with one of the the District of Columbia codes. 202 was named most, on 823 of them (86%).
- 959unwanted-call complaints named a District of Columbia code
- 202was named on the most of them, 823
- 86%of the District of Columbia complaints named 202
District of Columbia codes
How many complaints named a caller ID that starts with each the District of Columbia code.
- 1202Washington, D.C.823
- 2771No page yet136
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 District of Columbia number.
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Type the code you picked.
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People ask these questions about the District of Columbia area codes.
More in the full FAQ.
No. The District uses 202 and 771, Northern Virginia uses 703 and 571, and the Maryland suburbs use 301 and 240, each pair on its own ground.
No. 202 and 771 cover the District and nothing outside it, and the Virginia and Maryland codes stop at the line.
The District of Columbia has two area codes in service, by the numbering administrator's report of October 23, 2026: 202 and 771. They are listed in the order they opened, from 1947 to 2021.
The newest area code in the District of Columbia is 771, in service since 2021. 771 went into service in 2021, laid over 202, so both codes cover the whole of the District.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people filed 959 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from numbers that start with a District of Columbia code. The codes named were 202 (823) and 771 (136). 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 the District of Columbia. 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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Cities in the District of Columbia
States next to the District of Columbia
More area codes
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 (its report of October 23, 2026), and the complaints are the FCC's own.
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