Pick 253 if the number should read as Tacoma.
The numbering administrator’s notice for the code named Kent, Federal Way and Tacoma, with Gig Harbor, Fox Island and Burley.
The area code for Tacoma is 253.
Area codes in Tacoma
Get a phone number with the right area code for Tacoma.
Tacoma is in 253, created in 1997 when 206 was split three ways. The code covers Tacoma, Kent and Federal Way, and it has no overlay.
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Tacoma has one area code.
Pick 253 for Tacoma, the code made for it in 1997.
Pick 253 for Auburn and Puyallup too.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission’s dockets name both as part of 253.
Pick 206 if the number is for Seattle.
Seattle kept 206 in the 1997 split, and 564 now covers it too.
People filed 84 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from the Tacoma area code in 12 months.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 84 unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC gave a caller ID number that started with 253.
- 84unwanted-call complaints named a Tacoma code
Tacoma codes
How many complaints named a caller ID that starts with the Tacoma code.
- 1253Tacoma, Kent and Federal Way84
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 Tacoma 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.
Calls ring the phone you already have, and texts land in your ExpressNumber inbox.
People ask these questions about the Tacoma area code.
More in the full FAQ.
No. Tacoma uses 253. Seattle kept 206 when the three-way split of April 27, 1997 created 253 and 425.
No. No second code has been laid over 253. Ten-digit dialing for local calls became mandatory on July 29, 2017.
A local call in Tacoma is dialed with ten digits. The area code is part of every number you give out.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people filed 84 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from numbers that start with a Tacoma code: 253 (84). 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 Tacoma. 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 Tacoma
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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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