Pick 202 if the number should read as Washington.
202 is one of the original codes of 1947. The edge of the code is the edge of the District, so a 202 number is never a suburban one.
The area codes for Washington, D.C. are 202 and 771.
Area codes in Washington, D.C.
Get a phone number with the right area code for Washington, D.C..
202 is Washington, D.C., and nothing outside it. 771 was laid over it in November 2021. The suburbs in Virginia and Maryland have their own codes.
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Washington, D.C. has two area codes.
- 202Since 1947Washington, D.C.
823 FCC complaints
Get a 202 number - 771Since 2021Overlay code
136 FCC complaints
Pick 202 for Washington, 703 for the Virginia suburbs, or 301 for the Maryland suburbs.
Pick 703 if the number is for Arlington, Alexandria or Fairfax.
703 covers Northern Virginia, on exactly the same ground as 571.
Pick 301 if the number is for Bethesda or Silver Spring.
301 covers Montgomery County and western Maryland, on exactly the same ground as 240.
People filed 959 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from Washington, D.C. 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 202 and 771. 202 was named most, on 823 of them (86%).
- 959unwanted-call complaints named a Washington, D.C. code
- 202was named on the most of them, 823
- 86%of the Washington, D.C. complaints named 202
Washington, D.C. codes
How many complaints named a caller ID that starts with each Washington, D.C. code.
- 1202Washington, D.C.823
- 2771Overlay code136
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 Washington, D.C. number.
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Start your free week.
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Type the code you picked.
Open Create a number, type the three digits and give the number a name.
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Hand the number out.
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People ask these questions about Washington, D.C. area codes.
More in the full FAQ.
No. 703 covers Northern Virginia, among them Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax. Washington itself uses 202.
771 entered service on November 9, 2021, laid over 202. The District’s Public Service Commission approved it on September 16, 2020.
A local call in Washington, D.C. 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 959 FCC complaints about unwanted calls from numbers that start with a Washington, D.C. code: 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 Washington, D.C.. 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 Washington, D.C.
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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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