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Public FCC data
Do people in Washington report more spam calls than most states? They filed 3,838 FCC complaints in 12 months, fourth most per person.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people in Washington filed 3,838 unwanted-call complaints with the FCC, or 48.0 for every 100,000 residents, the fourth-highest rate among the 50 states and DC. 27% of the 3,838 complaints were about text messages, against 15% across the country.
- 3,838unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC by people in Washington, October 2025 to September 2026
- 48.0complaints for every 100,000 residents, fourth of 51 (the whole country: 36.6)
- 509the area code people there named most, on 447 complaints (Eastern Washington)
Source: Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", read on November 4, 2026. Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025. All sources.
People in Washington reported area code 509 most, and 5 of the 10 busiest area codes are in Washington.
Each row counts the complaints from people in Washington whose caller ID started with that code. One code in the list is toll-free and belongs to no place. Together these 10 codes account for 1,377 of the 2,317 complaints that gave a caller ID.
| Rank | Code | Where it is | In Washington? | Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 509 | Eastern WashingtonIn Washington | Yes | 447 |
| 2 | 208 | IdahoIn ID | No, ID | 267 |
| 3 | 360 | Olympia, Bellingham and VancouverIn Washington | Yes | 200 |
| 4 | 206 | SeattleIn Washington | Yes | 117 |
| 5 | 202 | Washington, D.C.In DC | No, DC | 98 |
| 6 | 425 | Bellevue, Everett and RentonIn Washington | Yes | 84 |
| 7 | 253 | Tacoma, Kent and Federal WayIn Washington | Yes | 52 |
| 8 | 771 | Washington, D.C.In DC | No, DC | 44 |
| 9 | 240 | Silver Spring, Frederick and Hagerstown, MDIn MD | No, MD | 34 |
| 10 | 833 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 34 |
Monthly complaints from Washington ran from 249 in June to 591 in February.
October 2025 and November 2025 are shaded and dotted because the FCC file holds only 323 and 16,267 complaints of any kind in those months, against about 29,400 in a usual one.
Complaints from Washington by month
Unwanted-call complaints filed from Washington per month, October 2025 to September 2026.
- Complaints filed from Washington
- Months the FCC file is thin
| Month | All complaints |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 1 |
| November 2025 | 240 |
| December 2025 | 390 |
| January 2026 | 433 |
| February 2026 | 591 |
| March 2026 | 336 |
| April 2026 | 300 |
| May 2026 | 255 |
| June 2026 | 249 |
| July 2026 | 385 |
| August 2026 | 326 |
| September 2026 | 332 |
Live callers make up 34% of the complaints from Washington, above the 26% across the country.
The FCC files robocalls, live callers and texts under one issue, "Unwanted Calls". The bar shows how the 3,838 complaints from Washington split by what the person says reached them.
What reached people in Washington
How the 3,838 complaints from Washington split.
- Live caller34% · 1,308 complaints
- Prerecorded call28% · 1,063 complaints
- Text message27% · 1,030 complaints
- Kind not stated11% · 437 complaints
Across the country the split is prerecorded call 41%, live caller 26%, text message 15%, kind not stated 17%.
Fewer than half of the US numbers people in Washington reported carry a Washington area code, 910 of 2,130 (43%), against 50% across the country.
Of 2,317 complaints that gave a caller ID, 910 named a Washington code, 1,220 a code from another state, 173 a toll-free code and 14 something else, such as a special-use code, a number abroad or a prefix that is not assigned.
Where the numbers people in Washington reported came from
Where the 2,317 caller ID numbers from Washington came from.
- Washington area codes39% · 910 complaints
- Other states' area codes53% · 1,220 complaints
- Toll-free codes7% · 173 complaints
- Other or not assigned1% · 14 complaints
After Washington, people there named Idaho, District of Columbia and California codes most.
Washington ranks fourth of 51 for complaints per 100,000 people, between Arizona and Maryland.
Colorado leads the list at 109.8 and North Dakota is last at 13.8. The 50 states and DC together file 36.6.
Washington next to the states ranked around it
Complaints for every 100,000 residents, the states ranked next to Washington.
Here is what to do when a spam call reaches you in Washington.
See why so many calls reach you
Quote forms, data brokers, leaked databases and recycled numbers are the routes callers use to find a number.
Check one number that called you
Paste it into the spam number lookup to see its line type, its carrier and a risk level.
Get a number with a Washington area code
Each of these area codes of Washington has a page that shows how to get a number in it that rings the phone you already carry.
These are the questions people ask about spam calls in Washington, answered from the data.
3,838 unwanted-call complaints from October 2025 to September 2026, which is 48.0 for every 100,000 residents. That ranks fourth among the 50 states and DC per person and 12th by total count.
509 (Eastern Washington) was named on 447 complaints, 19% of the complaints that gave a caller ID number. Next were 208 (Idaho) with 267 and 360 (Olympia, Bellingham and Vancouver, Washington) with 200.
Not mostly. 43% of the complaints that named a US area code carried a Washington code, against 50% across the country. After Washington, the area codes named most belonged to Idaho (271), District of Columbia (142) and California (94). Caller ID can be faked, so a code shows what appeared on the phone, not where the caller was.
28% were about prerecorded calls, 34% about a live caller and 27% about text messages, and 11% did not say. Across the country the split is 41%, 26% and 15%.
No. People in Washington filed 1,043 complaints in July to September 2026, 23% fewer than the 1,360 in January to March 2026. For the whole country the change over the same months was up 28%.
File a complaint with the FCC's Consumer Help Center at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. Complaints filed there are the ones counted on this page, listed by the state of the person who filed. To report a scam or fraud call, use ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
A state with more people files more complaints just by being bigger. Dividing by the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate for Washington (8,001,020 residents) puts every state on one scale, which is why Washington ranks fourth per person and 12th by total count.
Every number on this page comes from two public sources.
The complaints come from the FCC.
Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", filed October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, read from opendata.fcc.gov on November 4, 2026.
The population comes from the Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (NST-EST2025-POP), Vintage 2025 estimate for July 1, 2025, released January 2026, checked November 2026.
Data: FCC Consumer Complaints, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, analysed by ExpressNumber. www.expressnumber.com/spam-calls-by-state/washington
See every state ranked
All 50 states and DC by complaints per 100,000 people, with Washington marked.
See which area codes send the most
The 25 busiest local area codes, the toll-free codes and a search of every code in the data.
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