New York City to get New ‘332’ Area Code in 2017

New Yorkers will soon have yet another area code, as the supply of 212 telephone numbers continues to dwindle.

The New York State Public Service Commission announced Tuesday that it would issue a new area code, 332, to most of Manhattan, joining 212 and 646, as well as 917, which covers all of New York City as an overlay area code.

The boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island use 718, 347, and 929, as does the Marble Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, which is physically connected to the Bronx and separated from Manhattan by the Harlem River Ship Canal.

The projected life of the new 332 area code is 20 years.

Area codes were first created in 1947 and the 212 area code encompassed New York City’s five boroughs. In 1984, the city was split, with Manhattan and the Bronx retaining 212 and a new 718 area code was assigned to Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. In 1992, as the supply of 212 telephone numbers became significantly reduced, the Bronx joined the 718 area code. Five years later, in 1997, to again address the exhaustion of available 212 numbers, the 646 area code was created as an overlay for Manhattan.

The city’s 917 area code was originally established solely for mobile phones and pagers in New York City although it has since been used for other purposes including landlines.

The initial 90 area codes were assigned based on population size. Cities with the largest population were given area codes that were quick to dial on a rotary phone, hence 212 for New York, 213 for Los Angeles, and 312 for Chicago, while less populous states such as Alaska, Idaho, and Hawaii got 907, 208, and 808 respectively.

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