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New area code to go live soon in the North State

A telephone is placed in front of a map of Northern California on Jan. 24, 2025 in Chico, Calif.
Erik Adams
/
NSPR
A telephone is placed in front of a map of Northern California on Jan. 24, 2025 in Chico, Calif.

By the end of the week, the North State will have a new area code. Starting Jan. 31, the 837 area code will go live.

But this doesn’t mean there will be any change to current 530 phone numbers, and no boundaries are being moved around.

It’s an overlay area code. This means the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is simply adding the new area code to the 530 region without changing boundaries or existing lines.

“An area code overlay adds an additional area code to the geographic region served by the existing area code,” said a CPUC representative in an email. “Therefore, multiple area codes coexist within the same geographic region.”

Much of the North State before 1997 used the 916 area code, which is now associated with the Sacramento area. The 916 borders changed that year to introduce the 530 code that’s now used in more than 20 California counties.

The CPUC told NSPR there are currently around seven million lines with 530 area codes. New lines using a 530 area code could run out by later this year, so the CPUC is adding the 837 area code to make sure the region’s covered.

“The new overlay area code of 837 will be available for new telephone number assignments in the same region as the 530 area code upon exhaust of available prefixes in the existing 530 area code,” the CPUC told NSPR.

One way residents can prepare for changes is to “ensure their websites, personal and business stationery, printed checks, advertising materials, contact information and personal or pet ID tags include the area code.”

Erik began his role as NSPR's Butte County government reporter in September of 2023 as part of UC Berkeley's California Local News Fellowship. He received his bachelor's degree in Journalism from Cal State LA earlier that year.