Area codes 209 and 350

{{short description|Area codes in northern Central Valley, California}}

Area codes 209 and 350 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. Their service area includes Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Merced, Winton, Atwater, Livingston, Manteca, Ripon, Tracy, Lodi, Galt, Sonora, Los Banos, San Andreas, Mariposa, and Yosemite, the northern San Joaquin Valley (part of the Central Valley), and the Sierra Foothills.

Area code 209 was created in an area code split of area code 916 in 1958. On November 14, 1998, the southern half of this numbering plan area received the assignment of area code 559.

On October 24, 2021, 209 was transitioned to ten-digit dialing despite not being part of an overlay complex at that time. The area code had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988, which was designated as a nationwide three-digit dialing code for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in 2022. This created a conflict for all NPAs with central office code 988 that still permitted seven-digit dialing,{{cite web

|url=https://nationalnanpa.com/pdf/PL_556.pdf

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423013529/https://nationalnanpa.com/pdf/PL_556.pdf

|archive-date=2021-04-23

|title=Planning Letter PL-556: Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Hotline)

|publisher=North American Numbering Plan Administrator

|date=2021-01-08

|access-date=2021-03-09

}} requiring all such NPAs to transition to ten-digit dialing.

On November 28, 2022, the 209 numbering plan area was assigned a second area code, 350, to form an overlay complex to address the impending central office code exhaustion in 209 from growth in telecommunication services.{{cite web

|url=https://nationalnanpa.com/reports/Changes_from_Oct2020_%20NRUF_Forecast.pdf

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419010219/https://nationalnanpa.com/reports/Changes_from_Oct2020_%20NRUF_Forecast.pdf

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2021-04-19

|title=October 2020 NPA Exhaust Analysis–Changes as of March 29, 2021

|date=2021-03-29

|publisher=NANPA

}} Network preparation was expedited without permissive dialing period, since ten-digit dialing was already in effect.{{cite web

|url=https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/350-area-code-209/103-29a21505-7f2b-436d-b8bf-4b990121ff36

|title=350: The new area code you'll be seeing in the 209 area

|date=2022-05-20

}}