Area code 360

Area code 360 is the telephone area code for western Washington state outside metropolitan Seattle. It began service on January 15, 1995. The numbering plan area (NPA), which encompasses all of western Washington outside urban King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties and Bainbridge Island, was previously part of area code 206. Area codes 360 and 334 (Alabama), which began service on the same day, were the first two area codes in the North American Numbering Plan with a middle digit other than 0 or 1.[1]

Map of Washington's area codes

The served area consists of two sections. The larger, western portion stretches from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Oregon border, while the portion on the east shore of Puget Sound stretches from the border with British Columbia, Canada almost to Everett. This configuration came when residents of several Seattle exurbs protested being moved into 360.[2] In response, US West put some of them back in 206. However, 206 was on the brink of exhaustion even after the creation of 360, and the restoration of these exurbs forced the Washington Public Utilities Commission to switch most of Seattle's suburban ring into areas 253 and 425 in 1998, sooner than originally planned.

This made 360 one of the few areas in NANPA without a continuous land border;[lower-alpha 1] others include 706 in Georgia, 423 in Tennessee and 386 in Florida. Each case results from a split that removed the middle from a formerly contiguous area.

Cities and towns in area code 360 include:

In 1999, numbering plan area 360 was to be overlaid with area code 564, but the implementation was delayed indefinitely by order of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. A 2016 report forecasted exhaustion in 2018.[5] The change was approved in May 2016, with implementation of the new area code scheduled for 2017.[6] As of September 2017, all calls within the 360 Area Code require 10-digit dialing, with the first 564 prefix to be assigned in the summer of 2018.