Area code 701

Area code 701 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. State of North Dakota. It is one of the 86 original area codes created by AT&T in 1947, and continues to be the only area code in North Dakota, and one of eleven states with one only code.

Map of North Dakota area code in blue (with border states and provinces)

Numbering plan area 701 is divided between the Bismarck and Fargo LATAs, and is one of only a few area codes so divided. The Fargo LATA extends for some distance into northern Minnesota, as far east as Brainerd.

Numbering plan exhaust projections forecast that North Dakota will need a new area code in 2030.[1] About 600 of the nearly 800 possible central office codes have been assigned. The danger of exhaustion comes from the proliferation of mobile services particularly in Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck.

Being the sole area code in North Dakota, seven-digit dialing is in effect for all calls within the state. The situation was threatened in 2020, when it was anticipated that the state had to transition to always dialing ten digits, because of the implementation of a short-code (988) for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, because that code was assigned as a central office prefix to an office (CLLI code BSMRNDJC) in Bismarck. However, the local telephone administration decided to discontinue this central office code, and return it to the NANP Administrator.[2] This action removed the need to implement ten-digit dialing in area code 701.