Area codes 205 and 659

Area codes 205 and 659 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the western and central parts of the U.S. State of Alabama, including the cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.

Map of number plan area 205/659 (red) in Alabama

Area code 205 was assigned to the original numbering plan area for Alabama, created in 1947 when the NANP was placed in operation by AT&T. It encompassed the entire state. By the 1990s, the state's growth and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers threatened exhaustion of the numbering pool. In 1995, the area was divided and area code 334 was created in relief to serve the area from Montgomery southward. The numbering plan area was reduced in size in 1998, when the northern and eastern portions were assigned area code 256.[1]

In October 2019, numbering plan area 205 was converted to an overlay plan, adding area code 659 to the same region. This change mandated ten-digit dialing for all calls.[2][3]