Which city has 6 area codes? Why are they distributed so randomly? How many states have only one area code? Do you want to find out this information?
The map below from areacodeanswers.com shows the locations of all the area codes in the United States and Canada. See if you can use it to answer the questions above.
Which city has 6 area codes?
Well that would be New York City with:
However, on top of that, there are 10 additional area codes within a 50 mile radius of Central Park. They are:
Long Island:
Westchester and other downstate areas:
Connecticut:
North Jersey:
Why are US area codes distributed so randomly?
This dates all the way back to the introduction of the Bell System in 1947. The numbers may seem completely random but the actual idea behind each code was to reduce the amount of time needed to dial each number on the old fashioned pulse dialing machines.
The areas that received the highest frequency of calls were assigned the digits that were easiest for the operators to dial. New York had the highest call volume at the time, which is why is was assigned the easiest area code to dial (212).
How many states have only one area code?
Well just like the 13 colonies, there are 13 states with only one area code. They are:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Montana
- Wyoming
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- West Virginia (soon to have two)
- Delaware
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- New Hampshire
- Maine
How many area codes are there in the US?
I tried searching for the answer, but got conflicting results. It looks as though there are somewhere between 265 and 293 area codes used in the 50 states. On top of this, there is also at least one DC area code and several additional area codes for US overseas territories (including Puerto Rico).
