The 559 area code in the central part of the San Joaquin Valley will soon have company.
Tuesday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced that a second area code will be provided to the region.
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The big picture: Currently the 559 area code encompasses most of Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Madera Counties.
- The new area code added by the CPUC will be 357, which will act as an overlay in the region to provide additional numbers.
- No one with an existing 559 area code will be required to change their area code to 357 or their phone number.
Driving the news: The CPUC is adding the 357 area code because the 559 area code is projected to run out of available prefixes – the first three numbers after the area code in a phone number – by September 2025.
- The North American Numbering Plan Administrator – the neutral third-party area code relief planner for California – made the request to the CPUC for an overlay to meet the demand.
The backstory: The 559 area code came into being in 1998 when the CPUC split the region that had the 209 area code.
