215/267 No More: New Area Code Coming To Philly, Montgomery, And Bucks

Residents of the Philadelphia area will soon have another area code added to their phone books.

The area codes 215 and 267 are rapidly becoming exhausted as the population in the area grows and more individuals have numbers with the area codes.

It has not yet been announced what the new area code will be. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced Wednesday that they had approved a petition from Neustar to create the new code.

Area codes become exhausted when all of the possible number combinations for a the NXX code - or the second set of three digits in a 10 digit telephone number - run out. 215 and 267 are projected to run out by mid-2018.

PUC said that they planned on holding a number of public information sessions throughout the region so that the public would be aware of the change.

The 215 and 267 codes currently cover all of Philadelphia and large portions of northern and eastern Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

The 484 and 610 area codes cover nearby Chester and Delaware counties.

PUC recently announced that a 223 area code would be added to the 717 area code overlay, which is also being exhausted. 717 covers south-central Pennsylvania in the Harrisburg area.

Patch file photo.