Area codes 570 and 272 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northeast quadrant of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the cities or towns of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Pittston, Carbondale, Hazleton, Clarks Summit, Towanda, Bloomsburg, Sayre, Tunkhannock, Berwick, Milford, Montrose, Honesdale, Pocono Pines, Nanticoke, Tamaqua, Shavertown, Dallas, Mahanoy City, Sunbury, Jim Thorpe, and as far south as Pottsville and as far west as Lock Haven.

Area code 570 was created in 1998 in a split of area code 717, one of the original North American area codes. In 2013, the numbering plan area received a second area code, 272, creating an overlay plan, which required ten-digit dialing for the area.

History

When the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) organized the telephone networks of North American with a universal telephone numbering plan in 1947, Pennsylvania was divided into four numbering plan areas, including area codes 215, 412, 717, and 814. Area code 717 was assigned to the eastern half of Pennsylvania, excluding the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys.

Area code 570 was created when the 717 numbering plan area was divided on December 5, 1998. It was the first new Pennsylvania area code created outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh since the implementation of the area code system.

In 2009, it was projected that 570 would run out of numbers in the third quarter of 2011. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) considered four options: an overlay plan and three configurations of dividing. Two of the splits would have left Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, the two largest cities in the territory, with the same area code.^[1] On July 15, 2010, the PUC decided that the new area code, 272, would be implemented as an overlay. The area code entered service on March 28, 2013. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory in northeastern Pennsylvania on September 21, 2013.^[2]

In 2015, only eleven unassigned central office prefixes remained in 570. By 2017, only one exchange was left in February, and that exchange was assigned by May.

Service area

Counties

Locations are approximate. Area code 570/272 may only cover a portion of these counties, and it may spill into neighboring areas not listed.

Municipalities