Florida Area Code Changes

History of Area Code Changes in Florida

1947	305 becomes Florida's first area code.
1953	904 and 813 become Florida's second and third area codes; 904 for the northern part of the state, and 813 for the Tampa Bay area and Southwest Florida. The 305 area code included Central Florida (Orlando) and all of southeast Florida from Indian River County to the Florida Keys.
1988	407 becomes the state's fourth area code in April 1988, with a split of the 305 area code at the Broward/Palm Beach County line. The 407 area code then included Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard, Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties.
1995	The 954 area code is created on Aug. 1, 1995, when Broward County splits off from the 305 area code. It becomes the only county in Florida with its own area code.
1996	The 941 area code is created on March 3, 1996, from a split of 13 counties in Southwest Florida from the 813 area code.
1996	The 352 area code is created on March 3, 1996, when 13 counties are split off from the 904 area code.
1997	The 561 area code is created on April 13, 1997, as Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties are split from the 407 area code, leaving just Seminole, Orange, Osceola and Brevard counties in the 407 area code.
1998	The 850 area code is created on March 23, 1998, when the 904 area code split so that 18 counties in the Florida Panhandle are in the new 850 area code.
1998	The 727 area code splits Pinellas and part of Pasco County from 813 on July 1, 1998.
1998	The 786 area code, Florida's first overlay area code, starts 7/1 in 305 area code. The Florida Keys (Monroe County) keep 305, but all new customers in Dade County get the 786 overlay code.
1999	The 407/321 area code split and overlay brings the number of Florida's area codes to an even dozen. Ten-digit dialing will be introduced to existing 407 customers in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and portions of Lake and Volusia counties. Permissive dialing begins April 1, 1999, with a mandatory dial start date of Dec. 1, 1999. The 321 area code won't be assigned to new customers in the overlay area before Jan. 2000 at the earliest. Brevard County will begin using the new 321 area code on a voluntary basis Nov. 1; mandatory use is set for Oct. 1, 2000. The county will retain 7-digit dialing. In May, the FPSC assigned the 863 area code to Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades and Henry counties. Sprint and GTE customers were split from the 941 area code and assigned the new 863 area code to make more numbers available. Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier and Monroe counties retain the 941 area code.