818
Area code

CA

United States geographic area code, in service since 1984-01-07. Part of the 747/818 overlay complex — ten-digit dialing required.

Split from 213. Created 626. Created 747. Overlaid with 747 .

Statusin service
Introduced1984-01-07
JurisdictionCA, US
Local dialing1+10D
Time zonePacific
Last verified2026-09-17
Utilization 100.3% of assignable prefixes assigned As of 09/17/2026
0%794 of ~792 assignable NXX values (200–999 excl. N11)100%

Prefix-level assignment does not equal number-level exhaustion; thousands-block pooling extends capacity. First assignment on record 2001-01-25, most recent 2025-12-11.

Area codes serve rate-center geographies, not municipal boundaries. “CA” identifies the jurisdiction, not an exact city footprint.

Top assignees

Ranked by assigned prefixes · initial assignee ≠ current carrier
Largest initial assignees in area code 818
RankAssigneePrefixesShare
01 PACIFIC BELL 266 33.5%
02 NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC 73 9.2%
03 T-MOBILE USA, INC. 71 8.9%
04 CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - CA 63 7.9%
05 FRONTIER CALIFORNIA INC. 37 4.7%
06 LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - CA 29 3.7%
07 U.S. TELEPACIFIC CORP. DBA TPX COMMUNICATIONS 23 2.9%
08 SPOK, INC. 23 2.9%
09 MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC 22 2.8%
10 MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC - CA 21 2.6%

Important: these are initial assignees from NANPA CO-code records — the carrier a prefix was originally assigned to. Because of number portability, the current serving carrier of any individual number may differ.

Change history

Recorded events for this NPA

Planning letters & orders

Primary documents
NANPA planning letters for area code 818
DateDocumentSubject
2008-05-07 PL-378 ↗ NPA 747 to Overlay NPA 818 (California)
1998-07-24 PL-130 ↗ Extraordinary Jeopardy Procedures for 818 NPA in California

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