Area codes 916 and 279
area codes in Sacramento, California, United States
Area codes 916 and 279 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan for Sacramento, the state capital of the U.S. state of California, and parts of five surrounding counties.
Area code 916 was one of the first three area codes established in California in October 1947, originally assigned to the most northern part, but remapped in 1950 to the northeast. Area code splits have reduced the numbering plan area to the greater Sacramento area.
Area code 279 began service in March 2018 in an overlay to relieve an exhausting supply of central office codes in 916.
History
Originally, in 1947, the numbering plan area comprised the far northern portion of the state. In 1950, as part of a realignment of California's area codes, 916 was redrawn to cover the northeastern corner of California, from the Sierra Nevada to the Central Valley. This involved changing Sacramento from area code 415 to 916.
In 1958, 916 was reduced in geographic extent with the creation of the new area code 209 for the southern part including Fresno, Stockton and Modesto.
On November 1, 1997, the numbering plan area was reduced to Sacramento and its immediate area in a split in which the northeastern portion, including Redding, Yreka, Davis, and Mount Shasta, received area code 530. Simultaneously, Dixon was reassigned from 916 to 707.
The public source identifies “Area codes 916 and 279” as area codes in Sacramento, California, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Area, codes and area.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3150309. Authority coordinates are 38.600, -121.500. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1947, 1950, 2018 and 1958.
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This entry incorporates text from “Area codes 916 and 279” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.