253 Area Code

Area Code 253 Location: Washington

Area code 253 covers cities in King County south of Seattle, the southern Puget Sound area centered at Tacoma, and extends to areas around Gig Harbor, Auburn, and Roy. It also serves the western half of Pierce County, as well as southern King County.

Counties Served by Area Code 253:

• King County
• Pierce County

Major Cities in the 253 Service Area:

• Tacoma
• Auburn
• Gig Harbor
• Kent
• Federal Way
• Puyallup

Other Cities and Towns:

• Bonney Lake
• Burley
• Covington
• DuPont
• Fife
• Fort Lewis, Washington
• Fox Island
• Graham
• Lakewood
• Lake Tapps
• McChord AFB
• Milton
• Parkland
• Roy
• Spanaway
• Steilacoom
• Sumner
• University Place

Overlay System

Area code 253 is slated to participate in the overlay complex 564, which has been active since 2017 in NPA 360. This overlay was created when central office code exhaustion demanded relief.

Area Code 253 Location Map

Area code 253 is a general purpose code which was placed in service on April 27, 1997.

253 Area Code Prefixes

Our Washington phone number lookup service will analyze the three-digit prefix of any 253 area code phone number and will show which telecommunications company and rate center it was initially assigned to. This prefix code data may help to determine the U.S. carrier, Washington geographic region, and local calling area associated with the phone number.

Phone numbers follow the following structure under the North American Numbering Plan:

• NPA- area code (where the number was originally assigned)
• NXX - Central office code that locates the specific neighborhood and identifies the service provider
• XXXX - Subscriber number identifies the individual phone line within that local exchange

Understanding the area code can help you determine if a call is local to your area. However, keep in mind that due to mobile number portability and VoIP services, the caller may be anywhere in the United States, so it’s best to search for the most recent phone number details.

Prefixes by Company

Company	Number of Prefixes
QWEST CORPORATION	139
T-MOBILE USA, INC.	53
CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - WA	41
ELECTRIC LIGHTWAVE LLC DBA ALLSTREAM	30
ONVOY, LLC - WA	25
NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC	23
LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - WA	21
TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC - WA	13
COMCAST IP PHONE, LLC	12
CENTURYTEL OF WASHINGTON, INC. DBA CENTURYLINK	8
XO WASHINGTON, INC.	8
GLOBAL CROSSING LOCAL SERVICES, INC. - WA	7
MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC	5
MCLEODUSA TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES, INC. - WA	5
LEVEL 3 TELECOM OF WASHINGTON, LLC - WA	4
METROPCS, INC.	4
AT&T - LOCAL	3
BANDWIDTH.COM CLEC, LLC - WA	3
MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC - WA	3
RAINIER CONNECT, INC. - WA	3
USA MOBILITY WIRELESS, INC.	3
TELNYX LLC	2
PEERLESS NETWORK OF WASHINGTON, LLC - WA	1

Carrier names have been updated from their original FCC assignments to reflect current companies following mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding. Updates were determined using AI-assisted research and may not be accurate or reflect up to date changes. This data is provided without warranties of accuracy or completeness.

Prefixes by Rate Center

Rate Center	Number of Prefixes
TACOMA	196
AUBURN	59
KENT	40
TACOMAWVLY	37
DES MOINES	22
PUYALLUP	22
GIG HARBOR	16
SUMNER	12
GRAHAM	9
ROY	3

Other Washington Area Codes

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