KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City region’s 816 area code is about to get a new number.
The Missouri Public Service Commission announced Monday that it will soon begin to implement the new area code of 975 in the Kansas City region.
The 816 area code serves communities like Kansas City, St. Joseph, Blue Springs, Odessa, Harrisonville, Parkville and more.
All existing 816 area code customers will still keep their current area code, and their phone numbers will not change.
But as soon as August 2023, companies can start requesting telephone numbers with the 975 area code. By October 2023, those new numbers can be activated.
The Missouri Public Service Commission said this change is called an overlay plan and is happening because the 816 area code will soon exhaust available phone numbers.
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator projects that the Kansas City area will run out of 816 phone numbers by the second quarter of 2024.
The new 975 area code will co-exist everywhere in the region that the 816 area code exists, and the cost of a phone call or other rates will not change.
All local calls must be dialed using 10 digits rather than seven. This shouldn’t be too much of a change for the 816 area code. In July 2022, the 816 area was one of many across the United States that was required to start 10-digit dialing to accommodate the new 988 mental health hotline.
This isn’t the first time the Missouri Public Service Commission and North American Numbering Plan Administrator have introduced a new area code in Missouri.
Just last year, the commission announced a new 557 area code for the St. Louis region. Mid-Missouri also got a new 235 area code last year in the current 573 region.