Area code 856 is a telephonearea code in theNorth American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southwestern part of theU.S. state ofNew Jersey. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes theCamden,Cherry Hill, andVineland areas and a small part ofWillingboro Township and the western part ofBurlington County. 856 is essentially coextensive with the New Jersey side of thePhiladelphia metropolitan area.
The area code was created in 1999 in a split ofarea code 609.[1]
The entire state of New Jersey was assignedarea code 201 in 1947, when theAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) established a nationwidetelephone numbering plan for use inOperator Toll Dialing, which later developed into the North American Numbering plan.[2] The area code had its debut in customer-dialed communication in 1951, with the first trial ofDirect Distance Dialing (DDD).[3]
In 1956, the administration divided the state into two numbering plan areas, retaining 201 for the northern part, while the southern part of the state receivedarea code 609.[4] However, no area codes were needed for all calls between the two numbering plan areas until 1963.
With the increasing demand for telephone numbers by businesses, increased used of fax machines,pagers and cell phones, area code 609 exhausted its numbering capacity.[5] Area code 856 was announced byBell Atlantic in March 1999, and was approved by theNew Jersey Board of Public Utilities shortly thereafter. The new area code became operational on June 12, 1999. A permissive dialing period of five months ended on November 13, 1999, during which seven-digit was still permitted.
Prior to October 2021, area code 856 had telephone numbers assigned for thecentral office code 988. In 2020,988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for theNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permitseven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition toten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.[6]
| North:215/267/445,484/610 | ||
| West:302 | 856 | East:609/640 |
| South:302 | ||
| Delaware area codes:302 | ||
| Pennsylvania area codes:215/267/445,412,570/272,610/484/835,717/223,724,814/582,878 | ||
39°55′52″N75°02′21″W / 39.9310°N 75.0393°W /39.9310; -75.0393
