The short version: Tampa's area code is 813, and 656 is a second code laid over the same ground. Both belong to Tampa. If you are dialing a local number in the area, you dial all ten digits, and that has been the rule since January 22, 2022.

People search for this in a lot of forms: "tampa florida phone code," "tampa fl phone area code," "tampa phone area code." They all point at the same few facts, but the wording invites mistakes, so I went through the planning letters and commission papers behind the numbers to see where the confusion starts. Below is what 813 and 656 cover, how the overlay works, how to dial, and which neighboring codes are not Tampa's.

Last updated: November 2, 2026

Quick answer: what is the area code for Tampa, Florida?

  • 813 is the established Tampa area code.
  • 656 is the overlay code on the same geography as 813.
  • Existing numbers keep 813. Nobody had to change a number because of the overlay.
  • Local calls inside the area are ten digits: area code plus the seven-digit number.

Both codes sit on the same map, so a 656 number is not from a different town than an 813 number.

What does "phone code" mean for Tampa?

"Phone code" is a looser phrase than "area code." In some places a phone code is a city prefix you add after a trunk digit, and people use the phrase when they really want whatever digits make a Tampa call complete. For a Tampa call inside the United States, the thing you are after is the three-digit area code, 813 or 656, followed by the seven-digit local number.

The official term is NPA, numbering plan area. That is the vocabulary NANPA, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, uses in its planning letters, and it is not a single-prefix "city code" for downtown Tampa. It covers an entire region.

One mix-up worth heading off: the leading 1 you sometimes dial is not Tampa's phone code. It is a toll prefix. The leading 0 used for operator-assisted calls is not a phone code either. Anyone who answers "tampa florida phone code" with "1" has grabbed the toll digit and dropped the area code.

Which cities use 813 and 656?

According to NANPA planning letter PL-552, 813 serves the greater Tampa metropolitan area. The cities named include Oldsmar, Temple Terrace, Plant City, and Zephyrhills. Geographically, that is mainly Hillsborough and Pasco counties. The 656 overlay covers that same area.

The Florida Public Service Commission's February 2020 fact sheet describes the region slightly differently: Hillsborough County and parts of Pasco and Pinellas counties, including Tampa and Plant City.

That "parts of Pinellas" wording is where the longer versions of this question go wrong. Parts is not all of Pinellas. The one Pinellas city PL-552 names is Oldsmar. St. Petersburg and Clearwater are not named as 813 cities in those documents, so I would not stretch "parts of Pinellas" to cover the beaches.

How the 656 overlay works

An overlay adds a new area code on top of an existing one rather than carving the map into two pieces. The Public Service Commission approved an all-services distributed overlay for 813 on March 31, 2020 (Docket 20190196-TP), and the new code became 656.

A few things follow from that:

  • Your existing number does not change. The commission's fact sheet says that if an overlay is approved, customers' telephone numbers, including the current area code, do not change.
  • Rates and coverage do not change. The fact sheet also says the price of a call, the coverage area, and other rates and services stay the same because of the overlay. A local call stays a local call no matter how many digits you dial.
  • 656 numbers come later. NANPA says central office codes in 656 become available only when all assignable 813 prefixes have been assigned. New customers may receive 656 after that point.

So a business card that still says 813 is not stale. A brand-new line might be 656, and an old line is not required to move. I can't tell you from these documents whether the 813 prefixes have run out as of today, because that is a carrier-side routing question. For current assignments, NANPA's site is the place to check: nationalnanpa.com hosts the planning letter.

Timeline: when 656 arrived and when ten-digit dialing began

The calendar was revised once. NANPA planning letter PL-552, dated December 4, 2020, supersedes the earlier PL-541 and reflects Public Service Commission order PSC-2020-0479-PAA-TP. The dates in the revised plan:

| Milestone | Date | |---|---| | Permissive 10-digit dialing begins | 12:01 a.m. ET, April 17, 2021 | | Earliest date 656 codes could be ordered through NANPA | December 18, 2021 | | Mandatory 10-digit dialing begins | 12:01 a.m. ET, January 22, 2022 | | Earliest 656 central office code activation | February 22, 2022 |

NANPA's list of area codes introduced over the last ten years shows the 656 overlay of 813 in service February 22, 2022. You can see that entry in NANPA's NPAs-introduced report.

The older PL-541 had a mandatory date of October 16, 2021. That date was superseded, so if you see it quoted somewhere, it is the outdated one.

How to dial a Tampa number

After the mandatory date, the dialing plan in PL-552 works like this:

  • Local calls (to the home area code or the other code in the overlay): ten digits, meaning area code plus seven-digit number. Dialing 1 plus the ten digits is also allowed if your provider permits it.
  • Toll calls: 1 plus ten digits.
  • Operator-assisted, credit card, collect, and third-party calls: 0 plus ten digits.

The commission's fact sheet boils it down to ten digits for local calls and 1 plus ten digits for long distance and operator-assisted calls. If you are calling Tampa from outside the overlay, the toll rule is simply the way you would dial any long-distance number.

What had to be updated for ten-digit dialing

The commission's guidance listed what people needed to do: dial ten digits for calls inside the overlay region, give out numbers as ten digits, and make sure automatic equipment recognizes the new area code as valid. Devices named as examples included:

  • Stored numbers in wireless and cordless phones
  • PBXs and fax machines
  • Internet dial-up numbers and speed dialers
  • Call forwarding and voicemail settings
  • Medical alert devices, safety alarms and gates
  • Ankle monitors and similar equipment

The commission also suggested making sure the area code is printed on stationery, ads, checks, and ID tags. A device that had only stored seven digits would stop completing calls once seven-digit dialing ended.

Why the permissive dialing window got extended

The original calendar was pushed back, and the reason is practical rather than tourist-related. The Public Service Commission extended the permissive period so alarm, elevator, and medical devices could be reprogrammed on site. National timelines for the 988 code limited how far the window could slide.

The same order also adjusted the calendar for the 850 area code, which is a different part of Florida and not a Tampa code. It appears in that order only because the reprogramming problem was statewide and the commission handled both schedules together. If a search result blends 850 into an answer about Tampa, it has wandered off topic.

Nearby codes that are not Tampa's

The map attached to PL-541 shows the neighboring area codes around the 813/656 territory:

  • 727 to the west
  • 352 to the north
  • 863 to the east
  • 941 to the south

These are boundaries, not extra Tampa codes. Anyone answering "tampa phone area code" with 727, 941, or 352 has pulled a neighbor off the map. 727 in particular covers the Pinellas County side across the bay, so a 727 number is not an 813 number in disguise, and 656 is not a code for St. Petersburg. A 656 number is simply a newer line on the Tampa side of the map.

The St. Petersburg Museum of History's account of 727 is a useful local-history source for that side of the bay, but it describes a different change from a different era, so it should not be read as saying anything about the 813/656 plan.

The test number

For network testing, NANPA set aside a test number, 656-656-1656, which was in service from November 22, 2021 through March 22, 2022. It was meant for carriers to confirm routing, so it is not a business or a person in Tampa and it is not a phone code. It is only a historical detail now.

FAQ

What is the area code for Tampa, FL? 813, with 656 overlaid on the same area. Existing numbers keep 813.

Is 656 a Tampa area code? Yes. 656 serves the same geography as 813. It is an overlay, so it is not a separate city or a code for St. Petersburg.

Do I have to dial 10 digits for a local call in Tampa? Yes. Mandatory ten-digit dialing for local calls started at 12:01 a.m. ET on January 22, 2022. Seven-digit dialing no longer completes a local call inside the overlay.

Is 727 a Tampa area code? No. On the NANPA map, 727 is a separate area code west of the Tampa overlay, with 352 to the north, 863 to the east, and 941 to the south.

Did existing Tampa numbers have to change to 656? No. The overlay does not require customers to change existing area codes. New customers may receive 656 once the assignable 813 prefixes are used up.

Bottom line

If you are asking about a Tampa number that already exists, the area code on it is 813. If you are asking what a brand-new number in that same area might carry, it might be 656, once 813's assignable prefixes are gone. If you are asking what to punch in for a local call, it is ten digits, not seven, and the leading 1 is not the code.

The official sources behind all of this are NANPA's planning letter PL-552 and its report on recently introduced area codes.