Fresno Area To Receive New Area Code Starting In 2025

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced earlier this week that the 559 area code, which covers the Fresno and Visalia areas, will have an additional area code be added to the area beginning sometime in 2025 because of increased demand in the area and the current code set to run out soon.

In recent years, Fresno County, as well as surrounding counties, have been amongst the fastest growing in the state. Even as the state has lost hundreds of thousands of residents in recent years, the San Joaquin Valley has remained one of the few areas of growth for the state. As the population, as well as the number of businesses, have grown, the 559 area code area has seen fewer and fewer phone number remain available. Covering all or most of the the Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Tulare, and Kings counties, as well as major cities such as Fresno, Visalia, and Clovis, it was soon determined by CPUC that the 559 code would run out of numbers by September 2025.

After a request was put in for an additional code, CPUC, as well as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, approved a new number to be used by residents when new numbers were needed in the future: 357. According to CPUC, no existing customers will be required to change their area code or specific telephone number.

“The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has acted to ensure that telephone numbers continue to be available to meet the demand in the geographic region served by the 559 area code by approving a second area code (called an overlay) that will provide additional numbering resources while minimizing customer inconvenience,” said CPUC in an announcement this week. “The new area code to overlay the 559 area codes is 357.

“The 559 area code is projected to run out of available prefixes (the first three numbers after the area code in a telephone number) by September 2025. The CPUC’s action on Dec. 14, 2023, approves the request of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, the neutral third-party area code relief planner for California, for an area code overlay to provide additional numbering resources to meet the demand for telephone numbers while minimizing customer inconvenience. No existing customers will be required to change their area code or specific telephone number. The new overlay area code of 357 will be available for new telephone number assignments in the same region as the 559 area code upon exhaust of available prefixes in the existing 559 area code.”

While the code change is not expected to cause many issues when the dual-code comes into effect in 2025, some have noted that the change could play into area elections.

“Growth in the area has been something of a sticking point to some,” said Andreas Clark, an elections consultant for high growth areas of Western states, to the Globe on Friday. “On a state level, high growth causing a new Congressmember be added is usually a big sign. But in California, that isn’t happening. What is happening is that some areas are getting an influx of people due to a lower cost of living or better conditions. Fresno’s growth is, in part, due to that lower cost of living, but also there are things like it’s agricultural base people are looking at.

“Politically, that growth can be used by lawmakers there as a major point. It can mean more state and federal funding coming in. It can mean more taxes. It can mean more job opportunities, such as through construction. Growing so much you need a new area code, that is a big thing and something to directly point to during a debate or in ads or an election. ‘We have grown so much we need a new area code’ has been a big point in races in the past. CPUC just gave a big gift for incumbents in the area code range.”

New 357 numbers are expected to come out beginning in 2025.