🇺🇸United States Calling Guide

Call New Jersey
(+1) Area Codes

Need to call Newark, Jersey City, or the Shore? New Jersey uses multiple area codes including 201, 973, and 609. Make calls to any NJ number directly from your browser with no roaming fees.

How to Dial
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How to Call New Jersey

Whether you are calling from another US state or from abroad, here is how to connect to NJ numbers.

Calling from Abroad

  1. 1Dial your country's exit code (e.g., 00 for Europe).
  2. 2Dial 1 (US Country Code).
  3. 3Dial the 3-digit NJ Area Code (e.g., 201).
  4. 4Dial the 7-digit phone number.

Calling from USA

  1. 1Dial 1 (optional on mobile).
  2. 2Dial the 3-digit NJ Area Code.
  3. 3Dial the 7-digit phone number.

Note: NJ requires 10-digit dialing even for local calls due to area code overlays.

New Jersey Area Codes List

Find the right area code for the city or region you are calling.

Area CodeMajor Cities / Region
201 / 551North Jersey (Jersey City, Hackensack)
973 / 862North Jersey (Newark, Paterson, Morristown)
908Central Jersey (Elizabeth, Union County)
732 / 848Central/Shore (New Brunswick, Asbury Park)
609 / 640South Jersey (Trenton, Atlantic City)
856South Jersey (Camden, Cherry Hill)

Cheap Calls to
New Jersey

Calling the US from abroad can be expensive with traditional carriers. StartACall offers premium VoIP routes to New Jersey for a fraction of the cost. Connect to landlines in Trenton or mobiles in Newark instantly.

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  • Instant connection to all NJ networks

201 Code

Did you know? 201 was the very first area code assigned in the original North American Numbering Plan (1947).

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the area code for Newark, NJ?

Newark primarily uses the 973 area code, with 862 serving as an overlay code for the same region.

What is the area code for Jersey City?

Jersey City uses the historic 201 area code, along with the 551 overlay code.

Why do I have to dial 10 digits in New Jersey?

New Jersey has multiple 'overlay' area codes (like 551 over 201). To ensure the call goes to the right person, the FCC mandates 10-digit dialing (Area Code + Number) for all local calls.

How much does it cost to call New Jersey from Europe?

With StartACall, calls to the US (including NJ) are incredibly cheap, often around $0.05 per minute, regardless of where you are calling from.

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New Jersey Numbering Decoded: America's First Area Code and Its Five Overlay Pairs

In short

New Jersey holds a special place in phone history, and its modern map is one of the most overlay-dense in the country. This guide explains why 201 came first, how the state's paired codes fit together region by region, and how to schedule and price calls from abroad.

Where 201 Came From

When AT&T drew the original numbering plan in 1947, area code 201 went to New Jersey and is commonly cited as the first area code ever assigned. It survives today in the state's northeast corner, serving Jersey City, Hackensack, and the Hudson River communities facing Manhattan.

That history matters practically because 201 numbers have circulated for decades. Long-standing businesses and families often keep them, while newer lines in the same towns take 551, the overlay stacked on 201's territory. A 201 number often signals decades of history in the area.

Reading the State by Code Pairs

New Jersey works in overlay pairs. Newark, Paterson, and the northwest use 973 with 862 on top. Central Jersey and the Shore, including New Brunswick and Toms River, run 732 paired with 848. Trenton, Princeton, and the southern shore towns through Atlantic City use 609 with the newer 640.

The southwest, facing Philadelphia across the Delaware, is the exception: Camden and Cherry Hill use 856 without an overlay partner so far. Knowing the pairs lets you sanity-check a number, since an 862 contact in Newark and a 973 contact next door are entirely consistent.

The pairs are not permanent either. Overlays activate when an older code approaches exhaustion, and New Jersey's density keeps that pipeline busy, so further codes are likely in time. Any newcomer will overlay an existing region rather than redraw the boundaries, which protects every number already in service from change.

Timing Calls into the New York Orbit

The whole state observes Eastern Time, five hours behind the UK and six behind most of Europe. New Jersey's commuter culture means mobiles are often unreachable during the 7 to 9 am and 5 to 7 pm transit crushes, so mid-morning or early evening local time tends to connect best.

From the large Indian diaspora corridor, New Jersey is nine and a half to ten and a half hours behind India. An 8 pm call from Ahmedabad or Hyderabad reaches Edison or Jersey City in the mid-morning, while weekend mornings in New Jersey line up with India's Saturday evening.

Shore seasonality shapes summer calling. From June through August, 609 and 732 lines attached to rentals and boardwalk businesses answer reliably, while the same numbers can sit unanswered all winter. For contacts you need year round, a mobile is the dependable route regardless of which code it carries.

Flat Pricing Across All Nine Codes

None of New Jersey's codes carries a price premium. Mobiles take numbers from the same pools as landlines, so international per-minute rates apply uniformly whether you dial 201, 551, 732, or 856. That holds for every one of the state's nine codes.

Browser-based calling fits this corridor's frequent family traffic. StartACall runs over WebRTC in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge with pay-as-you-go pricing, no subscription, and credits that never expire, and an inbound US virtual number is available from $2.14 to $5 per month if relatives need to call you back.

Frequently asked questions

Which New Jersey code was assigned first?+

201, allocated in the original 1947 plan and generally regarded as the first area code in the North American system. It still serves Jersey City, Hackensack, and the northeast corner, now overlaid by 551.

What code do Princeton and Trenton use?+

Both sit in the 609 region, which also runs down to Atlantic City. Newer numbers in the same territory may carry the 640 overlay, and the two are interchangeable geographically.

Why does my Newark contact have an 862 number?+

862 overlays 973 across the Newark and Paterson region. Numbers issued after the overlay activated often begin with 862, but they serve exactly the same towns as 973. Nothing about the number's location has changed.

When should I call New Jersey from India?+

India is nine and a half to ten and a half hours ahead. Calling between 6:30 pm and 10 pm IST reaches New Jersey in its morning, and Sunday evening in India catches Sunday morning across the state.

Is 856 the only New Jersey code without an overlay?+

Yes, as of now. The Camden and Cherry Hill region in the southwest runs on 856 alone, while every other New Jersey region has a second code layered on top.

Last reviewed June 2026Reviewed by the StartACall calling teamDialing rules cross checked against ITU international dialing procedures
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