201 Area Code – Time Zone, Location, History & Cities

Area code 201 is located in the Eastern time zone and covers northeastern New Jersey, including cities such as Jersey City, Union City, Bayonne, and Hoboken. Established in 1947 as one of the original 86 area codes, it initially served the entire state of New Jersey before being split in 1997 and receiving the 551 overlay in 2001.

Where is area code 201?

Area code 201 is located in northeastern New Jersey and covers Jersey City, Union City, Bayonne, and Hoboken. It has a single overlay (551) that serves the same area.

What time zone is area code 201?

The 201 area code is located in the Eastern timezone (America/New_York).

History

Creation: Area code 201 was put into service in 1947 and was one of the original 86 area codes, and it originally served the entire state of New Jersey. 201 was split in 1997 creating the need to update some of the phone numbers to area code 973. In 2001, area code 551 was created and is currently an overlay to 201. It was the 1st area code in the state of New Jersey. New Jersey currently has 10 area codes.

Middle digit: Until 1953, the middle digit was restricted to either a 0 or 1 where a zero indicated that the area code covered the entire state while a 1 indicated that the area code served only a portion of a state. Because the middle digit of the 201 area code is 0 and it was created prior to 1953, we can tell area code 201 originally served the entire state of New Jersey. However, it not longer does.

Pulses: Because area code 201 was created before the 1960s when touch tone dialing became more common, the number of pulses required on a rotary phone was still important. Area codes that required fewer pulses were faster to dial and were commonly prioritized for more populated areas. The 201 area code requires 2 + 10 + 1 = 13 pulses to dial. The 90 area codes created in the 5 years prior or the 5 years after area code 201 averaged 14.1 pulses indicating 201 was prioritized more than other area codes created about the same time. The 480 currently active area codes require pulses that range from 5 to 29 and average 16.3.