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

Area code 514 is located in the Eastern time zone and serves Montreal and surrounding areas in Quebec, Canada. Established in 1947 as one of the original 86 area codes, it has since been supplemented by overlay codes 438 and 263.

Where is area code 514?

Area code 514 serves Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has 2 overlays (263 and 438) that serve the same area.

What time zone is area code 514?

The 514 area code is located in the Eastern timezone (America/New_York).

History

Creation: Area code 514 was put into service in 1947 and was one of the original 86 area codes, and it originally served western half of Quebec including Montreal. 514 was split in 1998 creating the need to update some of the phone numbers to area code 450. In 2006, area code 438 was created and is currently an overlay to 514. In 2022, area code 263 was created and is currently an overlay to 514. It was the 1st area code in the province of Quebec. Quebec currently has 12 area codes.

New/recent overlays: Area code 263 was recently added as on overaly to the 514 area code on October 22, 2022.

Middle digit: Until 1953, the middle digit was restricted to either a 0 or a 1 where a zero indicated that the area code covered the entire province while a 1 indicated that the area code served only a portion of a province. Because the middle digit of the 514 area code is 1 and it was created prior to 1953, we can tell area code 514 never served the entire province of Quebec.

Pulses: Because area code 514 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 514 area code requires 5 + 1 + 4 = 10 pulses to dial. The 90 area codes created in the 5 years prior or the 5 years after area code 514 averaged 14.1 pulses indicating 514 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. Only 38 area codes require fewer pulses than area code 514.