Mid-Hudson Region to Roll out New Area Code: Likely Next Year

The number of phone lines that can use the 845 area code are in short supply “due to an increase in the demand for numbers,” the New York State Public Service Commission said.

Since 2000, the total population of the seven-county Mid-Hudson Valley region has shown a growth rate of 5.3%: far outpacing the 1.4% population growth rate of the rest of the state, excluding New York City, according to mhvcommunityprofiles.org. The exhaustion of the 845 area code also could be the result of an increase of residents who have phones.

Those who already have 845 area codes will not lose their existing phone numbers, however, the North American Number Plan Administrator (NANPA) recently conducted a study that showed that 845 numbers could be used up before the end of 2023.

The new area code, the number for which is yet to to be determined, for the Mid-Hudson region will be the first for the area since June 2000, when the 845 area code was created after the number of phone lines that could use the 914 area code was similarly exhausted in Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Rockland and Sullivan counties; most of Putnam; and parts of Columbia, Delaware and Greene counties.

The New York Public Service Commission that it will roll out the new area code at least six months, and possible three months “in extraordinary situations” before the time that NANPA forecast that 845 would be exhausted.

The new area code, which would be created as an “overlay district,” would take an estimated 28 years to run out of numbers.

Photo credit Candid Lens