Area Code Overview

Area code 253 is a geographic telephone area code in Washington that went into service on April 27, 1997. The geographic regions covered by this area code overlay has a population of approximately 1,205,469.

Overlay and Dialing Rules

Area Code: 253
State: Washington
Type: General Purpose Code
In Service Date: April 27, 1997
Overlay Complex: 253
Local Dialing Plan: This area does require you to dial the area code when calling locally.

Estimated Number of Assigned Phone Numbers in Area Code 253

This area code is ranked 203rd out of 363 nationwide in estimated assigned phone numbers. Within the state territory it serves, it is ranked 5th out of 6.

4,449,000

Estimated Service-Type Mix of Assigned Phone Numbers in Area Code 253

Total assigned 4,449,000

Wireless

1,863,000 assigned

41.87%

Wireline and VoIP

2,457,000 assigned

55.23%

Other / Unclassified

129,000 assigned

2.90%

Estimated Share of Wireless Numbers Originally Assigned to Each Carrier in Area Code 253

Estimated assigned wireless phone numbers: 1,863,000

Numbers may later be ported to another carrier, but this chart reflects original number assignment, not current subscriber share.

T-Mobile 920,000 (49.38%)

Verizon Wireless 591,000 (31.72%)

AT&T Wireless 352,000 (18.89%)

Estimated Share of Wireline and VoIP Numbers Originally Assigned to Each Carrier in Area Code 253

Estimated assigned wireline and VoIP phone numbers: 2,457,000

Lumen 1,367,000 (55.64%)

Onvoy 592,000 (24.09%)

Comcast Business 130,000 (5.29%)

Bandwidth 101,000 (4.11%)

Peerless Network 63,000 (2.56%)

MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC 53,000 (2.16%)

ELECTRIC LIGHTWAVE LLC DBA ALLSTREAM 25,000 (1.02%)

Spectrum 22,000 (0.90%)

Telnyx 21,000 (0.85%)

MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC - WA 20,000 (0.81%)

Commio 16,000 (0.65%)

TERRA NOVA TELECOM INC. 12,000 (0.49%)

Other / Unclassified Assigned Numbering in Area Code 253

Estimated assigned other or unclassified phone numbers: 129,000

SPOK, INC. 70,000 (54.26%)

RAINIER CONNECT, INC. - WA 18,000 (13.95%)

TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC - WA 14,000 (10.85%)

ELTOPIA COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - WA 7,000 (5.43%)

FRACTEL, LLC 7,000 (5.43%)

HD CARRIER LLC 7,000 (5.43%)

TON80 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC 4,000 (3.10%)

IP HORIZON LLC 1,000 (0.78%)

STRATUS NETWORKS 1,000 (0.78%)

Cities and Towns in Area Code 253

Auburn, Washington Des Moines, Washington Gig Harbor, Washington Graham, Washington Kent, Washington Puyallup, Washington Roy, Washington Sumner, Washington Tacoma, Washington

How These Figures Were Built

These figures are estimates based on public phone-number assignment records. They are meant to show the likely mix of assigned phone numbers associated with area code 253, not live customer counts.

Some providers may have assigned phone numbers tied to this area code even if they do not actively market or sell service locally. These figures reflect public number-assignment records, not confirmed local service availability.

They also do not reflect number portability at the individual phone-number level, so some numbers may now be used on a different network or by a different provider than the original assignment records suggest.

Population data and locality matching provided by GeoNames.

Last refreshed: April 15, 2026 6:22 pm