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Area Code Overview
Area code 281 is a geographic telephone area code in Texas that went into service on November 2, 1996. The geographic regions covered by this area code overlay has a population of approximately 3,453,395.
Overlay and Dialing Rules
- Area Code: 281
- State: Texas
- Type: General Purpose Code
- In Service Date: November 2, 1996
- Overlay Complex: 281/346/621/713/832
- 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 281
This area code is ranked 88th out of 363 nationwide in estimated assigned phone numbers. Within the state territory it serves, it is ranked 8th out of 28.
6,221,000
Estimated Service-Type Mix of Assigned Phone Numbers in Area Code 281
Wireless
2,005,000 assigned
32.23%
Wireline and VoIP
3,724,000 assigned
59.86%
Other / Unclassified
492,000 assigned
7.91%
Estimated Share of Wireless Numbers Originally Assigned to Each Carrier in Area Code 281
Estimated assigned wireless phone numbers: 2,005,000
Numbers may later be ported to another carrier, but this chart reflects original number assignment, not current subscriber share.
AT&T Wireless 592,000 (29.53%)
Verizon Wireless 553,000 (27.58%)
AERIAL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 537,000 (26.78%)
T-Mobile 317,000 (15.81%)
EVOLVE CELLULAR, INC. 6,000 (0.30%)
Estimated Share of Wireline and VoIP Numbers Originally Assigned to Each Carrier in Area Code 281
Estimated assigned wireline and VoIP phone numbers: 3,724,000
WINDSTREAM SUGAR LAND, LLC 380,000 (10.20%)
Bandwidth 270,000 (7.25%)
Comcast Business 161,000 (4.32%)
MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC - TX 91,000 (2.44%)
LEVEL 3 OF TELECOM OF TEXAS, LLC - TX 63,000 (1.69%)
Peerless Network 53,000 (1.42%)
ETS TELEPHONE COMPANY, INC. 50,000 (1.34%)
Other / Unclassified Assigned Numbering in Area Code 281
Estimated assigned other or unclassified phone numbers: 492,000
SPOK, INC. 180,000 (36.59%)
BRIGHTSPEED OF TEXAS, INC. 120,000 (24.39%)
CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS OF TEXAS COMPANY 72,000 (14.63%)
TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC - TX 43,000 (8.74%)
IP HORIZON LLC 24,000 (4.88%)
AMERICAN MESSAGING SERVICES, LLC 20,000 (4.07%)
TELETOUCH COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 10,000 (2.03%)
USFON, INC. - TX 8,000 (1.63%)
WESTEL, INC. - TX 7,000 (1.42%)
U.S. TELEPACIFIC CORP. DBA TPX COMMUNICATIONS 5,000 (1.02%)
GRANDE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, INC. - TX 2,000 (0.41%)
STRATUS NETWORKS 1,000 (0.20%)
Cities and Towns in Area Code 281
Alvin, Texas Arcola, Texas Barker, Texas Baytown, Texas Beach City, Texas Brookshire, Texas Channelview, Texas Cleveland, Texas Crosby, Texas Cypress, Texas Deer Park, Texas Dickinson, Texas Friendswood, Texas Highlands, Texas Houston, Texas Huffman, Texas Humble, Texas Katy, Texas Kemah, Texas La Porte, Texas League City, Texas Liverpool, Texas Manvel, Texas Missouri City, Texas Mont Belvieu, Texas Pinehurst, Texas Porter Heights, Texas Porter, Texas Richmond, Texas Rosharon, Texas Satsuma, Texas Seabrook, Texas Sheldon, Texas Smith, Texas Splendora, Texas Spring, Texas Stafford, Texas Sugar Land, Texas Tomball, Texas Valley Lodge, Texas Westfield, Texas These geographic regions are also served by area codes 346, 621, 713, and 832.
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 281, 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