870 Area Code
| State: | Arkansas |
| Top City: | Jonesboro |
| Timezone: | Central |
| Current Time: |
Where is Area Code 870 located?
Area code 870 is located in the state of Arkansas, the United States. It covers the northeastern, southern, and parts of central and western Arkansas.
It’s important to note that area code 870 does not cover the Metropolitan Little Rock area, which uses area codes 501 and 722. As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, the 870 area code has been overlaid by area code 327, meaning that new phone numbers in the same geographic area could be assigned the new area code.
870 Area Code Time Zone
Area code 870 falls under the Central Time Zone.
History of 870 Area Code
The 870 area code was created on April 14, 1997, in a split from area code 501, Arkansas’s original area code of 1947. It was the first to be created in an area code split of 501 and comprises most of the state outside Little Rock, Fort Smith, and Fayetteville / Springdale / Rogers.
In 2009, the Arkansas Public Service Commission projected that the supply of unassigned telephone numbers for 870 would run out in 2013, prompting a December 2009 approval of an all-service overlay complex in this portion of the state.
Area code 327 was assigned for this purpose in January 2010. However, the release of little-used central office codes and the nationwide introduction of number pooling delayed the exhaustion of the numbering pool, and the relief action was indefinitely suspended in June 2012.
Per a 2021 NPA exhaust study by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), area code 870 is projected to exhaust in the first quarter of 2025. Area code 327, per the Arkansas Public Service Commission, has been selected and is in the network preparation phase for relief as an all-service overlay code for the 870 numbering plan area, with a projected in-service date of February 20, 2024.
Mandatory ten-digit dialing of area code 870 is scheduled to begin on January 19, 2024. Permissive calling will start in mid-July 2023. In long-term planning, the NANPA projects a boundary elimination overlay involving all three Arkansas numbering plan areas (479, 501, and 870/327), resulting in a statewide overlay.
Top 10 Counties in Area Code 870
| County | Population |
| Jefferson | 66,824 |
| Craighead | 110,332 |
| Crittenden | 48,271 |
| Mississippi | 40,651 |
| White | 79,263 |
| Baxter | 41,513 |
| Union | 39,071 |
| Columbia | 23,457 |
| Greene | 45,325 |
| Hempstead | 21,532 |
Top 10 Cities in Area Code 870
| City | Population |
| Jonesboro | 78,026 |
| Pine Bluff | 41,474 |
| Texarkana | 29,972 |
| West Memphis | 24,636 |
| El Dorado | 17,932 |
| Paragould | 17,232 |
| Blytheville | 14,588 |
| Forrest City | 14,044 |
| Batesville | 10,828 |
| Camden | 10,752 |
Top Telephone Carriers
| Landline | Wireless |
| Southwestern Bell | Cellco Partnership DBA Verizon Wireless |
| CenturyLink | New Cingular Wireless Pcs |
| Windstream Arkansas | Sprint Spectrum |