Learn About the Virginia Area Code Directory

The Virginia area code directory contains these codes: 276, 434, 540, 571, 703, 757, and 804.

The North American telephone area code 703 has the distinction of being one of the original area codes that was created on October 1947 to serve the entire state of Virginia. But in the subsequent years the code was split to form the codes 804 and 540.

Area Code 804

The area code 804 was formed in 1973 as a result of a split from 703. It covers the central and south-eastern parts of Virginia and includes Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. Specifically, it serves the communities of Chester, Glen Allen, Hopewell, Mechanicsville, Petersburg, Tuckahoe, and West Point and also the regions located in the eastern part of Central Virginia, the Middle Peninsula, and the Middle Neck. Although the two counties lying on the southernmost fringes of Middle Peninsula are components of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, they still use the 804 code.

Area Code 540

The area code 540 was created in the year 1995 and serves the following communities in the central and northern parts of the state: Buchanan, Blacksburg, Cave Spring, Fredericksburg, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Salem, Staunton, and Winchester. It is also used in most parts of these counties: Stafford, Culpepper, Rockbridge, Orange, Spotsylvania, Louisa, Fauquier, and the western areas of Loudoun.

Area Code 571

The telephone area code 571 was created to serve as an overlay to 703. Together, the telephone area codes of 703 and 571 serve almost the whole of northern Virginia. These include the cities of Alexandria, Annandale, Burke, Ashburn, Falls Church, Chantilly, Dale City, Fairfax, Great Falls, Herndon, Lorton, Mount Vernon, North Springfield, Oakton, Reston, Manassas, Sterling, Woodbridge, and Vienna. It is also used in these counties: Arlington, some portions of Fauquier, Fairfax, some parts of Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford.

571 encompasses almost all the new telephone exchanges and is mainly associated with the mobile telephone lines. It is also used for some new landline exchanges like the telephone services belonging to the Fairfax County Public Schools after it was headquartered in the Fall Church postal region and the United States Patent and Trademark Office after it shifted base to Alexandria.

Area Code 276

The above codes too were split at various points in time to accommodate the growing population and the increasing number of cellular phone users. For instance, the area code 276 came into being after being split from 540. It covers these cities: Galax, Norton, Bristol, and Martinsville and these counties: Bland, Carroll, Dickenson, Buchanan, Grayson, Lee, Patrick, Henry, Scott, Smyth, Russell, Washington, Wise, Tazewell, and Wythe.

Area Code 434

804 was fragmented in June 2001 to form the area code 434, which encompasses these cities and towns: Alta-vista, Amherst, Blackstone, Appomattox, Chatham, Charlottesville, Crewe, Danville, South Hill, South Boston, Charlottesville, Farmville, Lynchburg, and Scottsville.

Area Code 757

A split from the area code 804 also gave rise to code 757, which encompasses these areas in the south-east corner of Virginia: a large portion of Hampton Roads metropolitan area, the Eastern Shore and the portion of Virginia on Delmarva Peninsula, the areas in South Hampton Roads like Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Franklin, and Suffolk, and some areas of the Virginia Peninsula like Hampton, Newport, and Williamsburg.