The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) informed the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday that residents in the 502 area code region will soon be seeing a second area code, 761, which will likely begin to be assigned in 2027.
NANPA estimated that the 502 area code, serving north-central Kentucky, will exhaust its supply of available telephone numbers. Once new phone numbers for the 502 area code have been exhausted, new customers will be assigned a 761 area code, while the 502 area code will continue to remain in use.
Anyone currently using the 502 area code will not see changes to their phone numbers or area codes. The only difference for customers within the 502/761 area code is that they will need to utilize ten-digit dialing, dialing the area code, when making a phone call within the 502/761 area code. That is like what your cell phone does currently.
NANPA projected that the supply of the 502 area code telephone numbers will be exhausted during the third quarter of 2027. The 502 NPA is one of the original area codes, created with the establishment of the North American Numbering Plan in 1947, which at that time served the entire state of Kentucky.
The PSC held a series of public comment meetings and determined that the most efficient and cost effective way to address the exhausted supply of telephone numbers, is to ask NANPA to implement an area code overlay rather than split the area code as had been previously done twice in Kentucky in the last 30 years. Industry guidelines maintain that an “overlay” area code should be in place at least six months before an in-use area code is exhausted. A specific date for the introduction of the 761 area code has not yet been set.
NANPA estimates the addition of the 761 area code will ensure that north central Kentucky has sufficient new phone numbers for approximately 30 years. This will be Kentucky’s sixth area code.
The PSC is an independent agency attached for administrative purposes to the Energy and Environment Cabinet. It regulates more than 1,100 gas, water, sewer, electric and telecommunication utilities operating in Kentucky and has approximately 90 employees.
