319 Area Code: Cedar Rapids, Iowa City & Eastern Iowa

319 is the area code for east-central and southeastern Iowa. That means Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Waterloo–Cedar Falls, and the Mississippi River towns of Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk. It has been around since the very first area codes in 1947. It is smaller than it used to be, though. Davenport, Dubuque and the rest of northeastern Iowa moved to 563 in 2001, which still confuses people trying to work out where a 319 call came from.

319 in brief

Where 319 is today

The 319 area has three main population centers (Wikipedia):

• The Cedar Rapids–Iowa City corridor. Cedar Rapids and nearby Marion, plus Iowa City and North Liberty. Iowa City is home to the University of Iowa and its hospitals.
• Waterloo–Cedar Falls in the north-central part of the code, plus smaller towns such as Oelwein.
• Southeast Iowa: Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk on the Mississippi, and Mount Pleasant inland.

319 surrounds a lot of farmland and small towns between those centers, but those are the places most 319 calls come from.

Which nearby places are not 319

• Davenport, Bettendorf, Eldridge, Clinton, Muscatine, Dubuque and Decorah are in 563. All of them had 319 numbers until 2001.
• Des Moines is in 515.
• Illinois across the river has its own area codes, even though the Quad Cities share a metro area.

If someone says they're "from the 319," they usually mean the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area or Waterloo.

History: from Iowa's whole eastern border to the 563 split

1947: one of the originals. When the first nationwide numbering plan launched in 1947, Iowa got three area codes, 319, 515 and 712, with boundaries running roughly north to south. 319 was the eastern one, and it ran along Iowa's entire border with Wisconsin and Illinois (Wikipedia). (Some sources say 319 was created in 1981 as a split from 515. That isn't correct.)

2000–2001: the 563 split. By 2000, 319 was running short of numbers. Regulators had two options. Mobile carriers wanted an overlay, which would have added a new code on top of 319 so nobody had to reprogram phones. But overlays were still new, and the ten-digit dialing they required met strong public resistance (Wikipedia, area code 563). Iowa went with a geographic split. The northeastern part of 319, including Davenport, Bettendorf, Clinton, Dubuque, Decorah and Eldridge, became area code 563. It went into service on March 25, 2001, and became mandatory on December 2, 2001.

2021: ten-digit dialing anyway. 319 avoided an overlay, and with it ten-digit dialing, for another 20 years. Then 988 came along (see below).

Why you now dial 10 digits in 319

In 2020 the FCC made 988 the nationwide three-digit number for the suicide and crisis lifeline. Some phone numbers in Cedar Rapids already used 988 as their local exchange, as did some in Des Moines (KCRG / Associated Press). With seven-digit dialing, a call to one of those numbers could collide with the new lifeline code. The fix was to require area codes on all local calls.

• From spring 2021, Iowans in 319 and 515 were encouraged to start dialing 10 digits.
• From October 24, 2021, 10 digits became mandatory for all local calls in 319 and 515. A seven-digit call no longer connects.

What this means today:

• Dial 319 + the seven-digit number for every local call, even next door.
• Long-distance calls still use 1 + 10 digits.
• 911 is still three digits, and so is 988 for the crisis lifeline.
• Any stored seven-digit numbers in alarm systems, medical alert devices, speed dials, office phone systems or call-forwarding settings must be updated to ten digits.

There is still no overlay on 319. Every number in the region starts with 319.

All of 319 is on Central Time. Cedar Rapids is one hour behind New York and two hours ahead of Los Angeles.

Getting a 319 number for a business

If your customers are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City or Waterloo, a 319 number will look local to them. You don't need an office or address in Iowa. Virtual phone providers such as Rozper can assign a 319 number and ring it on any phone, desk line or app your team uses. If you already have a 319 line, you can usually port it to a new provider and keep the number.

Before you choose, consider:

• 319 or 563? The Quad Cities and Dubuque are 563, not 319. A business focused on Davenport or Dubuque customers should look for a 563 number. One focused on the Cedar Rapids–Iowa City corridor should use 319.
• Store everything in 10-digit format. CRMs, auto-dialers and forwarding rules should use the full number, since seven-digit local dialing ended in 2021.