Area Code
North Carolina, United States
Local Time
10:53 AM
Eastern Time
Area Code
252
State / Province
North Carolina
Country
United States
Time Zone
Eastern Time
Area code 252 covers 92 rate centers across North Carolina. Rate centers are geographic areas used by telephone companies to determine local calling boundaries.
Use the E.164 format for clickable phone links (RFC 3966):
<a href="tel:+12525550100">+12525550100</a><a href="tel:+12525550199">+12525550199</a>Area code 252 is a North American Numbering Plan (NANP) telephone area code assigned to North Carolina, United States. It is one of 9 area codes serving North Carolina. As population and demand for phone numbers grew, the region was divided into multiple numbering plan areas to avoid exhausting the available 7-digit number pool.
Yes. 252 is an active North American Numbering Plan (NANP) area code, currently assigned to North Carolina, United States. It is safe to answer or dial calls using this area code.
Area code 252 covers 92 rate centers across North Carolina. Communities served include Ahoskie, Atlantic, Aulander, Aurora, Ayden, and 87 more localities. Rate centers are the geographic building blocks telephone carriers use to determine local calling boundaries and to assign numbers when a business or individual requests a phone number in a specific city.
All numbers in the 252 area code observe Eastern Time (IANA timezone: America/New_York). Eastern Time is UTC−5 in winter (EST) and UTC−4 in summer (EDT). When placing a call to a 252 number from a different time zone, check the current local time above to avoid calling outside of business hours.
From within North Carolina, dial the 7-digit local number directly if calling within the same rate center, or dial 1 + 252 + 7-digit number for long-distance calls within North America. From outside the US or Canada, dial your country's international exit code followed by 1 252 XXX XXXX. The country code for both the United States and Canada in NANP is +1.
Format 252 numbers using E.164 notation as required by RFC 3966: prefix with +1 and omit dashes and parentheses (e.g., +12525550100). This format ensures tel: links work correctly on all mobile browsers and VoIP apps. See the tel: URI formatting guide for complete examples.