520
Area code

AZ

United States geographic area code, in service since 1995-03-19.

Split from 602. Created 928.

Statusin service
Introduced1995-03-19
JurisdictionAZ, US
Local dialing10D
Time zoneMountain
Last verified2026-09-17
Utilization 89.5% of assignable prefixes assigned As of 09/17/2026
0%709 of ~792 assignable NXX values (200–999 excl. N11)100%

Prefix-level assignment does not equal number-level exhaustion; thousands-block pooling extends capacity. First assignment on record 2001-01-08, most recent 2026-04-03.

Area codes serve rate-center geographies, not municipal boundaries. “AZ” identifies the jurisdiction, not an exact city footprint.

Top assignees

Ranked by assigned prefixes · initial assignee ≠ current carrier
Largest initial assignees in area code 520
RankAssigneePrefixesShare
01 QWEST CORPORATION 201 28.3%
02 CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - AZ 104 14.7%
03 T-MOBILE USA, INC. 84 11.8%
04 NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC 53 7.5%
05 ONVOY, LLC - AZ 47 6.6%
06 MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC - AZ 24 3.4%
07 LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - AZ 17 2.4%
08 BANDWIDTH.COM CLEC, LLC - AZ 17 2.4%
09 TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC - AZ 14 2%
10 LEVEL 3 TELECOM OF ARIZONA, LLC - AZ 12 1.7%

Important: these are initial assignees from NANPA CO-code records — the carrier a prefix was originally assigned to. Because of number portability, the current serving carrier of any individual number may differ.

Change history

Recorded events for this NPA
  • 1995-03-19Area code 520 entered service (created from 602).

Planning letters & orders

Primary documents
NANPA planning letters for area code 520
DateDocumentSubject
2021-01-08 PL-556 ↗ Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) – supersedes PL-544
2020-08-17 PL-544 ↗ Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Hotline
1994-01-21 IL-94-01-030 ↗ NANP-SPLIT OF 602 (ARIZONA) NUMBERING PLAN AREA (NPA)

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