985
Area code
Statusin service
Introduced2001-02-12
JurisdictionLA, US
Local dialing7D
Time zoneCentral
Last verified2026-09-17
Utilization 59.5% of assignable prefixes assigned
As of 09/17/2026
0%471 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 2001-01-25, most recent 2026-04-13.
Area codes serve rate-center geographies, not municipal boundaries. “LA” identifies the jurisdiction, not an exact city footprint.
Top assignees
Ranked by assigned prefixes · initial assignee ≠ current carrier| Rank | Assignee | Prefixes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | BELLSOUTH TELECOMM INC DBA SOUTH CENTRAL BELL TEL | 111 | 23.6% |
| 02 | NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC - GA | 67 | 14.2% |
| 03 | PAETEC ITEL, LLC | 35 | 7.4% |
| 04 | CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - LA | 35 | 7.4% |
| 05 | ONVOY, LLC - LA | 28 | 5.9% |
| 06 | VOICESTREAM GSM I, LLC | 24 | 5.1% |
| 07 | LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - LA | 24 | 5.1% |
| 08 | METROPCS, INC. | 18 | 3.8% |
| 09 | TON80 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC | 14 | 3% |
| 10 | COMCAST IP PHONE, LLC | 11 | 2.3% |
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- 2001-02-12Area code 985 entered service (created from 504).
Planning letters & orders
Primary documents| Date | Document | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 2001-09-11 | PL-301 ↗ | 504/985 Split - Extended Permissive Dialing for Wireless (Louisiana) |
| 2000-10-20 | PL-242 ↗ | 504 NPA Split, Creating 985 NPA (Louisiana) |