604 Area Code – Vancouver, British Columbia: Location, Time Zone & History

Area code 604 is one of the original 86 numbering areas created under the North American Numbering Plan in 1947, and it initially covered the whole of British Columbia. That single-code arrangement lasted until October 19, 1996, when the province was split: the Lower Mainland, including Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, the Sea-to-Sky corridor, and the Fraser Valley, kept 604, while the remainder of the province was reassigned to the new area code 250.

Growth in the Lower Mainland since then has been managed entirely through overlays rather than further geographic splits. Area code 778 was introduced in 2001 and later expanded province-wide in 2007, followed by 236 in 2013, 672 in 2019, and 257 in 2025. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory in 2008 as a result. Today numbers under 604 reach cities across the region, including Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster, and North Vancouver, in addition to Vancouver itself.

The region's economy draws on port and international trade logistics through the Port of Vancouver, film and television production that has earned the area the nickname Hollywood North, technology, tourism, and forestry. Vancouver also hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. A lesser-known footnote in the code's history is Point Roberts, Washington, an American exclave once served by 604 before being moved to area code 206 in 1968.