651 Area Code – St Paul, Minnesota: Location, Time Zone & History

For decades, Minneapolis and St. Paul shared a single area code, 612, until a 1998 split divided the Twin Cities roughly along the Mississippi River. Minneapolis and the territory west of the river kept 612, while St. Paul and the east metro, including suburbs southeast to Hastings, became area code 651. The new code was assigned on April 21, 1998, went into service with permissive dialing that July, and became fully mandatory on January 11, 1999, when ten-digit local dialing replaced the old seven-digit pattern.

Notably, 651 is among the few urbanized American area codes never to have received an overlay, a distinction that has let dialing conventions in St. Paul remain comparatively simple even as the surrounding metro area grew. The numbering plan area extends across roughly seventy communities in Ramsey, Washington, Dakota, and Goodhue counties, including Stillwater, Woodbury, Roseville, Forest Lake, Hastings, Maplewood, and White Bear Lake.

As Minnesota's state capital, St. Paul anchors an economy built around state government, healthcare, higher education, publishing and printing, and manufacturing. Together with Minneapolis across the river, it forms the Twin Cities, the state's principal metropolitan area.