662 Area Code – Tupelo, Mississippi: Location, Time Zone & History

Area code 662 was created on April 19, 1999, as a geographic split of Mississippi's original statewide area code, 601, taking over the numbering plan for the northern and central part of the state. Its primary city, Tupelo, is best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley, whose childhood home remains a major heritage tourism draw. Nearly three decades after the split, growth in the numbering pool led regulators to approve an all-services overlay: new area code 471 went into service on January 30, 2026, layered over the same territory, while existing 662 numbers were left unchanged.

The region served by 662 stretches well past Tupelo. Southaven, the largest city under the code, sits in DeSoto County as part of the Memphis, Tennessee metropolitan area, alongside neighboring Horn Lake. Oxford is home to the University of Mississippi and was long the residence of author William Faulkner. Starkville hosts Mississippi State University, and the Delta towns of Clarksdale, Greenville, and Greenwood form a region widely regarded as the birthplace of the Delta blues.

Economically, the area blends higher education, Delta farming, manufacturing (including Tupelo's furniture industry), and retail and logistics tied to the nearby Memphis metro, giving the 662 territory a mix of rural and college-town character.