701 Area Code – Fargo, North Dakota: Location, Time Zone & History

North Dakota is one of only eleven U.S. states still served by a single area code, and 701 has covered the entire state, unchanged, since it was assigned as one of the original 86 area codes created under the 1947 North American Numbering Plan. Unlike most states, it has never been split or overlaid -- every telephone number from Fargo to Williston still begins with the same three digits it did at the dawn of direct long-distance dialing.

That stability nearly ended in 2021, when the planned nationwide activation of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline threatened to force mandatory ten-digit local dialing across the state, since 988 had also been in use as a central-office prefix in Bismarck. Rather than accept that change, the North Dakota Public Service Commission and local carriers retired the roughly 33 phone numbers still using the 988 prefix, preserving seven-digit local dialing statewide.

North Dakota's single area code belies some underlying complexity: the state is split between two LATAs, centered on Bismarck and Fargo, and spans two time zones, with most of the state, including Fargo and Bismarck, on Central Time while a small southwestern sliver observes Mountain Time. Beyond Fargo, the plan area also reaches Grand Forks, Minot, West Fargo, and Dickinson, serving a population of 779,094 built on agriculture, Bakken-region energy production, healthcare, and higher education.