708 Area Code – Cicero, Illinois: Location, Time Zone & History

Before it became synonymous with Chicago's suburbs, the territory of area code 708 was Al Capone country -- Cicero, the numbering plan area's largest city, served as the base for his bootlegging and gambling operations after Chicago authorities cracked down on organized crime in the 1920s. The code went into service November 11, 1989, splitting off from area code 312 and taking nearly all of Chicago's suburbs across Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will counties while 312 stayed with the city itself.

708 didn't stay intact for long: a three-way split effective August 3, 1996 carved out the northern suburbs as area code 847 and the western suburbs, mainly DuPage County, as 630, leaving 708 for the southern and near-west suburbs. Growth resumed, and area code 464 was reserved in 1999 before finally entering service January 21, 2022 as an all-services overlay, with mandatory ten-digit dialing phased in across the combined region by October 24, 2021.

Today the 708/464 territory blends freight and intermodal logistics hubs across southern Cook and Will counties with healthcare systems like Advocate Christ Medical Center and retail corridors anchored around Orland Square in Orland Park.