985 Area Code – Houma, Louisiana: Location, Time Zone & History

Southeastern Louisiana's bayou country and north shore carry area code 985, split off from 504 in 2001 to cover the parishes surrounding, but outside, the New Orleans metro core -- Houma and Thibodaux in the Terrebonne/Lafourche bayous, Hammond in Tangipahoa, and Slidell and Covington on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Permissive dialing began that February with mandatory ten-digit dialing enforced by October. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed local switching facilities in lower Plaquemines Parish, several communities that had moved to 985 in the original split -- Pointe à la Hache, Port Sulphur, Buras, Boothville -- were shifted back to 504 in 2007-2008.

Houma anchors the region's economy as a hub for offshore oil and gas support services and Gulf of Mexico marine fabrication, alongside commercial shrimping and oystering in the Terrebonne/Lafourche parishes, sugarcane agriculture, and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. The north shore cities across the lake draw tourism tied to New Orleans.

• Home to Cajun and Native American culture, including the United Houma Nation, centered in the bayou parishes
• Covington, Mandeville, and Slidell connect to New Orleans via the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest continuous bridge over water in the world
• The bayou and north shore have been repeatedly reshaped by major hurricanes, including Katrina in 2005 and Ida in 2021