One of Minnesota's two original 1947 area codes, now covering Minneapolis and a handful of immediately adjacent municipalities after repeated splits carved away the surrounding suburbs. One of the few large-metro codes with no overlay.
The essentialsNumbering data · NumberResearch · as of 2026-09-18
Place
Minneapolis
Type
geographic
Status
in service
In service since
1947
Projected exhaust
2048 Q1
Status, dates and counts are read from NumberResearch (NANPA / CNAC / FCC records). Assignment records show initial assignees, not the carrier serving a number today.
A · Where it is
Where 612 is
City of Minneapolis and adjacent municipalities in Hennepin County (central Twin Cities)..
Now a very small footprint (essentially Minneapolis proper plus a few bordering places) after the 1998 and 2000 splits.
B · Relationships
How it relates to other codes
The codes 612 was split from, spawned, or shares its area with. A split divides the map and changes some numbers; an overlay shares the same ground and changes none — what's the difference?
Spawned · 1996320Central Minnesota (St. Cloud)Central/western Minnesota split off from the old wide 612 territory.
Spawned · 1998651Saint Paul612 roughly halved along the Mississippi River; St. Paul and eastern suburbs became 651.
Spawned · 2000763Northwestern Minneapolis suburbsNorthwestern suburbs split off in the three-way 2000 split.
Spawned · 2000952Southwestern Minneapolis suburbsSouthwestern suburbs split off in the three-way 2000 split.
What's changing. No overlay. One of the few urbanized area codes without an overlay; projected sufficient until at least 2039 (per Wikipedia).
C · History
How 612 got here
1947
Created as one of Minnesota's two original NANP area codes (with 218); initially covered southeastern Minnesota including the Twin Cities.
Source: Wikipedia
1996-03-17
Northern/western portions split off as area code 320.
Source: Wikipedia
1998
612 split roughly in half along the Mississippi River; eastern side became 651.
Source: Wikipedia
2000-02-27
Three-way split: Minneapolis kept 612, northwest suburbs became 763, southwest suburbs became 952.
Source: Wikipedia
D · Capacity
How full it is
Prefixes assigned
613
Prefixes available
187
Thousands-blocks assigned
2,363
Prefix-assignment counts describe allocation to carriers, not how many individual numbers are in use. Full technical records: NumberResearch ↗.
Live status, dates, assignment counts and exhaust forecast — data as of 2026-09-18 (CC BY 4.0).
Place, relationships and history above are compiled by North American Numbers from the sources listed and last checked 2026-09-18. A check date is not an expert review — see how this is made. Flag an error.
North American Numbers