Area code 561

Area code 561 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida. It was created on May 13, 1996, in a split of area code 407. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises nearly every major city in the county, the largest of which being West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Jupiter, Delray Beach, and Belle Glade.

Within only five years of creation, NPA 561 was close to exhaustion again from rapid growth of service demands in the Palm Beaches/Treasure Coast region and the proliferation of cell phones. In mitigation, the northern part of 561, the Treasure Coast, was split off with area code 772 in 2002.

Because of the Palm Beaches' continued growth, 561 is close to exhaustion, resulting in the approval and planning for an all-service overlay plan by adding area code 728 to the same numbering plan area, with implementation scheduled for March 10, 2023.[1][2]

Prior to October 2021, area code 561 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.[3]