<P> Finally, on January 15, 1995, most of the old 206 territory outside of the Seattle / Tacoma area split off as area code 360, which was one of the first two area codes not conforming to the N0X / N1X format . </P> <P> Numerous residents in the Seattle exurbs protested about no longer being associated with 206, leading US West, now part of CenturyLink, to reintegrate those areas shortly after the split . As part of the reintegration, the cities of Des Moines and Woodway were both split between the new area codes due to capacity at switching centers . </P> <P> However, 206 was on the brink of exhaustion even after the 360 split . The return of these exurbs, combined with the continued proliferation of cell phones, faxes, and pagers, hastened a three - way split of the 206 territory, effective on April 25, 1997 . The southern portion, including Tacoma, received area code 253, while the northern portion, including Everett and the Eastside, was assigned area code 425 . </P>

Where is area code 206 located in california