Is 212 a ZIP Code? Manhattan ZIP Codes vs. the 212 Area Code

No, 212 is not a ZIP code, and there’s no “212 ZIP code” for Manhattan. It’s the telephone area code for Manhattan, while Manhattan’s ZIP codes are five-digit postal codes from the U.S. Postal Service that start with 100, 101 or 102, such as 10001, 10019 and 10036.

It’s an easy mix-up. Both are short numbers tied to a place, and “212” has stood for Manhattan for generations. But ZIP codes and area codes come from two separate systems run by two separate organizations, and they don’t line up with each other. Here’s how each one works, what Manhattan’s real ZIP codes are, and the one place in the country where ZIP codes really do start with 212.

ZIP Code vs. Area Code: The Difference

A ZIP code tells the Postal Service where to deliver mail. An area code is the first three digits of a 10-digit phone number and helps route calls. One belongs to your address, the other to your phone number.

	ZIP code	Area code
What it’s for	Delivering mail	Routing phone calls
Who assigns it	U.S. Postal Service	North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA); in New York, the Public Service Commission decides when new ones are added
How many digits	5 (or 9 with ZIP+4)	3, at the start of a 10-digit phone number
Created	1963	1947
Belongs to	A street address or P.O. box	A phone number
Manhattan examples	10001, 10019, 10036	212, 646, 332, 917

According to the U.S. Postal Service, ZIP codes were introduced on July 1, 1963. The first digit stands for a broad part of the country, from 0 in the East to 9 in the West. The next two digits narrow it to a region, and the last two point to a specific post office. The extra four digits of ZIP+4 came along in 1983.

Area codes are older. AT&T developed the North American Numbering Plan in 1947, and NANPA now handles area code assignments for the U.S. under FCC rules. Every U.S. phone number is a three-digit area code followed by a seven-digit local number.

New York City’s own government shows the two side by side. City Hall’s mailing address is New York, NY 10007. The city’s 311 help line, when you call it from outside New York City, is (212) NEW-YORK. Same city, two different numbers doing two different jobs.

Manhattan’s ZIP Codes

Mail to Manhattan is addressed to “New York, NY,” and the Postal Service sorts it under three ZIP code prefixes: 100, 101 and 102.

• 100xx: These cover most everyday street addresses. Most fall between 10001 and 10040, plus a couple of higher ones on the Upper East Side, 10065 and 10075.
• 101xx: Many of these aren’t neighborhoods at all. They’re for post office boxes or single large buildings. Manhattan Community Board 4, for example, lists 10113 for the Old Chelsea post office, 10108 for the Times Square post office, and 10119 and 10121 for the One and Two Penn Plaza office buildings. A few, like 10128 on the Upper East Side, are regular neighborhood codes.
• 102xx: A small group of additional codes, such as 10280 in Lower Manhattan.

The rest of the city uses different prefixes. In the Postal Service’s ZIP prefix list, 103 is Staten Island, 104 is the Bronx and 112 is Brooklyn, and Queens uses several prefixes that start with 11, such as 111, 113 and 114.

Manhattan Neighborhoods and Their Main ZIP Codes

New York City’s Health Department groups Manhattan’s residential ZIP codes into 10 neighborhoods for its health data. The table below follows its ZIP code table. The Upper East Side row also includes 10065 and 10075, which the Postal Service split off from 10021 in July 2007.

Neighborhood	Main ZIP codes
Lower Manhattan (Financial District area)	10004, 10005, 10006, 10007, 10038, 10280
Greenwich Village and SoHo	10012, 10013, 10014
Union Square and Lower East Side	10002, 10003, 10009
Chelsea and Clinton (Hell’s Kitchen)	10001, 10011, 10018, 10019, 10020, 10036
Gramercy Park and Murray Hill	10010, 10016, 10017, 10022
Upper West Side	10023, 10024, 10025
Upper East Side	10021, 10028, 10065, 10075, 10128
East Harlem	10029, 10035
Central Harlem and Morningside Heights	10026, 10027, 10030, 10037, 10039
Washington Heights and Inwood	10031, 10032, 10033, 10034, 10040

A few of the ZIP codes people search for most:

• 10001: Part of Chelsea and Midtown West near Penn Station. The NYPD’s Midtown South Precinct at 357 West 35th Street uses it.
• 10019: Part of Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown West. The NYPD’s Midtown North Precinct at 306 West 54th Street uses it.
• 10036: Times Square. The city’s official tourism organization lists the Times Square plaza between 44th and 45th Streets under 10036.
• 10007: City Hall, in Lower Manhattan.

Manhattan’s Area Codes: 212, 646, 332 and 917

While Manhattan has dozens of ZIP codes, it has just four phone area codes, and they all cover the same map. New codes were added on top of 212 as numbers ran short, so a neighbor on the same block might have any of them.

• 212: The original Manhattan area code. Its numbers ran short long ago, which is why they’re so sought after.
• 646 and 332: Added to Manhattan to supply new numbers. 332 is the newest, added in 2017 as an overlay of 212, 646 and 917.
• 917: The one code that covers all five boroughs.

The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island use 718, 347 and 929, plus 917. A fifth code for those boroughs, 465, went into service on June 18, 2026, but nobody can get a 465 number yet. They’ll be handed out only after 347, 718, 917 and 929 run out, which New York’s Public Service Commission currently projects for the third quarter of 2027. The 465 code is not part of Manhattan’s 212, 646 and 332 area. (The one technicality is Marble Hill, a tiny piece of Manhattan next to the Bronx. It uses the Bronx’s phone codes and a Bronx-style ZIP code, 10463.) The state’s area code map shows both groups.

The main takeaway: every Manhattan ZIP code shares the same area codes. A 212 number can’t tell you someone’s ZIP code, and a ZIP code can’t tell you which area code a phone has. For how 212 went from covering all of New York City to just Manhattan, see our brief history of area code 212. For the bigger picture, here’s how many area codes are in the US.

Is There a 212 ZIP Code Anywhere?

Yes, but not in New York. In the Postal Service’s list of three-digit ZIP prefixes, 212 belongs to Baltimore, Maryland. ZIP codes like 21201 and 21202 are Baltimore codes, not Manhattan ones. Baltimore City Hall, at 100 North Holliday Street, is in 21202.

Here’s the twist: Baltimore’s phone numbers use different area codes. Baltimore City Hall’s main number starts with 410. So “212” in a ZIP code points to Maryland, and 212 in a phone number points to Manhattan.

Two more things to rule out:

• “212” on its own: A ZIP code always has five digits, so a three-digit number can’t be one.
• “00212”: The Postal Service says the lowest ZIP code is 00501, for the IRS in Holtsville, New York. Anything lower, including 00212, isn’t a ZIP code.

Getting a Real 212 Number

A ZIP code comes with your address. A 212 phone number doesn’t come with a Manhattan address, and 212 numbers are hard to find because the code’s supply ran short long ago. 212areacode.com has sold real Manhattan 212 numbers since 2009. You choose a number, then transfer it to your own phone carrier so it rings on your phone. You can browse available 212 numbers or read how it works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 212 a ZIP code?
No. 212 is a telephone area code for Manhattan. ZIP codes are five-digit postal codes from the U.S. Postal Service, and Manhattan’s start with 100, 101 or 102.

What ZIP code goes with the 212 area code?
There isn’t one. 212 covers all of Manhattan, which has dozens of ZIP codes, from 10001 near Penn Station to 10040 in upper Manhattan. A phone number’s area code doesn’t tell you its owner’s ZIP code.

What ZIP codes are in Manhattan?
Manhattan’s ZIP codes start with 100, 101 or 102. Most street addresses use codes between 10001 and 10040, plus a few others such as 10065, 10075, 10128 and 10280. Many 101xx codes are for post office boxes or single large buildings.

Where are ZIP codes that start with 212?
In and around Baltimore, Maryland. The Postal Service assigns the 212 prefix to Baltimore, so codes like 21201 and 21202 are Baltimore codes. Baltimore’s phone numbers use area codes like 410, not 212.

What area codes does Manhattan use?
212, 646 and 332, which cover Manhattan, plus 917, which covers all five boroughs. They all share the same map, so any of them can belong to any Manhattan address.

Does the new 465 area code cover Manhattan?
No. 465 was switched on June 18, 2026 for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, which use 718, 347, 929 and 917. The only exception is Marble Hill, a tiny Manhattan neighborhood that already uses the Bronx’s phone codes. No 465 numbers will be handed out until those codes run out, currently projected for the third quarter of 2027.

Is +212 a New York phone number?
Not when the number starts with +212. That’s Morocco’s country code. A Manhattan 212 number written in international format starts with +1 212, because the U.S. country code is 1.

Does my area code change if my ZIP code changes?
No. Your ZIP code follows your mailing address, so it changes when you move. A mobile number keeps its area code when you move, so a 212 number stays a 212 number wherever you live.

Sources: U.S. Postal Service (Postal Facts, “Decoding the ZIP Code”; Domestic Mail Manual L002 3-Digit ZIP Code Prefix Matrix; Postal Bulletin 22641); NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene UHF ZIP code table; Manhattan Community Board 4; NYC.gov; NYPD precinct pages; NANPA; NANPA Planning Letters PL-489 (332) and PL-630 (465); New York State Department of Public Service; City of Baltimore; ITU.