How to Call United States (+1) from Abroad

United States dialling — what you need to know

The United States country code +1 is shared across the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), which includes Canada, most Caribbean island nations and several Pacific territories — but the US alone accounts for over 300 of the plan's area codes. Every US number follows the NPA-NXX-XXXX format: a three-digit area code, a three-digit exchange code and a four-digit subscriber number, always dialled after +1 to give a standard ten-digit international format such as +1 (212) 555-1234. Major metropolitan area codes include 212 and 718 for New York City, 213 and 310 for Los Angeles, 312 and 773 for Chicago, 415 for San Francisco, 305 for Miami and 202 for Washington, D.C. Mobile numbers use the same ten-digit format as landlines, with no prefix distinguishing carrier or type — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all share the same number pool. The continental US spans four main time zones: Eastern (ET, UTC−5/−4), Central (CT, UTC−6/−5), Mountain (MT, UTC−7/−6) and Pacific (PT, UTC−8/−7), shifting by one hour during daylight saving time observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. From South Africa (SAST, UTC+2), New York is seven hours behind in summer and six hours behind in winter, while Los Angeles is ten or nine hours behind — making early morning SAST the ideal window to reach East Coast US offices as their business day begins. Standard US business hours run Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00 local time; most corporate switchboards and toll-free 1-800 numbers operate during these hours, though many tech and financial firms on the coasts maintain extended hours.