817 Area Code: Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas (DFW West)

Introduction

The 817 area code covers Fort Worth, Arlington, and the western portion of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex — a region home to American Airlines' global headquarters, the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and the Rangers' Globe Life Field. Fort Worth is one of the largest cities in the United States by land area and has a distinct commercial identity from Dallas, anchored by its aerospace and defense manufacturing, oil and gas headquarters, and the iconic Stockyards National Historic District. 817 is one of Texas's original 1947 area codes.

American Airlines' massive procurement and vendor network, the aerospace manufacturing cluster around Bell Helicopter (now Bell Textron) and Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth F-35 facility, and the sports and entertainment economy around AT&T Stadium all benefit from a local 817 number. Fort Worth's corporate community places significant value on local identity, and vendors calling into American Airlines, Bell, or Lockheed from an out-of-state number face higher screening rates than those calling from a local Texas prefix.

• One of Texas's original 1947 area codes, later narrowed to Tarrant County as the state grew
• Overlaid by 682 on March 20, 2000 — same territory, mandatory 10-digit dialing since that date
• Covers Fort Worth, Arlington, and the western Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on Central Time

Where the 817 Area Code Reaches

The 817 area code covers the western side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, centered on Tarrant County and extending into several surrounding counties.

• Fort Worth — Tarrant County's seat and DFW's second-largest city, with the Cultural District, Fort Worth Stockyards, and downtown Sundance Square
• Arlington — home to AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys) and Globe Life Field (Texas Rangers), plus UT Arlington and a major entertainment corridor
• Hurst, Euless, and Bedford — the mid-cities triangle between Fort Worth and DFW Airport, among the most densely commercial suburban corridors in the metro
• Grapevine, Colleyville, Keller, and Southlake — affluent northern suburbs with strong retail, healthcare, and professional services economies
• Grand Prairie and Mansfield — diverse suburban cities south of Arlington with significant industrial and retail bases
• Burleson, Cleburne, Weatherford, and Granbury — smaller cities and the rural fringe extending west and south of Tarrant County

Two codes — 817 and 682 — ring every phone in this region. There is no geographic difference between them. A caller sees a Fort Worth-area prefix regardless of which overlay their contact's number falls under. More detail sits on our letsdial page.

Fort Worth and Arlington: Aerospace, Aviation, and Sports

Fort Worth is the economic engine of the 817 footprint and one of the most industrially significant cities in Texas. Two of its largest employers define the city's national and global profile.

American Airlines and Aviation

American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth — the largest airline in the world by fleet size. Its presence anchors a dense ecosystem of aviation technology, logistics, and professional services firms that supply the airline and its operations. Fort Worth's position adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport makes the city a natural hub for aviation-adjacent business communication at scale.

Lockheed Martin and Defense Production

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is assembled at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base — making the city one of the most important defense manufacturing locations in the country. The F-35 program supports thousands of direct and indirect jobs across Tarrant County, and the broader defense contracting and aerospace supplier ecosystem spreads through the entire 817 footprint. Bell Textron, headquartered in Fort Worth since 1951, adds a second major aerospace employer to the region, building military and commercial helicopters at its Amon Carter Boulevard campus and reinforcing Tarrant County's reputation as a rotorcraft and fixed-wing manufacturing hub distinct from Dallas's finance-and-telecom identity across the metroplex.

Arlington is one of the largest cities in the United States without a public transit system connecting it to the broader metro — a fact that underscores how car-dependent the 817 market is. It is also one of the most sports-concentrated cities in the country, with two major professional venues sharing a single corridor.

AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field

AT&T Stadium is the home of the Dallas Cowboys — one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world — and one of the largest domed stadiums ever built. Globe Life Field, directly across I-30, is the home of the Texas Rangers and hosted the 2020 World Series. Together they make Arlington a year-round destination for corporate events, sponsorship deals, and sports-adjacent professional business.

UT Arlington and the Entertainment Corridor

UT Arlington enrolls more than 40,000 students and anchors a significant education and research presence in the southern 817 zone. Six Flags Over Texas and a dense retail and restaurant corridor along Entertainment Boulevard round out the Arlington economy with hospitality and consumer services that peak on event weekends. More detail sits on our AI receptionist page.

Phone Number Format, Time Zone, and 817's 1947 Origins

All 817 and 682 numbers follow the NANP 10-digit format: 817-XXX-XXXX or 682-XXX-XXXX. Because the two codes overlay the same Tarrant County territory, every local call requires all 10 digits — a bare 7-digit number will not complete. For US long-distance calls, dial 1 + the area code + the 7-digit number; for international calls, dial +1 followed by the 10-digit number.

The entire 817 area code observes Central Time — UTC-6 in winter (CST) and UTC-5 during Daylight Saving (CDT). That puts Fort Worth and Arlington on the same clock as Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and New Orleans — one hour ahead of Mountain Time and two hours ahead of Pacific. East Coast teams calling 817 contacts have a one-hour window advantage; West Coast teams need to open campaigns by 9 a.m. Pacific to catch the Fort Worth business day at 11 a.m. local before the day gets underway.

817 has been in use since the 1947 launch of the North American Numbering Plan, when it covered a large swath of central and western Texas — far beyond the current Tarrant County footprint. Decades of population growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth corridor gradually carved the map down to its present form as other codes absorbed surrounding regions.

682 Added as an Overlay in 2000

As the DFW Metroplex grew through the 1990s, the 817 number pool filled rapidly. Rather than splitting Tarrant County from its suburbs, regulators added 682 as a full overlay on March 20, 2000. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory for every 817 local call from that point — a bare seven-digit number will not complete a call within the region.

The Mid-Cities and Northern Suburbs

The Hurst-Euless-Bedford triangle sits at the crossroads of the 817 market — directly between Fort Worth and DFW Airport, straddling State Highway 183 and some of the most commercially active corridors in Tarrant County. Healthcare, retail, financial services, and professional offices cluster here to serve the Fort Worth workforce and the airport-adjacent business traveler market simultaneously.

Grapevine, Southlake, and Colleyville to the north represent the affluent tier of the 817 footprint — master-planned communities with high household incomes, strong small-business ecosystems, and healthcare demand that rivals larger cities. Keller and North Richland Hills add family-oriented suburban corridors that have grown steadily as the DFW Metroplex has expanded northward.

> [TIP] Note: Serving Fort Worth or Arlington from afar? letsdial provisions a local 817 or 682 number in under three minutes on a free trial — no credit card, and the number is yours to keep or port out free.

How to Get an 817 Number and Build Call Trust

817 and 682 cover the same Tarrant County footprint with equal local recognition. 817 carries more than 75 years of Fort Worth name recognition, but a 682 line is treated as identically local by every resident and business in the region. Three paths to a Fort Worth-area number exist; only a cloud platform delivers live inventory the same day.

1. 1Cloud phone platform — search available 817 numbers in real time, claim one, and assign it to a seat or team. letsdial activates an 817 line in under three minutes on a free trial, no credit card required.
2. 2Port your existing number — already have a Tarrant County number on another carrier? Port it in without downtime. letsdial ports numbers in and out at no charge, and the line stays active through the full transfer.
3. 3Wireless SIM or landline carrier — valid for a physical handset, but slower to activate and harder to scale without purchasing additional hardware per seat.

Fort Worth's defense, aviation, and healthcare sectors run on professional relationships built over time. A vendor or contractor whose number shows as Spam Risk in a Lockheed Martin procurement inbox or a Texas Health Resources scheduling system faces a real barrier — and in a market where trust travels through tight professional networks, a spam label is hard to shake.

STIR/SHAKEN and 10-Digit Dialing from Day One

With 817 and 682 sharing the same territory, 10-digit dialing is mandatory for every local call. Apply STIR/SHAKEN A-level attestation through your carrier so every outbound 817 call arrives verified with your registered business name on the screen. Warm new numbers gradually in the first weeks before dialing at full volume — fresh lines with no call history are most vulnerable to spam flags early on. A cloud provider with an AI receptionist built in also means after-hours calls from Bell or Lockheed vendors get answered and routed instead of going to a generic voicemail box. That record is published in full as public record for area code 817.

Conclusion

The 817 area code covers Fort Worth and the western DFW Metroplex — American Airlines, Bell Textron helicopters, Lockheed Martin's F-35 facility, and the entertainment economy around AT&T Stadium. This guide has covered the major employers, the code's 1947 origin, the Central Time zone, and the call-trust considerations in a major two-city metro. A Fort Worth number establishes Western DFW presence distinct from Dallas's 214 and 972 codes.

letsdial provisions 817 numbers in minutes on a free trial with automatic STIR/SHAKEN attestation. Activate a Fort Worth number today and establish the local Texas identity that matters when calling into American Airlines' supply chain, the aerospace manufacturing corridor, or the sports and entertainment businesses around the Cowboys and Rangers.

Frequently Asked Questions