Area code 440 was established on August 16, 1997, in a three-way split of area code 216, one of the original North American area codes,[1] to provide relief from central office prefix exhaustion from increasing popularity of cellular phones and population pressure.[2] The 216 numbering plan area (NPA) had already been divided the preceding year in 1996 to create area code 330 to the south, with NPA 216 stretching along the coast of Lake Erie.
In December 2022, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio announced a projection that the pool of available telephone numbers for the 440 area code would be exhausted by the third quarter of 2024. The Commission approved a plan of relief action which prescribes an all-service overlay in the numbering plan area with the new area code 436.[4][5]
The activation date was March 1, 2024.[4]