305, 786 and 645: Miami's three area codes compared

Three codes, one map

305, 786 and 645 are overlays: they all cover exactly the same territory, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys. A Homestead number can start with any of them, and so can a number in Key West.

The code does not change how a call is dialed or what it costs. Every local call in the region is dialed with ten digits, and when 645 was added the Public Service Commission said rates and local calling would stay as they were.

The codes side by side

• 305, since 1947: the original. It once covered all of Florida and has been Miami-Dade's and the Keys' alone since 1995. It is the code people mean when they say "the 305".
• 786, since 1998: the first overlay, added over Miami-Dade in 1998 and extended to the Keys in 2015. On the keypad it spells SUN.
• 645, since 2023: the newest code, available for new lines across Miami-Dade and the Keys since August 4, 2023.
• 954 and 754: Broward County, to the north, which left 305 in 1995.

What a 305 says

Because 305 is the original code and the one Miami uses as a nickname, it is the one that says Miami at a glance, to locals and to callers from out of town. That matters most where the number is part of a first impression: a condo listing, a restaurant's awning, a law firm's letterhead, a fishing charter's website.

It also helps a business based somewhere else that wants a South Florida presence, or one that has just moved to Miami and wants a number that looks local from day one.

When 786 or 645 is fine

For a fax, a back-office line or a second line nobody sees, any code will do. A 786 number has been part of Miami life since 1998 and works perfectly well; what a 305 adds is the name recognition, not a different service.