582 Area Code: Location, Cities, Time Zone & Scam Guide

Seeing an unfamiliar area code on your caller ID can make anyone pause. The 582 area code is one of Pennsylvania’s newest codes — activated in 2021 as an overlay for the long-established 814 area code across northwestern and central Pennsylvania. Because it shares its entire territory with 814, you might meet a 582 number belonging to someone in Erie, State College, Altoona, or Johnstown.

This guide explains exactly where the 582 area code is located, which cities and towns it covers, its time zone, its history, how to dial it, and what to know about scam calls that spoof it.

582 Area Code at a Glance

Feature	Detail
Area code	582
Location	Pennsylvania, USA — northwestern and central portions of the Commonwealth
Major cities	Erie, State College, Altoona, Johnstown, DuBois, Bradford, Meadville, Warren, St. Marys, Oil City
Time zone	Eastern Time (ET) — UTC−5 standard, UTC−4 daylight saving
Country	United States
Dialing format	+1 582 XXX XXXX (from outside North America)
In service since	May 1, 2021
Parent / overlay of	814 (overlay code)
Approved by	Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC), April 30, 2020
Dialing rule	10-digit dialing mandatory (all local calls)
Permissive dialing period	October 3, 2020 – April 3, 2021

Where Is the 582 Area Code Located?

The 582 area code is located in Pennsylvania, in the northwestern and central portions of the Commonwealth. It covers the largest numbering plan area in the state — a sprawling territory that stretches from the shores of Lake Erie in the northwest, across the Allegheny Plateau, and down through the Allegheny Mountains into the ridges and valleys of central Pennsylvania.

Because 582 is an overlay, it does not have its own separate territory. It serves the exact same geographic area as area code 814, which was one of the original area codes established in 1947. In practice, this means any new phone number assigned in Erie, State College, Altoona, or Johnstown since May 2021 may carry a 582 area code instead of 814.

The region is mostly rural, dotted with small cities and boroughs tied together by manufacturing, higher education, tourism, and energy. Penn State’s University Park campus in State College is the economic and cultural anchor of the central portion, while Erie anchors the northwest as Pennsylvania’s only Great Lakes port city.

Cities Covered by Area Code 582

Every community in the 814 numbering plan area is also in the 582 area code. The most important cities and boroughs include:

Erie — Pennsylvania’s fourth-largest city and its only port on the Great Lakes; gateway to Presque Isle State Park
State College — home to Penn State University’s flagship University Park campus
Altoona — historic railroad city, home of the famous Horseshoe Curve
Johnstown — known for its steel heritage and the Johnstown Flood National Memorial
DuBois — a commercial hub in Clearfield County on the I-80 corridor
Bradford — birthplace of the Zippo lighter, near the Allegheny National Forest
Meadville — county seat of Crawford County, known for its tool-and-die industry
Warren — river town on the Allegheny, gateway to the Kinzua Dam and Allegheny National Forest
St. Marys — in Elk County, at the heart of Pennsylvania elk country
Oil City — at the confluence of Oil Creek and the Allegheny River, birthplace of the modern oil industry
Titusville — home of the Drake Well, where Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial oil well in 1859

Boroughs such as Brockway, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Mount Union, Bedford, Clarion, Punxsutawney (famous for Groundhog Day), Tyrone, Ebensburg, Coudersport, Ridgway, Brookville, Emporium, Johnsonburg, Meyersdale, and Somerset are all part of the same 582/814 overlay territory.

History of the 582 Area Code

Area code 814 is one of the original North American area codes assigned in 1947, and it is the only one of Pennsylvania’s original four numbering plan areas that still has its original boundaries. For more than seven decades, it needed no relief.

That changed in the late 2010s. Projections showed 814 was headed for number exhaustion — expected to run out in late 2022 — as mobile phones, VoIP lines, and connected devices multiplied across the region. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) faced a choice between a geographic split (dividing the territory and forcing millions of number changes) and an overlay (adding a new code on top of the existing one).

On April 30, 2020, the PA PUC approved area code 582 for an all-service overlay of 814. A permissive dialing period ran from October 3, 2020 to April 3, 2021, during which callers could still use seven digits while getting used to ten-digit dialing. The in-service date for the overlay was May 1, 2021 — the day NANPA began allowing assignments of central office codes with the 582 area code.

Notably, 582 had been proposed decades earlier as relief for 814 but was shelved indefinitely at that time, making its 2021 activation something of a long-delayed debut. Unlike a split, the overlay preserved every existing 814 number — at the cost of requiring ten-digit dialing for all local calls across the region.

582 Area Code Time Zone

The 582 area code is entirely within the Eastern Time Zone (ET):

Standard time: UTC−5 (Eastern Standard Time, EST)
Daylight saving time: UTC−4 (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT), observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November

All of Pennsylvania observes daylight saving time, so the entire 582 footprint shifts together. Practical offsets: if you are calling from Chicago (Central Time), subtract one hour from your local time; from Denver (Mountain), subtract two hours; from Los Angeles (Pacific), subtract three hours. From London, 582 is five hours behind in winter (EST vs. GMT) and five hours behind in summer (EDT vs. BST).

How to Dial a 582 Area Code Number

Because 582 overlays 814, ten-digit dialing is mandatory for all local calls in the region — even when calling across the street. Follow these formats:

Local call within the 582/814 region: dial the area code plus the seven-digit number (e.g., 582-555-0173).
Long-distance call from elsewhere in the U.S. or Canada: dial 1 + 582 + the seven-digit number (e.g., 1-582-555-0173).
International call: dial your country’s exit code, then 1 + 582 + the seven-digit number (e.g., from the U.K., 00-1-582-555-0173; in universal format, +1 582 555 0173).
Texting: always save contacts with the full ten-digit number including the area code.

If you live in the region and still have seven-digit numbers saved from before 2021, update them now — seven-digit dialing stopped working when mandatory ten-digit dialing began on April 3, 2021.

Is the 582 Area Code a Scam? Phone Scam Safety

The 582 area code itself is completely legitimate — it is an official NANPA code assigned by the Pennsylvania PUC. But scammers routinely spoof real area codes, including new ones like 582, to make their calls look local and trustworthy. Watch out for these common schemes:

Utility shutoff scams: callers claiming to be from Penelec, PPL, or another utility, threatening to cut your power unless you pay immediately with a gift card or wire transfer.
IRS and tax scams: callers posing as the IRS, demanding back taxes and threatening arrest.
Social Security scams: callers claiming your Social Security number has been suspended or linked to criminal activity.
Student-loan and debt-relief scams: targeting the large Penn State student and alumni population in the region.
Tech-support and “grandparent” scams: callers impersonating Microsoft support or a grandchild in trouble.

Protect yourself:

Never trust caller ID alone. Any number — including a real 582 number — can be spoofed.
Do not pay with gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency at a stranger’s direction. That is always a scam.
Hang up and call back on a number you find on the organization’s official website or your bill.
Do not confirm personal details (Social Security number, bank account, passwords) to an unsolicited caller.
Report scams to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the 582 area code?

The 582 area code is in northwestern and central Pennsylvania, covering cities like Erie, State College, Altoona, and Johnstown. It is an overlay of area code 814, so it shares the exact same territory.

What time zone is the 582 area code in?

The 582 area code is in the Eastern Time Zone (UTC−5 standard, UTC−4 during daylight saving), like the rest of Pennsylvania.

When was the 582 area code created?

The 582 area code was approved on April 30, 2020, and went into service on May 1, 2021, as an overlay of area code 814. Mandatory ten-digit dialing began April 3, 2021.

Why was the 582 area code created?

Area code 814 was projected to exhaust its available numbers in late 2022. Rather than splitting the region and forcing number changes, regulators added 582 as an overlay so new numbers could be assigned without disrupting existing 814 users.

Is the 582 area code toll-free?

No. 582 is a geographic Pennsylvania area code, not a toll-free code. Toll-free codes in North America are 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, and 833.

Do I need to dial the area code for local calls in 582?

Yes. Ten-digit dialing is mandatory for all local calls in the 582/814 overlay region, even when both parties share the same area code.

Conclusion

The 582 area code may be the new kid on the block in Pennsylvania, but it carries the same territory as the historic 814 — from Lake Erie’s shoreline to the college towns and mountain valleys of central Pennsylvania. Remember the key points: it entered service in May 2021 as an overlay, ten-digit dialing is required for every local call, the whole region runs on Eastern Time, and a 582 caller ID is no guarantee of who is really calling. Save this guide, update your contacts to ten digits, and check out our other Pennsylvania area code guides for the full picture.