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Country Code +1: Which Country Is Calling You? (US, Canada or the Caribbean)

You missed a call from a number starting with +1 and want to know where it came from. The short answer: +1 is not a single country. It is the shared country code of the North American Numbering Plan, used by the United States and its territories, Canada, and 18 other countries and territories — Bermuda and 17 in the Caribbean.

What tells you the country — and usually the city — is the next three digits: the area code. +1 438 and +1 514 are Montréal, Canada. +1 905 is the area around Toronto, Canada. +1 215 is Philadelphia, USA. +1 876 is Jamaica. Here is how to tell them apart, and what to check before you call back.

Why “+1” alone doesn't tell you the country

Every North American number has the same shape: +1, a three-digit area code, then a seven-digit local number — for example +1 438 555 0123. Because twenty countries and territories share the same country code, the area code does the job a country code does elsewhere: it tells you which country, and roughly which region, the number was registered in.

Two details trip people up. First, the digits after +1 can look like another country's code: +1 212 is New York, while +212 is Morocco. Second, the number never tells you whether it is a mobile. In many countries mobiles have their own prefixes (06 and 07 in France, for example), but North American mobiles and landlines share the same area codes. Only a carrier lookup shows the line type.

Is it Canada? Area codes by province (438, 514, 416…)

Canadian and US area codes share the same three-digit range, so there is no pattern to spot — you need the list. The most searched codes are 438 and 514: both are Montréal, Québec. 438 was added on top of 514 in 2006 when Montréal ran short of numbers, and 263 followed in 2022. All three cover the same territory, so a 438 number is no more or less trustworthy than a 514 one.

The list below follows Canada's official numbering records as of May 2026:

  • Québec — Montréal: 514, 438, 263. Around Montréal (Laval, North and South Shores): 450, 579, 354. Québec City and eastern Québec: 418, 581, 367 (273 will be added in 2027). Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières and central and western Québec: 819, 873, 468.
  • Ontario — Toronto: 416, 647, 437, 942. Around Toronto (Mississauga, Hamilton…): 905, 289, 365, 742. Ottawa and eastern Ontario: 613, 343, 753. Southwestern Ontario: 519, 226, 548, 382. Northern Ontario: 705, 249, 683. Northwestern Ontario (Thunder Bay): 807.
  • British Columbia — Vancouver area: 604; Vancouver Island and the rest of the province: 250; province-wide: 778, 236, 672, 257.
  • Alberta — Calgary and the south: 403; Edmonton and the north: 780; province-wide: 587, 825, 368.
  • Prairies — Saskatchewan: 306, 639, 474. Manitoba: 204, 431, 584.
  • Atlantic — New Brunswick: 506, 428. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island: 902, 782. Newfoundland and Labrador: 709, 879.
  • North — Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut: 867.

Caribbean area codes that look North American

These numbers are dialed exactly like US or Canadian ones, but each belongs to a separate country or territory — and calls to them are charged as international calls, even from the US. Don't mix up the Dominican Republic (809, 829, 849) and Dominica (767): they are two different countries.

  • Dominican Republic: 809, 829, 849 · Jamaica: 876, 658
  • Bahamas: 242 · Barbados: 246 · Trinidad and Tobago: 868
  • Antigua and Barbuda: 268 · Dominica: 767 · Grenada: 473 · St. Kitts and Nevis: 869 · St. Lucia: 758 · St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 784
  • Anguilla: 264 · British Virgin Islands: 284 · Cayman Islands: 345 · Montserrat: 664 · Sint Maarten: 721 · Turks and Caicos Islands: 649
  • Bermuda (in the Atlantic): 441
  • US territories, which count as the United States: Puerto Rico 787 and 939 · US Virgin Islands 340 · Guam 671 · Northern Mariana Islands 670 · American Samoa 684

In neither list? It's almost always the United States

If an area code is in neither list, the number is almost certainly American — the US has hundreds of area codes, far too many to memorize. Two of the most searched: 212 is Manhattan, New York, and 215 is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our area code lookup gives the state or province, city and time zone for major US and Canadian codes.

The exception: 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833 are toll-free numbers. They are not tied to any city and are mostly used by businesses and customer service lines.

A one-ring call from +1? Don't call back

A common trick is the “one-ring” or wangiri call (Japanese for “one ring and hang up”): an automated system dials thousands of numbers, hangs up after a ring or two, and waits for curious people to call back. The callback runs up charges that are largely paid to the scammer. US consumer authorities have flagged Caribbean codes such as 268, 284, 473, 649, 664, 767, 809, 829, 849 and 876 in these schemes.

If you live outside North America, remember that returning any +1 call — even to a real Canadian or US number — is an international call billed by your own operator, unless your plan includes North America. And the number on your screen may not be the real one: scammers can fake caller ID.

  • Don't call back a number you don't recognize. The risk is not in receiving the call but in returning it. Someone who really needs you will leave a message or write.
  • Never pay, or read out a code, because a caller is pressuring you. Calls claiming to be Canadian immigration (IRCC) and demanding a fee are a known scam — IRCC says it never asks for payment by telephone.
  • Block the number on your phone. If you never call abroad, ask your operator to block outgoing international calls.
  • Report it. Channels depend on your country: in France, text “spam vocal” followed by the number to 33700; in the US, file a complaint with the FCC; in Canada, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre; in mainland China, use the 12321 reporting centre. Elsewhere, ask your operator.

What our free tools can — and can't — tell you

Our tools read the public registration data attached to a number — never the person behind it. They can't give you a caller's name, address or live location, and no legitimate tool can. An area code shows where a number was registered, not where the caller is: internet calling apps let anyone use a Montréal number from anywhere in the world.

What that data does answer is “which country, which city, mobile or landline?”: