Get a local business phone number in Essex, MA

Area codes in Essex

With 3,760 residents in the Census 2024 estimate, Essex sits in Essex County, Massachusetts. NANPA lists 4 exchanges for its rate center across 2 area codes; 978 has the most (3, 75%). 978 is part of an overlay with 351, so a new local number in Essex may carry any of those codes depending on which have numbers available. Essex is in the Eastern time zone.

According to NANPA's dialing-plan data, local calls within 978 are dialed as ten digits (area code plus number) and toll calls as 1 plus ten digits.

Phone carriers in Essex

3 carriers hold the 4 exchanges assigned to Essex's rate center. Level 3 Communications, LLC - Ma has the most, with 2. 4 of them are pooled codes, which the holder shares with other carriers in blocks of 1,000 numbers. A business number in Essex can come from any of these blocks; once it is yours, porting lets it move between providers.

Local prefixes for Essex

A prefix (NXX) is the three digits after the area code. Numbers starting with these prefixes are rated as local to Essex. The earliest assignment date recorded in the file for these codes is 2001. 1 of the 4 were assigned in 2020 or later.

When Essex's exchanges were assigned

The table groups Essex's exchanges by the decade NANPA recorded them as assigned.

What makes a number local to Essex

NANPA ties every exchange to a rate center. For Essex that is ESSEX, so a number from one of these exchanges reads as local to people in and around Essex.

If your business already has a Essex number, porting it to Callata is free and keeps it on your cards, listings and vehicles.

The local business market

Essex is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, home to 5.0 million people in 2024. County Business Patterns counted 133,807 business establishments in the Boston, MA-NH metro area in 2023, employing 2,681,704 people. The largest sectors by establishment count are professional, scientific, and technical services (17,803), retail trade (15,568), and health care and social assistance (15,127).

Business phone service in Essex

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Porting a number you already use in Essex is free, and business texting is available once the carrier registration (10DLC) is approved; the registration carries a one-time $49 fee. Which specific numbers are open in a given area code depends on carrier inventory at the time you sign up.

AI agents are optional: an AI receptionist or scheduler can pick up when the team is busy or closed, take a message, send a text or email, or transfer the call. They draw on prepaid AI minutes ($0.25/minute), disclose that they are AI, and outbound AI calls require prior consent and are limited to 8am–9pm.

A 20-person team is the benchmark here, the rounded average establishment size in the Boston, MA-NH metro area. Billed per seat at month-to-month list prices (checked September 28, 2026), RingCentral RingEX Core costs $600.00 a month and Ooma Office Pro $499.00. Callata comes to $399.00 a month for 20 users ($99 a month with 5 users included, then $20 per additional user), below both.