Check Virginia Phone Directory Listings

Where Virginia Phone Numbers Live

Three layers hold most of the phone numbers in Virginia. The state layer covers agencies run out of Richmond and their field offices. The local layer covers 95 counties and the independent cities that sit outside any county. The institution layer covers school divisions, public colleges, hospital systems, libraries, and utilities, each of which keeps its own list. Knowing which layer you need saves the most time. A driver license question is state. A trash pickup question is local. A question about a principal is a school division question.

The starting point for the state layer is the Commonwealth portal at virginia.gov, and the fastest route inside it is the agency index.

The agency index lists state agencies, offices, colleges, and public bodies, with each entry linking out to a detail page or the agency site. Some detail pages carry a contact block with a phone number, an email, and a mailing address. That is the page to check when a caller says they work for a Virginia agency and you want to know whether the agency exists at all.

When you know the person but not the office, the Virginia State Employee Directory is the better tool. It searches state personnel by last name. It will not help with a county clerk or a city inspector, since those people work for the locality, not the Commonwealth.

1. State service such as a license, a benefit, or a permit: search the agency index, then call the number on the agency contact page.
2. A named state employee: search the State Employee Directory by last name, with the agency filter if you know it.
3. A county or independent city office: go to that locality's own website, then its department directory or main switchboard.
4. A school or campus contact: use the school division staff directory or the college's own directory.
5. An unpublished internal list or extension sheet: file a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request with the agency or locality that holds it.

Area Codes Serving Virginia

Ten area codes serve Virginia, and they work as six regions rather than ten separate territories. Four of those regions run as overlay pairs, where two codes share the exact same ground. The oldest code is 703, handed to Virginia in 1947 as the state's only code. It covers a small corner of the state now. Growth pushed the rest of the map into being, first through splits that moved whole regions onto new codes, then through overlays that added a second code without moving anyone.

Two codes stand alone. Neither 434 in the south-central counties nor 276 in the far southwest has an overlay partner. Everywhere else, a Virginia number carries one of a pair, and the pair tells you nothing about which half of a town the caller sits in.

The State Corporation Commission is the Virginia body that approves each new code, and it keeps a plain public explainer on the choice between an overlay and a split.

That SCC area code page also shows how residents comment on a relief case, either by mail to the Document Control Center in Richmond or electronically under the case number. Per-code detail sits on the Virginia phone area codes page.

Public Safety Phone Numbers in Virginia

Four short numbers cover most urgent situations in Virginia, and they do not overlap. Mixing them up costs time. Emergencies go to 911 and nowhere else. A mental health crisis goes to 988. A question about food, rent, heat, or a local program goes to 211. Local service complaints go to 311 in the handful of Virginia localities that run one.

Virginia's own crisis line runs at 988va.org, and the site explains what happens when a Virginian calls or texts.

Trained crisis workers answer free, at any hour, and no payment is ever asked for. That last point matters, because scam callers do borrow crisis and health language.

Beyond the three-digit codes, several statewide lines stay open all day. The Virginia State Police headquarters answers at 804-674-2000, with TTY through 711. State Police dispatch splits by division, including 804-750-8758 for Division One, 804-750-8778 for Division Two, and 540-444-7778 for Division Three. Reports of child abuse or neglect go to the 24-hour hotline at 800-552-7096. Registry questions go to 804-674-2825.

• Domestic violence, national hotline - 1-800-799-7233, with local Virginia programs reachable through 211
• Sexual assault, RAINN - 1-800-656-4673
• Victim notification, Attorney General - 1-800-370-0459
• Digging safety - dial 811 before any excavation in Virginia
• Road and travel conditions - dial 511

Note: adult protective services in Virginia run out of local social services offices, so an elder abuse report goes to the locality rather than a single statewide number.

Virginia Local Government Phone Directories

Local government phone numbers are the part of the Virginia phone directory that trips people up, and the reason is the independent city. Virginia cities are not inside counties for government purposes. Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Alexandria, Fairfax City, Falls Church, and Manassas all run their own courts, clerks, police, schools, and tax offices. Calling the surrounding county gets you a polite transfer at best. Pin down whether the address sits in a county or an independent city before you dial anything.

Once the locality is settled, the pattern is the same statewide. The locality website carries a department directory. Administration, the clerk of the board or council, the treasurer, the commissioner of the revenue, the general registrar, planning and zoning, building inspections, public works, parks, animal control, and economic development each have their own line. Police non-emergency and sheriff numbers sit on the public safety pages. Social services and health show up under the local department of social services and the local health district. Not every locality answers a 311 line, so where none exists the main switchboard or the department page is the correct channel.

Internal extension sheets and staff call lists are not always published. Those are records, and Virginia localities answer to the Freedom of Information Act. Send the request to the locality's FOIA officer. The council above answers questions about how the process works, not about a specific locality's files.

Virginia State Agency Phone Numbers

Most statewide Virginia phone numbers carry an 804 code, because the agencies that own them sit in and around Richmond. That is worth remembering when caller ID shows 804. The number may belong to a statewide program rather than a Richmond neighbor. The Governor's office answers at 1-804-786-2211. The Department of Health main line is 804-864-7000. The State Corporation Commission takes general questions at 804-371-9967 or 1-800-552-7945. The Attorney General's main line is 804-786-2071, and the consumer protection hotline is 804-786-2042.

The Department of Motor Vehicles handles more resident calls than any other Virginia agency, and its contact page spells out the hours along with the relay options.

The DMV customer service line is 804-497-7100, open Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 and Saturday from 8 to noon Eastern, holidays excepted. TTY users go through 711 or Virginia Relay at 800-828-1120. The office locator lists customer service centers from Abingdon and Galax to Franconia, Front Royal, Leesburg, Norfolk, Richmond Central, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach, each with its own hours.

When the person matters more than the department, the State Employee Directory takes over. It is a search box, not a browsable phone book, and it asks for a last name before it returns anything.

Virginia School and Library Directories

Virginia runs public schools through city and county divisions, so the school phone number a family needs depends entirely on where the family lives. The Department of Education sits above all of them and publishes its own office lines. Superintendent's office questions go to 804-225-2057. Special education is 804-298-3148. Parental engagement is 804-750-8611. Teacher education and licensure is 804-786-2302, school improvement is 804-750-8185, and teaching and learning is 804-418-4702.

The division staff directory is the quiet workhorse of Virginia education lookups. Pick a school division and the tool returns the administrators for that division with titles and direct phone numbers. A result row shows a name, a title such as Executive Director of Secondary Instruction or Director of Operations and Management, and a phone number. Personal mobile numbers are not shown.

• Public School Division Staff - pick a division, get named administrators with direct lines
• Virginia School Directories - division listings, updated by each division's registry contact
• UVA people search - public search by name or computing ID, with an affiliation filter; the full directory needs a NetBadge login
• UVA main contacts - Madison Hall at 434-982-3099, and Medical Center patient information at 434-982-1100
• Library of Virginia directory - choose a county or city to reach branch and headquarters phones

Note: the public library directory is organized by county and city name, and regional library systems appear under the localities they serve rather than under a separate heading.

Virginia Utility Phone Numbers

Utility service in Virginia is split by territory, so the first step is reading the provider name off a bill. Electric service in most of the east and center comes from Dominion Energy. The western and southwestern counties are largely Appalachian Power. Gas in Northern Virginia is often Washington Gas. Water, sewer, and trash are almost always local, run by a city, a county, or a regional authority, and those numbers live on the locality's utility page.

Dominion keeps a dedicated page for outages and hazards, and it is clear that emergencies do not get reported through chat or social media.

A downed line on that Dominion outage page is treated as a 911 matter first, then a utility call. The same rule holds for a gas smell anywhere in the state.

Complaints about a regulated utility go to the State Corporation Commission. Utility regulation questions take 804-371-9611, or 1-800-552-7945 followed by option 4.

Health and Social Services Numbers in Virginia

The Department of Health publishes one of the deepest contact pages in Virginia state government, and it is organized by program rather than by region.

On that VDH contact directory, the main line is 804-864-7000. Communicable disease and epidemiology answer at 804-864-8141. Complaints about a health care facility go to 804-367-2106 or 800-955-1819. Drinking water is 804-221-3088. Emergency medical services take 804-888-9100 or 800-523-6019. The immunization hotline is 800-568-1929, immunization records run through 804-773-7250, and lead poisoning prevention is 877-668-7987. The medical examiner answers at 804-786-3174.

Benefits questions run through a different agency. SNAP help is 833-522-5582. The CommonHelp enterprise call center is 855-635-4370, and health coverage applications go through CoverVA at 855-242-8282. Lost or misused benefit cards are handled by the EBT help desk at 866-281-2448. Birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates come from the Office of Vital Records at 804-662-6200.

Hospital numbers stay regional. UVA Health serves Charlottesville, VCU Health serves Richmond, Sentara and Bon Secours cover Hampton Roads, Inova covers Northern Virginia, and Carilion covers Roanoke and the New River Valley. Each system publishes a locations page and a patient information line, and none of them replaces 911.

Looking Up an Unknown Virginia Number

Government tools rarely hand over a caller's name. What they do well is confirm whether a number could be what the caller claims. If someone says they are calling from a Virginia agency, the agency index, the State Employee Directory, and the agency's own contact page settle it in about a minute. If the number turns out to be junk, the federal complaint routes handle the rest. The longer walkthrough sits on the Virginia phone numbers page.

Third-party labels can be stale. A number that changed hands may still carry the last owner's reputation, good or bad.

Scam Calls Aimed at Virginians

The scams that work in Virginia lean on authority and hurry. A caller ID shows a sheriff's office or a courthouse. The voice says there is a warrant, a missed jury summons, or an unpaid fine, and payment has to happen right now by gift card or app. State Police warned about that pattern in 2025, along with spoofed law enforcement numbers threatening arrest. The same year brought warnings about grandparent scams built with cloned voices, where a caller sounds like a relative in trouble and asks the family to keep it quiet.

Utility threats are close behind. Someone claims Dominion, Appalachian Power, Washington Gas, or the town water department is about to cut service unless a payment clears in the next hour. Benefits phishing targets SNAP and EBT cardholders by asking for card numbers or PINs. Text scams claim an unpaid toll or a package fee. None of those requests match how a real Virginia agency or utility works.

Reports go to more than one place, and each one wants different details. The FCC Consumer Complaint Center handles spoofing and unwanted calls, with 1-888-225-5322 as a phone route. Telemarketing complaints go to donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222, with TTY at 1-866-290-4236. Money lost to a Virginia scam belongs with the Attorney General's consumer protection hotline at 804-786-2042. Registering on the Do Not Call list cuts down legitimate sales calls, but it does not stop criminals, political calls, charities, surveys, or debt collectors.

Community Directories Virginians Use

Some of the most useful phone resources in Virginia are not phone books at all. They are referral services staffed by people whose job is to know the local landscape.

211 Virginia is the clearest example. Dial 2-1-1, or call 1-800-230-6977, or use live chat, or send an email, or text CONNECT to 247211. Any of those routes reaches the same statewide network of health and human service referrals, and the phone line runs at all hours.

Legal help has its own routing. Virginia Law Help points people toward free civil legal aid at 866-534-5243. The State Bar lawyer referral line is 1-800-552-7977. The Supreme Court of Virginia Clerk's Office answers at 804-786-2251, and court self-help material lives at selfhelp.vacourts.gov. Clerks explain procedure, never legal strategy.

Virginia Phone Numbering Basics

Every Virginia number follows the same shape as the rest of North America. A country code of 1 sits in front, then three digits for the area code, three more for the exchange, and four for the line. Local calls inside an overlay region need all ten digits. Long distance calls take a 1 before those ten. The full reference, including the three-digit service codes and the star codes, sits on the Virginia phone codes page.

NPA

Short for numbering plan area. It is the industry name for the three-digit area code.

NXX

The three digits that follow the area code. Old phone lines were routed by these.

Overlay

A second code laid over a region that already has one. Nobody's number changes, but every local call needs ten digits after that.

Rate center

The billing area a prefix was originally tied to. Virginia has many of them, and they rarely match town lines exactly.

Portability

The rule that lets a customer keep a number after switching carriers, which is why the code no longer proves where someone lives.

Phone Service History in Virginia

Virginia started with one area code. In 1947 the whole state answered to 703. The first break came in 1973, when 804 took the center and the east. Northern Virginia kept 703 in 1995 while the west and northwest moved to 540. Hampton Roads, Tidewater, and the Eastern Shore left 804 for 757 in 1996. In 2001 two more splits landed, with 276 carved out of 540 for the southwest and 434 carved out of 804 for the south-central counties.

Then the method changed. Splits force people to reprint stationery and relearn their own number, so Virginia switched to overlays. 571 arrived over 703 in 2000. 826 joined 540 and 948 joined 757 in 2022. 686 became available over 804 in 2024. Nobody had to give up a number in any of those.

The 988 crisis line reshaped dialing at the same time. Any area code that already used 988 as a working exchange could not keep allowing seven-digit local calls, since the phone system would not know whether a caller wanted the lifeline or a neighbor. Richmond's 804 region went to mandatory ten-digit local dialing in July 2022 for exactly that reason. Older Virginia landline territory traces back through C&P Telephone and Bell Atlantic to Verizon, though wireless carriers, cable voice, and VoIP now carry most of the traffic.

Recent Virginia Phone News

The 686 overlay was the biggest numbering news in Virginia recently. The SCC announced it on January 17, 2024, covering the same territory as 804, including Richmond, Ashland, Charles City, Chesterfield, Henrico, New Kent, Petersburg, and the Northern Neck. New 686 numbers could be handed out from February 1, 2024 onward, though not until 804 ran out, which was expected in the third quarter of that year. The commission expects the pair to last around 32 years. The same notice confirmed that 911, 988, 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, and 811 stay three-digit calls.

On the safety side, State Police spent 2025 warning about AI voice scams aimed at older Virginians and about spoofed law enforcement numbers. Fairfax County ran a public explainer on 988 in October 2025. Federal agencies kept pushing robocall blocking and Do Not Call reporting through 2025 and into 2026, and the SCC's 2026 excavator manual repeated the reminder to contact Virginia 811 before digging.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to dial ten digits in Virginia?

In the overlay regions, yes. Anywhere served by 703 and 571, 540 and 826, 757 and 948, or 804 and 686, a local call needs the area code plus the seven-digit number. The reason is simple. The same seven digits can belong to two different people, one on each code, so the phone system needs the full ten to tell them apart. Long distance calls add a 1 in front. Storing every Virginia number with its area code avoids the whole question.

Why did my area code stop accepting seven digits?

Two things caused it. An overlay is one. The arrival of 988 as a national crisis line is the other. Some Virginia regions had 988 in use as a local exchange, and a seven-digit call starting with those digits would have been ambiguous. Richmond's 804 region made the switch in July 2022 for that reason, before 686 was even in service.

How do I find a Virginia state employee's phone number?

Use the State Employee Directory and search by last name. First name and agency are optional filters that help with common surnames. It only covers Commonwealth employees, so a county deputy clerk or a city building inspector will not appear. For those, go to the locality's own department directory instead.

Is 211 the same as 311 in Virginia?

No. 211 Virginia is statewide, and it connects callers to health and human service programs, whether that is food assistance, rent help, or a local counseling program. 311 is a local government service line, and only some Virginia cities and counties run one. Where 311 does not exist, the locality's main switchboard does the same job.

Someone called claiming to be from a Virginia agency. How do I check?

Do not call the number back from caller ID. Look the agency up in the Virginia.gov agency index, then dial the number published on the agency's own contact page. If the agency has no listing at all, that answers the question. Real Virginia offices do not demand gift cards, wire transfers, or crypto, and they do not threaten arrest over the phone.

Where do I call about a birth certificate?

The Office of Vital Records handles birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates for Virginia, and customer care answers at 804-662-6200. The walk-in lobby is at 8701 Park Central Drive, Suite 100, in Richmond. Marriage licenses themselves are issued by circuit court clerks, so those numbers vary by county and independent city.