212 never left; overlays joined it
212 has not been retired. Existing 212 numbers keep working, and regulators still assign 212 prefixes inside Manhattan when inventory allows. What changed is capacity: Manhattan ran short of unused 212 prefixes, so New York added 646 as an overlay in 1999 and 332 in 2017 instead of splitting the borough again.
That is the same overlay strategy Miami and Chicago use today, but Manhattan kept its original brand-name code on the map. For all eight NYC codes and the 1984 split line, see the NYC area code guide.
Where 917 and 718 fit
917 went live in 1992 as a citywide overlay meant to absorb pagers and early mobile lines without another geographic split. It can appear in any borough, Manhattan included, even though most Manhattan landlines still show 212, 646, or 332.
718 and its overlays cover the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Marble Hill. They do not replace 212 in Manhattan. ZIP codes follow a separate USPS map; Manhattan's 100xx ZIPs do not predict which of the Manhattan area codes a phone will carry. See New York ZIP codes and ZIP code vs area code.
Dialing and scams
Ten-digit local dialing has been mandatory in NYC since the 1992 overlays. Callers should dial all 10 digits for local calls, regardless of whether the number shows 212, 646, 332, 917, or an outer-borough code.
A 212 caller ID is not proof the caller is in Manhattan; spoofing and number portability break that assumption. For robocall patterns tied to other codes, see scam area codes and the legit-or-spam write-ups for 202 and 855.