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Brevard County, Florida, home to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, received the area code 321 in 1999, reflecting the countdown to liftoff. The county has a population of over 500,000 and a median household income of $40,099.
As the number of telephones in the United States grew in the 1990s, telephone companies and the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) had to invent new area codes to handle them all. In a rare example of bureaucratic humor, NANPA announced that the new area code for Brevard County, Florida, home to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, would be 321, as in “3…2…1…Liftoff! ” Brevard County resident Robert Osband has appeared before the Florida Public Service Commission to request this appropriate and inventive area code. Although area code 321 was already assigned to a Chicago suburb, some lobbying by the Florida PSC changed the assignment. The new Space Coast area code became official on November 1, 1999.
Life on the Space Coast:
Brevard County’s 2010 population was 543,376, making it the 10th largest county in Florida.
About 8,500 people currently work at Kennedy Space Center, up from 15,000 in 1997.
The 2000 United States Census reported the median household income in Brevard County as $40,099 (USD).
