North American area coe 209 is a California telephone area code which covers Stockton, Merced, Manteca, Tracy, Modesto, San Andreas, as well as parts of the Central Valley, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Foothills. It was created in a split with area code 916 as a flash-cut sometime during 1958. The southern half was split into area code 559 on November 14, 1998.