Area Codes and Population

I was looking at an area code map this morning, and I noticed that New Mexico (pop 1.9 million) had only one area code, I think I actually knew that before, but I was really surpised that so many states had more than one, even Utah (pop. 2.5 million) and Nevada (pop 2.4 million) had 2 area codes. I noticed that only one other state, West Virginia (pop. 1.8 million), had three congressional representatives and only one area code.

When I first looked at this my first thought was the density of phones, it is interesting that the two highest population states are states that one suspects might have a lower number of telephones, and the lowest population state (Nevada) that has two area codes is one that might easily be suspected of having a higher density of telephone numbers, but the population difference is so great, half a million, between the the 35th and 36th largest states by population that I don't think this really means anything. Other than it is an amazing world we live in when there are more than 2 million Nevadans.

On that note here is a picture of Pueblo Bonito, begun about a thousand years bbefore anyone ever imagined an area code, from atop the Mesa on the North side of Chaco Canyon.

200605292320Chaco 077, originally uploaded by moheroy.