Likely, we’ve all spotted a funny or puzzling personalized license plate while out on the road. Or, less likely, your mom’s license plate spelled “YUR-MAHM”… or that was just me.
And of course, you’ve likely seen that unmissable billboard with a massive phone number that spells something like 555-INJURED as you inch your way through city traffic. Commonly known as “vanity phone numbers,” these customizable phone numbers have maintained their demand over the decades. They not only stand out on ads and commercials, they’ve also made a comeback in the entertainment industry – used in movies, music videos and superstar social media marketing.
What Are Vanity Numbers & What Makes Them Valuable?
So what makes a Vanity Number? A couple of things distinguish vanity numbers from standard random phone numbers: a memorable sequence of numbers, and if the numbers spell something recognizable. The numbers themselves could have repeating digits or a memorable pattern (referred to as Vanity Patterns, e.g., 555-222-2222), they could spell out a word or phrase on the phone’s alphanumeric keypad (referred to as Vanity Spellings, e.g., 555-GOBLINS), or a combination of the two (e.g., 555-PIZZA-4-U).
And vanity numbers can actually sell for top dollar, regardless of whether it’s a toll-free number or has a local area code. The more distinctive and in-demand a vanity number’s pattern is, whether from the number itself or from its relevance to particular industries, the more expensive the price to acquire it.
Major carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile typically won’t sell you whatever number you want, assigning a random number to you when you start using their service. However, there’s nothing stopping you from porting a number out from one carrier and taking it to another, (and potentially selling it to someone else in the process). This means that there is a vibrant trade of vanity local phone numbers through secondary marketplaces, like NumberBarn.
Here buyers and sellers can set and negotiate prices, based on how rare or interesting the number is (as well as how much someone needs it). As the world’s largest telephone number marketplace, with millions of numbers available for sale or lease, we get a unique view of phone number trends and uses. And we love studies. We wanted to take a closer look at the most popular and valuable vanity numbers of North America.
Key Findings
- The most valuable phone number sold was ***-500-0000.
- Vanity Patterns are a more popular and valuable choice taking up 61.23% of total purchases and 75.14% of total value from Premium Vanity Number sales.
- “Million” Vanity Numbers (500-0000) are the most valuable Vanity Patterns.
- Law-themed Vanity Numbers are the most valuable Spelling, and cumulatively the most valuable category, surpassing any other type of Spelling or Pattern. (Legal industry-related Vanity Numbers remain most consistently in demand and at high-value prices.)
- Texas is the most valuable state for Premium Vanity Numbers.
- New York’s 212 is the most valuable area code for Premium Vanity Numbers.
The Most Valuable Phone Numbers
Now, presenting the 10 most valuable Vanity Numbers sold last year:
- 500-0000
- 222-2222
- 800-0000
- 800-0000
- 333-3333
- INJURED
- 400-0000
- 444-4444
- (XYZ) XYZ-PAIN
- LAWYERS
Would you have guessed that repeating numbers would come out on top? If so, congratulations! If not, that’s okay, there’s still plenty more to go over–we just opened 1-800-PANDORA’s box.
Most Valuable Vanity Patterns
Far and away the most expensive numbers sold were about as easy-to-remember as phone numbers can get, featuring mostly one number repeated, or before a series of zeros. Eight of the top 10 most valuable phone numbers had patterns, including (XYZ) XYZ-PAIN, which is a hybrid of both a spelling and a pattern (this pattern just means that area code and the prefix match exactly, e.g., 212-212, 323-323, etc.).
For a deeper look at Vanity Patterns, here’s each pattern & its phone number(s), sized from most valuable to least:
Phone numbers ending in all zeros (800-0000, 500-0000, etc.) remain the most valuable pattern, taking up 20.43% of the entire value of all Vanity Patterns sold. Then 7-digit Repeaters (333-3333, 222-2222, etc.) and 6-digit Repeaters (499-9999, 688-8888, etc.) at 17.46% and 14.33% respectively, altogether accounting for over half the value of all Vanity Patterns.
Then there are valuable one-off patterns categorized as “Other” such as XXX-YXXX (222-7222 & 999-4999), X00-000Y (300-0001), alternating (474-7474), and XYY-XYYY (977-9777).
Most Valuable Vanity Spellings
Of the three Vanity Spellings that made the top 10, all of them are in the legal industry, either as general law or personal injury lawyer numbers. And you’ll find that this is pretty consistent throughout the rest of the Vanity Spellings sold.
Of the 13 industries featured in our top Premium Vanity Numbers sold, the law industry alone accounts for 55.65% of the entire value of all Vanity Spellings. The most valuable lawyer phone numbers include the following spellings:
- INJURED
- ABOGADO (‘lawyer’ in Spanish)
- PAIN (paired with a pattern like (XYZ) XYZ-**** or XXX-**** making them even more valuable)
- LAWYERS
- GOT-HURT
Other industries with high-value spellings included:
- Construction: with phone numbers spelling the likes of PLUMBER and ROOFING
- Home: with phone numbers spelling the likes of WINDOWS and REMODEL
- Help (general ‘help’ could be law, therapist, crisis hotlines, etc.): with phone numbers spelling the likes of GET-HELP and HELP
It’s also worth mentioning that you never know what spellings others may find valuable. Coincidentally, the “Other” category contains miscellaneous or vague Vanity Spellings like SUPREME, which could refer to law or fashion, BULL-DOG, GRAVITY and GET-REAL, which could relate to real estate, or maybe an insult… we like to think the former.
Then there’s the Pop-Culture category, which consists of only everyone’s favorite phone-number song: 867-5309/Jenny. Yes, those numbers exist and yes, people will pay a pretty penny for them. Disagree? Jenny says you should 1-800-GET-REAL, lol.
While they didn’t make the list of Premium Phone Numbers, there are countless other popular, valuable Pop-Culture Spellings like phone numbers that spell SWIFTIE (swiftiephonenumbers.com).
Most Popular Vanity Spellings
- INJURED
- PLUMBER
- WINDOWS
- ABOGADO
- ROOFING
- 867-5309/Jenny
- GET-HELP
- LAW
- LAWSUIT
- DENTIST
Lawyer phone numbers aren’t just the most valuable, they’re also the most frequently purchased, with INJURED, ABOGADO, LAW, and LAWSUIT as the first, fourth, eighth, and ninth most purchased Vanity Number Spellings. Plus, GET-HELP, which could be a lawyer number depending on who purchases it.
Then there’s home and construction phone numbers taking up a good amount of the most frequently purchased numbers: PLUMBER, WINDOWS and ROOFING.
An interesting finding from this shows that while a spelling can be frequently purchased, it doesn’t necessarily add to its value. For example, phone numbers with 867-5309 or that spell LAW and DENTIST are very popular, but aren’t the most valuable when looking at the previous graph.
Most Valuable Area Codes & States
Comparing the results of our Top Vanity Numbers next to our massive inventory of available phone numbers, you might notice a wild variance in valuation of different phone numbers with the same pattern or spelling.
Why is that?
Several factors contribute to a particular phone number’s value, but one of the main (if not the main) factors is that phone number’s area code.
It’s just a fact that some area codes are more desirable, sought-after, and ultimately valuable than others. And states as well. (We’ll explain more on this later.) Let’s explore area codes first.
Which area codes made the list for most valuable?
10 Most Valuable Area Codes
To no one’s surprise, New York City’s 212 area code takes the trophy as the most valuable area code, more than doubling the respective values of the area codes in fourth through tenth place.
Atlanta, Georgia’s 404 area code and San Antonio, Texas’s 210 area code claim the titles of second and third most valuable area codes, respectively. (We could take a guess that memorable repeating patterns like 212 and 404 might also have something to do with the higher value of these specific area codes.)
Maryland’s 667 and Louisiana’s 318 and 337 area codes all come really close in value as the fourth, fifth and sixth most valuable area codes. Then rounding out the podium we have Texas’s 832, Washington’s 206, Florida’s 305, and New York’s 845 as the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth most valuable area codes, respectively.
Most Valuable States
What if we zoom out just a smidge and look at how each state fares in terms of valuable phone numbers?
The state with the most valuable phone numbers belongs to Texas, with significant contributions from San Antonio’s 210, Houston’s 832, Austin’s 512, and Denton’s 940 area codes.
Second, we have California, which doesn’t even have an area code in the top 10, yet has more area codes purchased altogether, which contributed to its overall higher value than any other state.
The state with the third most valuable phone numbers – New York. Despite housing 212 as the most valuable area code, NY state doesn’t have as many in-demand area codes to push its value to the top of the podium. Though it still has popular area codes such as 845 and 929 influencing the state’s overall value.
Then we have Louisiana and Georgia in fourth and fifth place, largely thanks to their respective area codes in the Top 10.
Lastly, for the states with the sixth through tenth most valuable phone numbers, we have Florida, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina and Washington. Most notably of these are Ohio and North Carolina as neither have an area code in the top ten, but still have valuable area codes worth recognizing.
Adding to Ohio’s value we have area codes 216 and 330, then for North Carolina, there’s area codes 980 and 828.
Why Area Codes & States?
Although particular Vanity Numbers like INJURED or 500-0000 are highly valuable, the other half of their value is largely determined by the area codes they’re paired with.
Using our chart as an example, if either of these spellings or patterns were paired with an area code like 212, it’d have a significantly higher value than if paired with that of a lower value like 585. (Not to diminish the value of 585 phone numbers. They’re still highly valuable.)
Taking a look at our inventory of available phone numbers for purchase, just search “INJURED” and you’ll see numbers listed for as low as $4,999.00 and as high as $49,999.
This is even more true for numbers with shorter spellings or patterns like PAIN, (***) ***-XXXX or (XYZ) XYZ-****.
A phone number ending in PAIN alone won’t add enough value to make it a Premium Phone Number. Add a pattern to it like 777-PAIN, you’re getting closer to “Premium” territory. Now add a valuable area code and you’re golden. Hence, you can currently find 212-777-PAIN listed on our marketplace for over $20,000, or even 212-212-PAIN for sale on our marketplace.
How Valuable is Your Phone Number?
At the end of the day, a phone number is only as financially valuable as one is willing to pay for it. (Some of us have nostalgic phone numbers from our childhood we won’t easily part with, even if worth more than a few bucks on the market.)
As we’ve divulged, there’s more to phone numbers than meets the eye. And there are far more valuable phone number combinations than we could disclose in this post. (So even if you don’t have a number like 222-2222 or PLUMBER, we’re “sayin’ there’s a chance.”) If you believe you have a valuable phone number, check out our Free Phone Number Appraisal tool to appraise it or see if it spells anything cool. Or if you’re one of the lucky few assigned a highly coveted number when you bought your last cell phone perhaps, you can always try to sell your phone number on our marketplace.
Who knows, you may just hit the 1-800-JACK-POT.
Methodology
- We looked at Premium Phone Numbers purchased through our marketplace in 2024.
- For the purposes of this article, we define “Premium” as any phone number sold for $2,500.00 or more.
- We intentionally removed any identifying information in our graphs to protect our customers’ privacy.
- We explored the individual top selling numbers, top selling patterns and top selling vanity spellings as well as industries most purchasing these numbers.
- Vanity Spellings are defined as phone numbers where the digits spell a popular, marketable English or Spanish word when typed on a traditional dialpad.
- Vanity Patterns are defined as phone numbers where the digits result in a memorable pattern, such as repeating or alternating digits, among others.
- Vanity Numbers are the overarching term used to describe all variations, Vanity Spellings and Vanity Patterns included.
