Richest and poorest area codes in the US

A phone number communicates a lot. Practically speaking, it reveals where you can be reached, and the area of the country you're calling from. But if you dig a little deeper, an area code contains information about the economic situation of its residents, too.

To find out the 25 poorest and richest area codes, GOBankingRates used the 2015 Census Community Survey, the most recent data available, to rank cities across the nation in order of mean household income and sort by area code. To determine the richest and poorest, we averaged the incomes of the three highest-earning cities or lowest-earning cities to find the overall representative household income for a particular area code. Click through to see the wealthiest area codes — and the places that are struggling the most.

Poorest Area Codes

Many of the poorest area codes across the country are in rural areas where access to healthcare and education choices are limited. Some of the area codes are home to formerly prosperous mining or railroad towns whose heyday has long faded, leaving jobs and other economic opportunities in short supply. Others are tucked in agricultural areas or cities where a once-thriving main industry is on the downturn.

The Richest Area Codes

Large metropolitan areas with prosperous industry and businesses form the hub of the richest areas across the nation. Look for the wealthiest area codes both in the metropolitan areas and upscale suburbs just outside the core of the city.

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Methodology: GOBankingRates sourced the 2015 Census Community Survey income data to determine the wealth of area codes across the nation in order of mean household income. To find the richest area codes, the top-three highest mean incomes per area code were averaged to come up with the mean income for the entire area code. To find the poorest area codes, the bottom-three lowest mean incomes per area code were averaged to come up with mean income for the entire area code. Only area codes with at least three high income or low-income cities were included. Area codes with both wealthy and poor cities were classified as either "rich" or "poor" if they had more wealthy or more poor cities in total. Area codes were sourced from AllAreaCodes.com.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Richest and Poorest Area Codes in the US