Area code 717 serves south-central Pennsylvania, including cities such as Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, and Lebanon. It is one of the original area codes established in 1947 and once covered much of eastern Pennsylvania. In 1998, area code 570 was created from a split, and in 2017, 223 was added as an overlay to handle number exhaustion. The 717 region includes a diverse range of urban and rural communities with strong ties to government, agriculture, and manufacturing. The code remains a well-known identifier for the region and is often used in business and cultural branding.