Forsyth County Phone Directory Lookup

How to Find Phone Numbers in Forsyth County

Forsyth County phone lookups split quickly by the kind of office involved. Winston-Salem city services run through CityLink, the city staff directory, and a current government directory PDF. County offices use the Forsyth County departments index, agency pages, and office-specific lines for Health and Human Services, the Sheriff's Office, Register of Deeds, libraries, tax, inspections, parks, and elections. Schools, colleges, public utilities, and state agencies each maintain separate contact systems, so a good lookup starts by identifying the institution before searching for a person's name or a department.

Use official directories first when a caller claims to represent government, schools, utilities, courts, hospitals, or a public safety agency. Reverse lookup tools can help classify an unknown number, but they can confuse old owners, ported wireless numbers, VoIP assignments, and spoofed caller ID. A local-looking 336 or 743 number should be checked against a known source, especially when the caller asks for payment, benefits information, student records, health details, or urgent action.

1. For a Winston-Salem employee or department, search the city staff directory or use CityLink at 311 or 336-727-8000.
2. For a city service request, use CityLink by phone, text, email, web portal, or mobile app instead of guessing at a department extension.
3. For county services, start with the Forsyth County departments index, then use the agency page for HHS, Sheriff, Register of Deeds, Tax Administration, libraries, or inspections.
4. For teachers, school offices, colleges, and campus departments, use WS/FCS, Wake Forest University, or Forsyth Tech directories rather than third-party school listings.
5. For an unknown caller, compare the number to official published lines, then use FCC, FTC, carrier, or reputable reverse-lookup tools only as supporting evidence.

The Winston-Salem staff directory shows the kind of searchable city source that should come before a general web search.

Its category dropdown, first-name field, and last-name field make it useful when a resident knows either a department name or an employee name.

Area Codes Serving Forsyth County

Forsyth County is served by the 336/743 overlay area. The older and more recognizable code is 336, which appears on many Winston-Salem city, county, school, university, hospital, and business numbers. The 743 code overlays the same geography, so a 743 number can be just as local as a 336 number. Winston-Salem, Kernersville, Clemmons, Lewisville, Rural Hall, Walkertown, Tobaccoville, Bethania, Pfafftown, and nearby county communities are all treated as 336/743 territory for local dialing purposes.

Mandatory 10-digit local dialing has applied in the 336/743 overlay area since April 2016, before 743 numbers began being assigned in May 2016. The practical rule is simple: dial the area code plus the seven-digit number for local calls, even across town. The overlay did not move Forsyth County into a different calling region, and there is no current planned relief code listed in the research.

Public Safety Phone Numbers in Forsyth County

Emergency routing in Forsyth County starts with 911 for fire, medical emergencies, crimes in progress, or any situation where people or property are in immediate danger. Winston-Salem Police lists 336-773-7700 for non-emergency and information calls. The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is separate from the city police department, with administration at 336-917-7001 and the detention center at 336-917-7600. CityLink can also route non-911 after-hours city problems such as water main breaks, downed trees, and traffic light outages to the proper on-call team.

The Winston-Salem Police page also identifies district office complexes on North Point Boulevard, Waughtown Street, and Winterhaven Lane. Animal control, code enforcement, downed trees, street maintenance, and neighborhood service questions can vary by whether the address is inside Winston-Salem city limits. Use CityLink for city service routing and the Forsyth County departments index for county agency routing. For mental health, suicide, or substance-use crisis support, 988 is the national crisis line and NC DHHS crisis resources are the state-level fallback.

The Winston-Salem Police Department page is the official source for emergency and non-emergency police routing.

That police source is especially important for separating 911 emergencies from non-emergency information calls.

Winston-Salem City Government Phone Directory

Winston-Salem is the county seat and the main municipal phone source for many Forsyth County residents. City Hall is listed at 101 North Main Street with 336-727-8000 and weekday office hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CityLink is the city's central service line, available by dialing 311 inside the city or 336-727-8000 from outside the 311 calling area. CityLink also supports text at 855-481-LINK, email at citylink@cityofws.org, an online service request portal, and a mobile app.

The City Hall directory entry confirms the main address, phone, email action, and hours for the city switchboard.

Use that entry when the question is general city routing, then move into a named department or employee search when a direct contact is needed.

The CityLink 311 page documents the phone, after-hours routing, and service request options behind the city's central contact line.

CityLink matters because many problems are not best solved by hunting for an employee extension, especially water emergencies, traffic signals, downed trees, and routine service requests.

Forsyth County Schools and University Directories

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is the main K-12 directory source. Its staff directory supports name search and department filtering, and staff cards can show role, department, phone, and a send-message action. District-wide function lines captured in the research include Human Resources at 336-727-2786, Student Records at 336-727-2306, Student Assignment at 336-748-3302, Exceptional Children at 336-727-2083, Finance at 336-727-2822, and Transportation at 336-748-2287.

Higher education has separate directories. Wake Forest University lists directory assistance at 336-758-5000 and points academic and administrative department searches to its campus directory. Forsyth Tech uses its contact details and staff/faculty directory pages, with captured student resource lines including the Cashier's Office at 336-734-7210 and Financial Aid at 336-734-7235. Forsyth County Public Library is county-run and should be searched through the county library system rather than a general business directory.

• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools - public staff directory and district employee directory.
• Wake Forest University - 336-758-5000 directory assistance and campus directory lookup.
• Forsyth County Public Library - branch and library system contacts through the county library site.
• Forsyth Technical Community College - staff/faculty directory and student service contacts through official Forsyth Tech pages.

The WS/FCS staff directory is the key K-12 lookup source for public school staff in Forsyth County.

Because many WS/FCS central-office directory entries use seven-digit local numbers or extensions, add the 336 area code when the source omits it and the number is a local Forsyth County line.

Forsyth County Public Utility Phone Numbers

Utility contacts in Forsyth County depend on whether the issue is routine service, an outage, a leak, or a city infrastructure problem. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities routes water, wastewater, and solid-waste service questions through CityLink. Water emergencies and sewer backups should be called to CityLink rather than submitted only through the online form. Start, stop, or transfer service can be handled at 336-727-8000 or in person at the Bryce A. Stuart Municipal Building, 100 East First Street, Suite 121.

Winston-Salem Transit Authority is also part of the local phone landscape. Fixed-route transit and Trans-AID paratransit use 336-727-2000, and WSTA notes that RATP Dev USA began operating the bus system under a city-approved contract on August 1, 2024. Traffic-signal malfunctions, downed trees, and other city infrastructure issues should route through CityLink rather than a utility company unless the issue is specifically an electric outage or streetlight repair.

Health and Social Services Numbers in Forsyth County

Forsyth County Health and Human Services is one of the densest official phone sources in the county. Public Health is listed at 336-703-3100, Social Services at 336-703-3800, Bridges to Hope at 336-776-3255, Behavioral Health Services at 336-703-2600, and Environmental Health at 336-703-3225. The HHS campus model matters for phone lookups because Public Health, DSS, Bridges to Hope, and Behavioral Health are nearby but not interchangeable offices.

NC DHHS independently lists Forsyth DSS, which is useful as a state-verified fallback if a county page is unavailable. NC 211 can help route food, shelter, rent, utility assistance, disaster, senior, disability, and nonprofit referrals, but it is not a replacement for 911, 988, or the agency-specific benefits lines. Major hospital contacts should be taken from official Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center pages, not third-party hospital lists.

The Forsyth County HHS page groups Public Health, Social Services, Bridges to Hope, Behavioral Health, and after-hours communicable-disease contact information.

That grouping helps distinguish county health offices from city service calls and from statewide benefit or crisis channels.

County and State Numbers Serving Forsyth County

Forsyth County's official site and department index are the best starting points for county offices. The departments index is browse-oriented rather than a single staff search portal, and it lists Administration, Animal Services, Attorney, Budget and Management, Board of Elections, Emergency Services, Environmental Assistance and Protection, Finance, Health and Human Services, Human Resources, Inspections, Interagency Communications, Library, MapForsyth, Parks and Recreation, Planning and Development Services, Public Health, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Social Services, Tax Administration, and Veterans Services.

Some county offices have strong direct phone anchors. The Sheriff's Office lists administration at 301 North Church Street, 336-917-7001, and the detention center at 201 North Church Street, 336-917-7600. The Register of Deeds lists 201 North Chestnut Street and 336-703-2700 for land records, vital records, and marriage-related record functions. Its online lookup supports land, miscellaneous, and vital-record index searches, with real-estate document images online and vital-record images limited to indexes.

The Forsyth County official home page is the countywide gateway for services and department navigation.

Use the county home page when the caller or office belongs to Forsyth County government rather than Winston-Salem city government.

The Forsyth County departments index shows the browseable office list behind county phone routing.

Because the county index is not a staff search form, move from that list to the relevant department page before relying on a number.

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office page provides the official sheriff administration and detention-center phone contacts.

Those sheriff contacts should not be confused with Winston-Salem Police non-emergency routing or with 911 emergency response.

State agency numbers are a separate layer. Use the NCDMV office locator for branch details, NCDPS for State Highway Patrol routing, the NC Utilities Commission and NC Public Staff for utility and telecom matters, and NC DOJ for consumer complaints, scams, robocalls, impostor calls, and fraud reports. For court contact questions, use the NC Judicial Branch Forsyth County courthouse page instead of generic court directory sites.

Looking Up an Unknown Forsyth County Number

For an unknown 336 or 743 caller, start with the claim the caller is making. A CityLink call should match 311 or 336-727-8000. A public health call should match 336-703-3100 or another HHS line. A Wake Forest call often routes through 336-758-5000 or the campus directory. A police non-emergency contact should match 336-773-7700. The full Forsyth County phone numbers page can carry deeper tool-by-tool lookup details, but official verification is the safest first step.

Line type and number portability limit every lookup. A 336-727, 336-703, 336-758, or 743 caller ID can be spoofed, and a wireless or VoIP number can be used outside Forsyth County. Treat reverse lookup results as clues, then call back through an official published number if the caller asks for money, personal information, records, or account action.

Common Scam Calls and How to Report Them

Local-looking caller ID is not proof of a local caller. Spoofers can display 336-727 city patterns, 336-703 county patterns, 336-758 campus patterns, 336-773 public safety patterns, or a 743 overlay number to imitate a Forsyth County office. Common risks include utility shutoff threats, sheriff or jury-duty warrant scams, benefit and health-information scams, school emergency payment scams, family emergency scams, bank fraud spoofing, and deepfake voice requests.

Report unwanted calls through the FTC Do Not Call Registry at https://www.donotcall.gov/ and telecom or spoofing complaints through the FCC Consumer Complaint Center at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/. North Carolina consumer complaints can be filed with NC DOJ at https://ncdoj.gov/file-a-complaint/, and utility or telecom provider issues can route through the North Carolina Utilities Commission. If money or property was lost in Winston-Salem, the local non-emergency police number is 336-773-7700; use 911 for active threats or crimes in progress.

Local Phone Resources and Community Directories

CityLink is the most distinctive local phone resource because it combines phone service with text, email, online service requests, and mobile app reporting. The app workflow supports GPS-tagged reports, photos, department routing, and status tracking, which makes it better for potholes, broken streetlights, parking meters, and many non-emergency service issues than a general employee lookup. NC 211 is the community-service referral fallback for food, shelter, rent help, utility assistance, disaster resources, health referrals, senior services, disability services, and nonprofit support.

Large institutional switchboards also help when a directory search is too narrow. CityLink is 311 or 336-727-8000. Forsyth County Public Health is 336-703-3100, DSS is 336-703-3800, the Sheriff administration line is 336-917-7001, Wake Forest directory assistance is 336-758-5000, and WSTA transit is 336-727-2000. Future additions should come from official organization pages for Greater Winston-Salem Inc., Visit Winston-Salem, cultural institutions, veterans organizations, and language-access resources rather than unaffiliated directory aggregators.

Phone Numbering Basics for Forsyth County

Forsyth County numbers use the North American Numbering Plan format NPA-NXX-XXXX. In 336-727-8000, 336 is the area code, 727 is the prefix, and 8000 is the station line. Smartphones usually accept +1 before a local number, while some landlines may require 1 before a toll call. Inside the 336/743 overlay, local calls require area code plus seven digits. The deeper dialing reference is the Forsyth County phone codes page.

NPA

Numbering Plan Area - the 3-digit area code.

NXX

Central office / prefix code - the 3 digits after the area code.

Overlay

A second (or third) area code added to the same geography, requiring 10-digit dialing.

Rate Center

The telephone-billing geographic unit a prefix is assigned to.

Phone Service History in Forsyth County

Forsyth County's modern phone identity is tied to Winston-Salem's role in the Piedmont Triad and to the 336 area code. North Carolina's original 1947 NANP area codes did not include 336. The 910 area code was split from 919 in 1993 for much of central and eastern North Carolina, and 336 was created from 910 in 1997 for north-central and northwestern North Carolina, including Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

By the mid-2010s, 336 needed relief. The North Carolina Utilities Commission ordered 743 as an overlay for the same geography, and mandatory 10-digit local dialing took effect in April 2016. That kept existing 336 numbers in place but changed local dialing habits. The older 336 identity remains visible in public offices and institutions, including CityLink 336-727-8000, county HHS 336-703 numbers, Sheriff 336-917 numbers, Wake Forest 336-758 numbers, Forsyth Tech 336-734 numbers, and WS/FCS 336-727 and 336-748 contacts.

Recent Phone-Related News in Forsyth County

Several recent service updates affect phone routing. Forsyth County news from June 24, 2026 said DSS partnered with the Sheriff's Office to offer walk-in services at Community Court Services in the Forsyth County Government Center at 201 North Chestnut Street, which means some DSS access is not limited to the Highland Avenue office. The Winston-Salem Government Directory PDF was revised June 22, 2026, making it a current city employee and department phone source. CityLink app information from September 29, 2025 confirms GPS/photo service-request and status-tracking functions. WSTA also notes that RATP Dev USA began operating the bus system under a city-approved contract on August 1, 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to dial 10 digits inside Forsyth County?

Yes. Forsyth County is in the 336/743 overlay area, and mandatory 10-digit local dialing has applied since April 2016. Dial the area code plus the seven-digit number for local calls, even if both numbers appear to be in Winston-Salem or another nearby Forsyth County community.

How do I find a Winston-Salem city employee's direct phone?

Use the Winston-Salem staff directory and the city government directory PDF first. Search by category, first name, or last name when the employee is known. For general city service routing, CityLink at 311 or 336-727-8000 is usually faster than guessing a department extension.

Who do I call for non-emergency police in Forsyth County?

For Winston-Salem Police non-emergency and information calls, use 336-773-7700. For Forsyth County Sheriff's Office administration, use 336-917-7001, and for detention-center routing use 336-917-7600. Dial 911 when there is immediate danger, fire, medical emergency, or a crime in progress.

How do I block or report spam calls using local 336 or 743 numbers?

Start by avoiding caller-provided callback numbers. Verify the claimed agency through an official site, then report robocalls or spoofing through the FTC Do Not Call Registry, FCC Consumer Complaint Center, NC DOJ, or the relevant carrier spam tool. Local-looking caller ID alone does not prove the caller is in Forsyth County.