It’s the 21st-century equivalent of the 212 area code. New York City is on the verge of getting its very own Internet domain that will give area Web sites the option of putting an “.nyc” rather than a “.com” at the end of their addresses.

City officials yesterday announced they were looking for private firms to help them apply to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numerals — the world body that coordinates Web naming — and to operate the .nyc domain.

The ICANN recently changed its rules so that anyone could apply to buy a top-level domain, or Web address suffix.

New York City is the first American city to announce its intention to land its very own top-level domain.
“New York City, like many of its global competitors, plans to apply for a top-level domain name. I hope that this [domain] will assist local merchants based in New York City to be able to brand their businesses as located in the five boroughs,” Councilwoman Gale Brewer said.

A host of cities are expected to rush to get their localized domains, as well as large companies and specialty entrepreneurs who will want to shell out to get a domain like .movies or .watches.

But becoming a Webmaster of your own private domain won’t be cheap.

The application alone costs $185,000, and estimates put the cost of the entire process, including legal fees and the level of technology needed to run your own domain, at $1 million.

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com