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In the United States, the appearance of license plates is frequently chosen to contain symbols, colors, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction, which are the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the five inhabited U.S. territories, and Native American tribes, each of which independently registers motor vehicles. Regular-issue license plates for passenger vehicles typically have six or seven characters, with vanity plates having up to eight characters in a few states.
Visualization of the number of characters in license plate serial formats in the United States, based on current serial formats for passenger plates as of May 2021. The arrangement of the characters may vary.
Random coding: Plates issued based on available numbers in non-sequential order.
Coded issuance: Plates coded by month of expiration
Coded issuance: Plates coded by county of issuance
Only the current passenger standard-issue serial format is depicted. Previous serial formats and optional issues are not depicted.
Florida uses six-character serial numbers, but the combinations vary. The most common issue consists of four letters and two digits, but alternate standard issues contain four digits and two letters.
Nebraska uses sequential-issuance three-letter, three-number plates for its most populous counties and county-coded plates for the rest of the counties consisting of 1 or 2 letters and up to 5 numbers.
Nevada issues three letter and three number plates vehicles sold through dealers that require a new plate.
Tennessee issues three number and four letter plates for the "In God We Trust" plate.
Indiana plates are randomly issued with combinations of 3 numbers and either 1, 2, or 3 letters, while all "In God We Trust" plates have 3 letters and 3 numbers.
Formats for license plate numbers are consistent within the state. For example, Delaware is able to use six-digit all-numeric serials because of its low population. Several states, particularly those with higher populations, use seven-character formats of three letters and four digits, including 1ABC234 in California, 1234ABC in Kansas and ABC-1234 (with or without a space or dash) in Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Other seven-character formats include Connecticut and Illinois, which use AB-12345, and Maryland, which uses 1AB2345.
Arizona uses a distinctive format with six characters. Except for the fourth character in each serial, which is always a number, the characters in a serial can be either letters or numbers.[1]
Serial coding
License plate numbers are usually assigned in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, an observer familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the plate was issued. In a few cases, numbers have been assigned in descending order. For example, when Virginia switched to seven characters for its standard issue in 1993, numbers beginning with AAA-1000 were already in use for extra-cost, optional-issue plates; therefore, the new standard license plates were issued in descending order from ZZZ-9999.[2]
Expiration date
In some states, the month of expiration or the county of registration is incorporated into the plate's serial. The last number on a Massachusetts license plate indicates the month the vehicle's registration expires (for example, 1234 AB would expire in April, the fourth month; 0 indicates October expirations; and X and Y were used for November and December expirations, respectively, on commercial plates and pre-1978 passenger plates). The same applies to the first number or letter on West Virginia plates (1 to 9 for January through September, and O, N, and D for October, November, and December expirations, respectively). Additionally, the first letter of Missouri passenger plates denotes the month of expiration. The month's position within the calendar year corresponds to the letter's position within the alphabet; i.e. the letters progress from "A" and "B" for January to "Y" and "Z" for December.
County of issuance
In Alabama, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, a one- or two-digit number representing the county of issue begins a license plate number. Standard-issue Idaho license plate numbers begin with a single-letter or a number-letter code representing the county of issue in alphabetical order; for example, vehicles registered in Ada County start with 1A, vehicles in Teton County start with 1T, vehicles in Twin Falls County start with 2T, and vehicles in Valley County start with V (as there is only one county that starts with the letter V). County codes have been based on historical population figures, the county names in alphabetical order, or some combination thereof. In Montana, for example, the county codes were assigned around 1930 and have not changed since.[3] Other states like Indiana and Tennessee also once used the practice, with Tennessee discontinuing in the 1980s and Indiana in 2008.
Four jurisdictions in the United States use letters to designate a residence where a vehicle was registered. In Hawaii, the license plates have a unique letter designation based on the island counties that residents purchased or registered the vehicles from; a vehicle with a registration number beginning with H or Z is registered in Hawai‘i County, one beginning with K is registered in Kaua‘i County, one beginning with M or L is registered in Maui County, and one beginning with any other letter (and not containing H, K, L, M, or Z) is registered in the City and County of Honolulu. In the U.S. territory of Guam, the license plates use the first two letters that are coded by village of issuance, for example, "TM-1234" refers to a vehicle that was registered by a person who lives the village of Tamuning. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, a vehicle with a registration number beginning with C is registered in St. Croix, J in St. John, and T in St. Thomas.
Several states do require vehicles to display county codes, but these codes are not part of the serial. Indiana and Ohio display two-number county codes, while Kansas plates display two-letter county codes, but these codes are placed on a sticker or are printed in the corner of the plate in a smaller font size. Texas places the county name only on the windshield registration sticker, where the car's license plate number is also printed. Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee place the full name of the county of registration explicitly on their standard-issue plates, although not as part of the serial. However, Florida allows its residents to choose either "Sunshine State" or "In God We Trust" in place of the county name, and Georgia allows drivers to choose the slogan "In God We Trust" in place of the county name.
Skipping characters
For various reasons related to visibility and readability, some states and territories exclude certain letters from use in their license plate serial formats. The most commonly skipped characters are I, O, and Q[citation needed], with some states using only one or two of the three while others will skip all three of these letters[citation needed]. Other states, such as Colorado, Georgia, and South Carolina have gradually adopted one or more of these letters over a course of years after previously skipping them in order to accommodate the demands of population growth and depletion of available serial combinations. The most common argument behind skipping I, O, and Q is that they can be too easily confused with 0, 1, and other characters, particularly when there isn't adequate spacing or divider between numbers and letters[citation needed].
California only uses I, O, and Q in between two other letters, for example "1AQA000".[citation needed] A unique example of character use is Texas, which skips all vowels along with the letter Q on passenger plates.
In amateur radio license plate issues, some states use a unique slashed zero character in place of the standard "0" character due to lack of spacing between letters and numbers. Iowa is a unique example in the use of this character, which began using the slashed zero beginning in 2012 on all standard passenger plates as opposed to the traditional symbol for zero to differentiate it from the letter "O" which is also used. In Pennsylvania, the die used for the number "0" is different than the one used for the letter "O" since the state's number dies are taller and narrower than its letter dies.
Persons with disabilities
In the states, special plates displaying the International Symbol of Accessibility are issued to persons with disabilities that entitle them to special parking privileges. Alternately, a placard, which in some jurisdictions can be hung from the rear view mirror, may be issued; the placard has the advantage of being transferred from vehicle to vehicle.
Current standard-issue passenger plate designs and serial formats
The following tables give information on license plates currently being issued, with 2014 or later expiration dates, for private (non-commercial) use on passenger vehicles by the governments of the fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the five inhabited U.S. territories, and Native American tribes. Information on serial numbering patterns is also given. Older designs and serial formats previously issued may still be valid for continued usage in certain jurisdictions; these are noted in a separate table below.
In addition to "regular" passenger plates, all jurisdictions also provide plates for other types of vehicles that may only be roughly similar in design and layout. Additionally, there has been an increasing trend in the field of "specialty" plates to promote specific causes or interests. To keep this table as simple as possible, most of these alternate types of plates will not be noted. More information may also be found within the individual articles for each state, as linked within the table. Exceptions to this guideline may be made for specialty plates that are available at no extra cost to the motorist, as these tend to be seen more commonly on the roads.
Reflective gradient blue-to-white with white Chicago and Springfield skyline and gray Abraham Lincoln graphic at far left; state name screened in black at top
Dark blue serial on reflective country scene graphic featuring a covered bridge; expiration date, year, county number and recycling symbol in corners clockwise from top left
black numbers on reflective graphic plate with blue sky, white city skyline, farm and wind turbine, and green grass field; "IOWA" screened in white centered at top; county name screened in black centered at bottom
dark blue on reflective white with the "Genius of Creative Energy" mosaic from the Nebraska State Capitol in the background; state name in dark blue at top
black numbers and state-shaped separator on sky blue plate; stylized multi-colored mountain range at bottom; "NEVADA" screened in black serifed letters centered at top
Embossed serial; Reflective sheeting
current:
432·1A5: In this series, the right-most number changes the slowest, while the number immediately to the left of the letter changes the fastest. For example, 100·9A3 → 101·0A3, 100·5A9 → 100·6A9[19]
Standard issue Sunrise in Ohio, county name sticker in black to be centered at bottom
Dark blue serial on sunrise scene featuring a skyline, hills, river, wheat, field and a child swinging from the tree, with Wright Flyer, state shape and read banner with "Birthplace of aviation" at top.
Screened navy blue serial on reflective light blue plate with five-wave graphic; "Rhode Island" screened in navy blue centered at top; navy blue anchor screened at top left
Screened serial; Reflective sheeting
1AB 234
2020
Beautiful Rhode Island (top), Ocean State (Bottom)
white on dark blue with the Reliance in the upper left corner
blue with "The Volunteer State" on the left and the outline of the state around "Tennessee" with county name sticker and the Tri-Star logo in the center
Screened serial; Reflective sheeting
ABC 1234
123 ABCD alternate with 'In God We Trust' above county name
Screened white serial and Bucking Horse and Rider on navy blue and gray graphic of the State Flag , red and white border around plate; "WYOMING" screened navy blue outlined in white centered at top
Plates with the following designs and serial formats are no longer being issued but may still be valid for use in certain instances. This table does not include year of manufacture registrations.
Embossed blue, screened blue or screened black serial on reflective white skyline on blue background and black hand drawn farm scene foreground, screened "Iowa" in a small caps serif font and sticker with/or screened county name in uppercase in blue or black as the serial
Embossed or screened serial; Reflective sheeting[32]
123 ABC except for "D" series and beginning of current ABC 123[33]
Even though one of the 2017 license plate contestant plates lost the competition, it became a vanity plate, and the 1997 series plate is still valid.
"Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial 1803–2003" written in early 18th-century lettering and has the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial logo as the separator[34]
Embossed serial; Reflective sheeting
2011 – 2012
"200 Years"
Embossed serial; Reflective sheeting
ABC123
2014 – 2015
www.louisianatourism.com Bicentennial, Battle of New Orleans, 1815–2015 blue on reflective white with silhouette of Andrew Jackson on horse at left
dark blue on reflective white with blue bars (upper blue bar has the state name over a skyline of Niagara Falls, the Adirondack Mountains, and New York City; lower bar includes the words "The Empire State" in white)
Prior to 1984 license plates for diplomatic vehicles were provided by the jurisdiction where the foreign mission was located. The District of Columbia provided license plates for missions headquartered in the capital, and New York provided plates for members of the United Nations, etc. Upon passage of the Foreign Missions Act in 1984 registration authority for foreign mission vehicles was centralized with the U.S. Department of State.[41][42][43][44]
From 1984 until August 28, 2007, all plates issued followed the pattern of a letter identifying the status of the owner, followed by the two-letter country code, followed by a random three or four-digit number (S AB 1234). For member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), a subset of that numbering pattern was allotted to vehicles based at those countries' missions to the OAS. Plates issued to cars based at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City were issued in the reverse format, with the three or four-digit number first, followed by the two-letter country code, followed by the status code (1234 AB S).
The location of the status codes, either as the first or last character, allows the city of assignment to be easily identified because representatives of certain countries are limited to travel in a certain radius from their base. The status codes used until 2007 were "C" for Foreign Consul; "D" for Diplomat; "S" for Non-Diplomatic Staff; and "A" for the OAS. Status codes used for U.N. personnel until 2007 were "A" for the U.N. Secretariat; "D" for U.N. missions and diplomatic personnel; and "S" for U.N. Staff. The rights of the driver and car under diplomatic immunity are defined by this status code.
The country codes are unique to each particular country, but do not correlate to ISO Country Codes or other standards format. For example, in the system used until 2007, France is "DJ" rather than "F", and Australia is "XZ" rather than "AUS".
Standard issue; black serial on sky blue background, concave curved red top with the Dept. of State seal, "DIPLOMAT", "CONSUL" or blank at top center, and Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) logo
↑ Character positions A, B, C, D, and E can be either letters or numbers. The letters A–Z then the numbers 0–9 are used in each position.[7]
Related Research Articles
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or license plate or licence plate, is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. All countries require registration plates for commercial road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles, for hire. Whether they are required for other vehicles, such as bicycles, boats, or tractors, may vary by jurisdiction. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the vehicle or vehicle owner within the issuing region's vehicle register. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, while in others it is unique within a state or province. Whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. There are also electronic license plates.
Number plates in Belgium are driver specific, meaning that they are transferred to a new vehicle from the owner's previous one.
All motorised vehicles plying on public roads in India are tagged with a registration or licence number. The vehicle registration plate is issued by a Regional Transport Office (RTO), the district-level authority on vehicular matters in the respective state or Union Territory. The number plates are mandatory on both front and rear of the vehicle and are required to be in modern Hindu-Arabic numerals with latin letters. Complete specification of registration plates are specified under the HSRP: High Security Registration Plate rules.
Austrian car number plates are mandatory vehicle registration plates displaying the registration mark of motor vehicles in Austria. They are used to verify street legality, proof of a valid liability insurance and to identify and recognise the vehicle.
Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate.
In the United States, vehicle registration plates, known as license plates, are issued by a department of motor vehicles, an agency of the state or territorial government, or in the case of the District of Columbia, the district government. Some Native American tribes also issue plates. The U.S. federal government issues plates only for its own vehicle fleet and for vehicles owned by foreign diplomats. Until the 1980s, diplomatic plates were issued by the state in which the consulate or embassy was located.
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate, license plate or licence plate, is a metal or plastic plate or plates attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing authority's database. In Europe most countries have adopted a format for registration plates that satisfies the requirements in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which states that cross-border vehicles must display a distinguishing code for the country of registration on the rear of the vehicle. This sign may be an oval sticker placed separately from the registration plate, or may be incorporated into the plate. When the distinguishing sign is incorporated into the registration plate, it must also appear on the front plate of the vehicle, and may be supplemented with the flag or emblem of the national state, or the emblem of the regional economic integration organisation to which the country belongs. An example of such format is the common EU format, with the EU flag above the country code issued in EU member states.
Standard Bulgarian vehicle registration plates display black glyphs on a white background, together with – on the left-hand side of the plate – a blue vertical "EU strip" showing the flag of Europe and, below it, the country code for Bulgaria: BG.
Vehicle registration plates of Serbia display black alphanumeric characters on a white background with blue field placed along the left side edge.
The Portuguese vehicle registration plate system for automobiles and motorcycles is simple and sequential. The system has no link to geographical locations or similar. It is an incremental numbering system consisting of three groups of two characters, separated by dashes. This system started in 1937 with AA–10–00, which ran out on 29 February 1992. This then went on to 00–01–AA and changed to 00–AA–01 in 2005. This last sequence was exhausted early in 2020, and it was announced on 3 March that it had been replaced by the sequence AA–00–AA. Moreover, the letters W and Y, never before used, and the letter K, used only for a short-lived series for imported vehicles in 1997, are being employed in the new system, meaning that this sequence should last more than six-and-a-half times as long as the previous. At current rates that it would not need replacing at least until the end of the 21st century, but the expected lifetime of the series is stated as being forty-five years.
Thailand's vehicle registration plates are issued by the Department of Land Transport (DLT) of the Ministry of Transport. They must be displayed on all motorized road vehicles, as required by the Motor Vehicle Act, B.E. 2522 and the Land Transport Act, B.E. 2522. The plates vary in design, colors and dimensions according to the type of vehicle, but usually display a registration number and the vehicle's province of registration. Specifications are given in Ministry of Transport regulations. Current style started in 1975 for most vehicle types, but with small changes in 1997, and 1997 for motorcycles.
The U.S. state of New York was the first to require its residents to register their motor vehicles, in 1901. Registrants provided their own license plates for display, featuring their initials until 1903 and numbers thereafter, until the state began to issue plates in 1910.
The U.S. state of Colorado first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1913. As of 2024, plates are issued by the Colorado Department of Revenue through its Division of Motor Vehicles. Front and rear plates are required for most classes of vehicles, while only rear plates are required for motorcycles and trailers.
The U.S. state of Connecticut first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1903. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1905, when the state began to issue plates. Since then, Connecticut has used a variety of license plate designs, and has issued different designs for passenger, non-passenger, and, more recently, optional plate types that often require an additional fee. As of 2024, plates are issued by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.
Belarusian vehicle registration plates are currently mainly composed of four digits – the vehicle identifier, two letters – the number plate series, and the region code – a final digit indicating the region of Belarus in which the vehicle was registered. The placement of the series letters varies for the weight class or type of the vehicle:
In Andorra, vehicle registration plates are composed of one letter and four digits, and have the coat of arms of Andorra and country code (AND) to the left of the serial and Principat d'Andorra in blue below the serial. The plates feature embossed black serials on a white background.
The vehicle registration plates of Cyprus are composed of three letters and three digits. A simple incremental numbering system is used; numbers run from 001 to 999 per letter sequence (alphabetic), so that, for example, the plate to be issued after MAA 999 would be MAB 001. However, registrants may be allowed to choose a number from available numbers in the extant letter sequence.
Current motor vehicle registrations in Bolivia, commonly known as plate, are license plates with a unique combination of letters and numbers to individually identify each vehicle registered in the country.
Vehicle registration plates of Vietnam generally take the form DDLL-DDD.DD for vehicles. Standard license plates have black characters on white background. Front plates measure 47 × 11 cm, rear ones are 27 × 20. In 2020 and 2021, both plates measure 6 x 12. The current scheme for civilian vehicles omits the letters I, J, O, Q and W, with the letter R reserved for trailers, and includes the Vietnamese character Đ.
The vehicle registration plates of Gabon is a legal form requiring the citizens of Gabon to have the car registered.
↑ Nebel, Claude (2007). "New Look for U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Plates". Police Chief. Alexandria, Virginia: International Association of Chiefs of Police.
↑ Levanthal, Brian (August 28, 2007). "New Diplomatic License Plates Unveiled". U.D. Department of State Archive. U.S. Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
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