In the United States, the appearance of license plates is frequently chosen to
contain staples, cultures, or slogans associated with the issuing
jurisdiction, which are the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia,
each of which independently registers motor vehicles.
Trends in serial formats Formats for license plate numbers may be
consistent within the state. For example, Delaware and Rhode Island were
able to use six-digit all-numeric serials due to their low respective
populations, while several populous states use seven-character formats of
three letters and four numbers, including 1ABC234 in California and
ABC1234, ABC 1234, or ABC-1234 in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Other
formats include Florida, which uses ABC-D12; Illinois, which uses A12-3456,
and Maryland, which uses 1AB2345. However, many states, such as Alaska,
Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South
Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, use a 3-letter, 3-number format in the
format ABC-123, 123-ABC, or some variant thereof.
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.
= 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, as does the first number or letter on West
Virginia plates. = County of issuance =
Although increasingly few states place the full name of the county of
registration explicitly on their standard-issue plates but not as part of
the plate serial, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, and
Tennessee continue the practice. 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. County codes have been based on historical population figures,
the county names in alphabetical order, or some combination thereof.
Only three places 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 is registered in the City
and County of Honolulu. In the State of Idaho the first one or two characters
are used to designate the county of residence/registration. For example all
vehicles registered in Ada county start with 1A, vehicles in Twin Falls County
start with 2T and vehicles in Valley county start with V. In the US 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.
Florida allows its residents to choose either "Sunshine State" or "In God We
Trust" slogans instead of their county, and in Miami-Dade County, all plates are
issued with one of these slogans due to the targeting for crimes of cars
registered there in the early 1990s. Florida also terminated a practice by
which plates registered to rented vehicles had the letter Y or Z as their
first digit, which also led to targeting of cars for theft due to the ease of
replacement and the softer hit on the affected driver. Georgia, as of 2011,
allows drivers to choose the slogan "In God We Trust" in place of the county
name where the vehicle is registered. Indiana and Ohio display two-number
county codes, while Kansas plates display two-letter county codes, but
none of these three is a part of the plate serial and instead are placed in
the corner of the plate in a smaller font size. Texas places the county name
on the windshield registration sticker, but it likewise is not part of the plate
serial. = Vehicle type =
In most states, plates for vehicles other than passenger cars such as trucks
and trailers, may use different numbering formats, either with or
without the vehicle type appearing explicitly on the plate.
= 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 use on passenger vehicles by the governments of the fifty U.S. states,
the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. 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. Plate types no longer issued but still
valid 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. Diplomatic license plates
Diplomatic license plates are issued by the United States Department of State to
accredited diplomats. Until 2007, plates issued to cars based
in the District of Columbia follow the pattern of a letter identify the status
of the owner, followed by the two-letter country code, followed by a four-digit
number. For member countries of the Organization of American States, a
subset of that numbering pattern is allotted to vehicles based at those
countries' missions to the OAS. Plates issued to cars based at the United
Nations in New York City are reversed, with the four-digit number first,
followed by the two-letter country code, followed by the status code. This is
because representatives of certain countries are limited to travel to
certain radii from their base, and the system allows the city of assignment to
be identified easily. The status codes used until 2007 were
"C" for Foreign Consul; "D" for Diplomat; "S" for Non-Diplomatic Staff;
and "A" for a UN employee. 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 old system
used until 2007, France is "DJ" not "F" and Australia is "XZ" not "AUS". This is
to prevent the general public from targeting diplomats from particular
countries. See also
Canadian licence plate designs and serial formats
References External links
= Organizations = Automobile License Plate Collectors'
Association = Information resources =
Current High-Issue License Plates License Plates of North America,
1969–Present The License Plate Shack
Pl8ster.net The Back Bumper
Zuls Plate Page R.T.'s Blank Plates-pictures of license
plates Sebald American License Plates
licenseplates.cc – lists high and low license plate serials
USA license plates database