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. Prior to 1984, diplomatic plates were issued by jurisdiction, meaning that the District of Columbia was responsible for all foreign embassies in the United States, and the state of New York for all foreign missions accredited to the United Nations.
The appearances of plates are frequently chosen to contain symbols, colors, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction. The term license plate is frequently used in statutes, although in some areas tag is informally used. The official three letter DSIT (coinciding with its ISO code) international code attributed to the United States is USA.
, the federal government and forty states use prison labor to produce their license plates.
Designs and serial formats
Serial formats Plate designs often contain symbols, colors, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction. Registration number formats, typically alphanumeric, are designed to provide enough unique numbers for all motor vehicles a jurisdiction expects to register. For example, the small states of Delaware and Rhode Island are able to use formats of 123456, while more populated states (such as New York) use the format ABC-1234. Other examples of seven-character serial formats are 123ABC4 (used by California), AB-12345 (used by Connecticut and Illinois), 1234ABC (used by Kansas), and 1AB2345 (used by Maryland). Many states with smaller populations use a three-letter/three-number format, such as ABC-123 or 123-ABC. Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, and New Jersey use a four-letter/two-number format, while Rhode Island and the District of Columbia use two letters and four numbers. Nevada uses one letter and five numbers. Arizona uses an "alphabet soup" format of six-character alphanumeric combinations. Other formats include those that incorporate a county coding system (e.g. Idaho) or a month of expiration into the plate number (e.g. Massachusetts).
Non-passenger vehicle plates (such as commercial and government-owned vehicles, trucks, and trailers) tend to have separate designs, including special numbering formats.
Designs In the United States, many states distinguish their license plates through distinctive color schemes and logos, which persist over time. For example, the cowboy logo often associated with the state of Wyoming has appeared on that state's license plates continuously since 1936. Some early Tennessee plates were produced in a parallelogram shape approximating that of the state. The outline of Tennessee is carried on in their current license plates, along with the three-star emblem from the state flag.
The first state to feature a slogan on their license plates was Idaho in 1928; this was the precursor to their current "Famous Potatoes" slogan. Other license plate slogans have also been made famous by their longevity. The oldest continually used slogan is Maine's "Vacationland", which has been featured on the state's license plates since 1936. Arizona has used the slogan "Grand Canyon State" since 1940, the same year Wisconsin started using the slogan "America's Dairyland". Illinois has used the slogan "Land of Lincoln" since 1954. North Carolina's "First in Flight" license plates have been on the road since 1982, as a nod to the Wright Flyer. Meanwhile, Ohio uses the slogan "Birthplace of Aviation", as the Wright brothers were native Ohioans themselves.
Other states use a more simple design for their license plates, often with little decoration other than a slogan. Vermont license plates have frequently featured a green and white color scheme, while Alaska has preferred yellow and blue. New Jersey uses a yellow gradient background on its license plates, while Connecticut uses a similar navy blue background. The license plates of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia feature a plain white background, though Virginia notably uses a serif font for its serial dies. Delaware's license plates feature gold text on a black background, a design that has been unchanged since the 1960s.
Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia have placed the address of the state's official or tourism web site on their general issue plates. Most plates in the District of Columbia contain the phrase "Taxation without representation" to highlight the District's lack of a voting representative in Congress.
As of 2025, the five oldest plate designs in useeach with slight to moderate cosmetic changes since inceptionare that of Delaware (in production since 1959), Colorado (since 1960, continuously since 1978), the District of Columbia (since 1975), Minnesota (since 1978), and North Carolina (since 1982).
Printing of registration number
Typically, the registration number is embossedor, more rarely, impressedonto the license plate. Other identifying information, such as the name of the issuing jurisdiction and the vehicle class, can be either surface-printed or embossed; Virginia, for example, does the former for passenger cars and the latter for most non-passenger vehicles. However, it is increasingly common in the U.S. for the registration number to be surface-printed using digital printing technology. Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Oregon and West Virginia do so only for certain types of license plates, such as vanity plates and special issues; Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia have switched to the so-called flat-plate technology for all their license plates with Utah being the latest, changing in January 2025. Nevada formerly issued flat plates but has returned to making embossed plates. Delaware license plates have not been embossed for several decades. Texas & Wyoming normally issue flat plates but also issue embossed license plates for an extra fee. North Carolina issued flat specialty plates from 2008 to 2009 but didn't find any cost savings so switched back to full embossed plates. They also issued flat plates when they mandated that the license plates be replaced every 7 years, but that program was canceled after 4 months. In 2018, California started a pilot program in which the city of Sacramento issued license plates on battery-powered digital displays, for an extra fee. The registration number is displayed on an electronic paper screen that can theoretically update itself to display different messages. The license plate itself is also equipped with a beacon that can be tracked in case the car associated with the plate is stolen.
Vermont is the only state with a registration number debossed into the license plate.
License plates originally were not embossed, but were merely flat plates in various forms, typically rectangular. In the 1930s, states found that the plates could be easily forged, and subsequently began embossing plates to thwart counterfeiting.
Plate sizes In 1956, U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size of all passenger vehicle plates at , with mounting holes spaced , although the dimensions may vary slightly by jurisdiction. In North America, only Greenland (a Danish autonomous territory) and Saint Pierre and Miquelon (a French overseas territory) have not adopted these standards, as they use European standards instead (although the Northwest Territories has a plate shaped like a polar bear that is cut out of a standard rectangular plate). Smaller-sized plates are used for motorcycles and, in some jurisdictions, mopeds and certain types of trailers and construction equipment. Motorcycle plates are not standardized but have mostly come to be in nearly every state by the 1980s, with the exception of Minnesota, which still uses , with the most recent state to change being Maryland in 2008, which was previously . Furthermore, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico issues European sized plates for an extra fee.
Showing current registration on plates
Historically, license plates were replaced every year. Today, the most common practice is to issue new validation stickers every year or two, to indicate that the vehicle registration is still valid.
Expired vehicle registrations may attract the attention of law enforcement, because indicators of an expired plate, such as an old or invalid sticker, give officers probable cause to lawfully initiate a traffic stop. A delinquent registration tag is often an indicator that the vehicle's owner has failed to comply with the applicable law regarding emission inspection or insurance or that the vehicle's owner has unpaid traffic or parking tickets. Most states historically required all license plates to be replaced every few years; that practice is being abandoned by many states because of the expense of continually producing large numbers of plates. Washington stopped the practice of mandatory replacement in 2015. Maryland previously mandated that all license plates be replaced every five years (except for apportioned trailers, which were registered on an eight-year schedule), but has not done so since 1986.
In jurisdictions that use validation stickers on the plate, the month and year of expiration may be separated into two decals, or issued in a single sticker. For example, North Carolina previously issued separate month and year decals, but recently switched to a single sticker. In others, such as Texas, the plate's validation is a decal displayed from the inside of the windshield. The colors of plate stickers and windshield decals often change annually, to support enforcement of registration laws.
Most validation stickers are either serialized (with the serial number recorded on the registration), or are printed by a special printer at the time of registration or renewal with the vehicle's license plate number on them to discourage fraudulent sticker use, as the sticker will be valid only for the plate for which it was intended. In the District of Columbia, the license plate is validated with a windshield sticker that indicates the expiration date in MM/DD/YY format, the license plate number, the year and make of vehicle, and part of the vehicle identification number, allowing easier fraud detection, in addition to serving as a parking permit for neighborhood residents.
New York, Texas, and the District of Columbia use windshield stickers exclusively, rather than plate stickers, for most vehicle classes. Their registration stickers include the month and year of expiration (and, in the District of Columbia, the day) in large type, so that an expired registration windshield sticker is obvious. In 2015, Texas eliminated the requirement to display a windshield vehicle inspection decal with the registration. Connecticut switched to windshield stickers in September 2006, and in August 2010, eliminated registration stickers completely, primarily to reduce costs. New Jersey required the use of plate decals for a few years, beginning with November 2000 expiration dates, but has not required them on passenger cars since October 1, 2004. New Jersey passenger vehicles do not display any registration information other than the license plate itself.