All 50 states license plate

The use of yellow is also an obvious nod to the other official color of New Mexico, which has been on its license plates since the early s. And still is, actually. The DMV lists both the teal plate and the yellow plate as "standard" plates as opposed to no-cost options or pay-for options as other states have. I chose the better of the two here, but even the yellow one would've been up here near the top. OK, so this is pretty much the same color as Colorado's, but I don't exactly see that as a bad thing considering the color is great and that it doesn't appear in any other standard license plate.

Besides the color, Vermont has the weird rectangle around the stamped registry numbers, clean and appropriate fonts for "Vermont" and "Green Mountain State," and a little tree in the upper right hand corner because it's Vermont.

There are only three things that say "Vermont" more to me than this license plate: Bernie, Ben and Jerry.

True, you're not going to see this one very often here on the mainland, so the thing has an inherent mystique. Still, even if you'd never seen one of these before, you'd instantly know that it's from Hawaii.

What other state would put a rainbow on its license plate And despite having, well, a rainbow of colors on it, the plate still manages to be clean and legible. Sure, it may not complement every car color as well as some of the other designs below, but dude, it's the Hawaiian license.

It's cool. This plate is like an NBA team in the s that didn't change its color scheme and make its logo a cartoon. Sure, they looked old-fashioned back then, but now that fashion has come back to classic, they're quite happy they stayed the course.

So be the Delaware license plate. Sadly, it's flat printed and looks a bit cheap, but it's also been that way for decades. The classy dark blue color framed in gold with matching writing is timeless enough to make up for it. Like Hawaii, this plate is a distinctive classic that relies upon a unique background design rather than a bold color.

Rhode Island is the Ocean State, therefore it has a big wave. And an anchor. You also gotta love that so few people live in Rhode Island, they don't even have to worry about stuffing six digits onto the thing, let alone seven. Indeed, you can have only one digit … and people pay big money for them. This is New York's just-released plate and it's just terrific. Somehow, they managed to visually represent this diverse state from Niagara Falls and the forested mountains of Upstate New York to the skyline of Manhattan and the coast of Long Island.

There's also a Statue of Liberty, long a N. This should be a busy mess, yet it's clean, classy and would look great on basically any car. The old plate looked like it should be exclusive to cabs or government agencies.

This one is an Aaron Judge foot blast. It's even stamped rather than printed. Never change it. This is a rare modern plate that manages to be colorful without being busy, cartoonish or clashy with the car.

As baseball teams of the s and '80s will attest, this shade of powder blue pairs well with most colors.

It's looked great on every car I've seen wearing it. The design works, too. There are multi-color mountains, but they're artistically rendered with a geometric pattern instead of a literal depiction. The state map is also used as a registry divider six digits! I honestly don't know how true the slogan of "Home Means Nevada" rings to those who live there, but it's a creative change of pace from the long-used "The Silver State. Maine could have this as its standard plate. We would laugh and I'd then direct it way down this list to the "Toon Town" tier.

Instead, it has this classy design. Dubbed "The Chickadee Plate," it's been around since the turn of the century with its bird I assume a chickadee on a coniferous branch that distinctively offsets the registry. How indicative is a chickadee to Maine? I have no idea, but I'm not from there. The silly lobster is for outsiders like me, this is for Mainers.

I really should learn more about Maine. Anyway, the plate has an atypical shade of green for the pine needles and diffused forest scape, the black trim and letters really pop, and "Vacationland" is just the right shade and size. This plate is pretty dated due to its italicized fonts that have been out of fashion for 20 years And yeah, I'm grading on fonts here.

Rest assured, it'll get worse than this. There's also a lot of colors going on that can make it look a bit cheap. Still, this is unmistakably Wisconsin … it's looked like this since , and there's nothing else like it especially the combination of flush-left state name and the consistent visual interpretation of the state in the upper right.

I also like that the blue line doubles as the water for the sailboat. It's a great piece of design. A classic can be born in the '80s, too. This is another great piece of design that goes back decades. With its unique shade of blue, centered state map, "10, Lakes" slogan and lake imagery above, "Minnesota" doesn't even need to be written on the thing to indicate where that car is from.

Which is why it's a shame that the state cluttered it up, first with "Explore" in the upper left and then with the first appearance on this list of an infernal website. That the plate integrates the ". This blue color, while handsome in a vacuum, can also clash a bit with certain car colors. When this list was first published, Alaska was No. After great reconsideration, however, the blue-ribbon commission consisting of myself decided that just being a simple, classic design shouldn't necessarily put a state up at the top.

As such Alaska and the next two entries have been bumped down into this new category. So, why does Alaska get bumped?

Well, as I originally pointed out, this shade of yellow doesn't pair well with everything — reds in particular — and is awfully indicative of a taxi. Despite all of the above, though, it's still a tidy design that updates a classic used from to Previous plates were broadly similar in concept with the exception of this one-off gem and the design from to that itself is enjoying a comeback as a no-cost option plate.

So although Alaska isn't as high on the list as it was before, it's still deserving of a lofty spot. According to its DMV, Montana has five standard license plates you can pick up for the same fee. However, four of them are previous standard designs. The current, official standard one is this modern classic. It's a great color as Michiganders could once attest , has clean fonts, and then the coolest bit, the state outline.

Would it be better if the entire plate was that shape? You bet. Ultimately, I dropped this down from the other colorful classics because it tries to fit way too many digits into the map, which creates clutter and an awkward asymmetry. The whole plate also looks quite obviously printed. Of all the feedback I encountered after the original list order, Texas No.

Much as I originally thought, people think it's way too plain and that it looks like a paper temp plate. They're not wrong, which is why it finds itself bumped down into this new category. Nevertheless, this license plate still has most of the elements that make a great plate. History and consistency: Texas had black-and-white license plates for decades.

Clean design with appropriate decorative elements: clearly read state name, a unique emblem lone star , a map of the state as the registry number separator, and the state nickname.

Uncluttered: Texas doesn't use registration stickers and managed to split the seven-digit registration number in two, which improves aesthetics and maintains legibility. Stamping this plate rather than printing it would make a huge difference, or even swapping the colors so that it's white on black as was done in the past.

As it is, though, I'd still rather have this on my car than most others. This is similar to Nevada's in general concept and I like it lot, however, the blue is darker more likely to clash , the smear of orange depicting the Badlands is perhaps too bold and there's just a lot going on. Still, when evaluating it by itself away from a car , it's a tidy, striking design that seems appropriate for the place. This instantly recognizable plate checks off most of the boxes.

It's stamped with six digits. There are mountains and forests that look like that in Oregon, and there's literally a tree that looks just like that out my back window. The "Oregon" font is unique as is the general color scheme, but that's ultimately a problem. Lilac is not a color that pairs well with much besides the purple Aston Martin I ironically chose for this little exercise and that tree draws too much attention to itself.

A nice plate by itself, but once on a car, there's a reason I paid extra for Oregon's Delaware-like Pacific Wonderland plates. Again, a terrific design indicative of the state. Idaho is scenic and it is famous for potatoes. There are mountains and forests there. The plate is aesthetically pleasing, even with as many as seven digits. The problem, besides being quite obviously printed rather than stamped, is that two bold, darker colors and white draw too much attention to that design once placed on the back of a car.

It should complement, not distract. At least this is a much better example than others cough , Pennsylvania, cough. Arches National Park is in Utah, and there's definitely not other plate like this. Yes, the orange is an awful lot and the illustration veers a little into Toon Town territory, but at least it's not that busy.

Six well-spaced registry digits, a four-letter state name and a good slogan of "Life Elevated" in a small font helps. This is actually one of two standard Utah plates, with the " Greatest Snow on Earth " plate being the other. I'm not sure where that would've ended up, but I like this one better. The gradual fade of one color into another is known as "ombre," and Connecticut made it a thing on license plates with its blue-into-white design. People must've dug it because both Kentucky and Missouri ripped it off.

The original is still the best, partly because blue on top seems to look better than the reverse, and because the overall design is uncluttered with two key elements of state map and nickname. I think New Jersey's plate probably looks better on various cars than Connecticut's it shows up on a lot of press cars , but then I needed to explain what ombre meant, and this example is less obvious. This pale yellow is actually unique among plates, making it instantly recognizable.

It also has the nickname and always-appreciated state map breaking up the six-digit registry. Solid plate. The use of the state seal as a graphical element is lame, especially as one as generic as Mississippi's. Honestly, this was going to end up in the "Fine" category, but then I saw it on the purple Aston Martin up there. Turns out, the bold choice of gold pairs quite well with rich colors plus black.

Electric ones or white? Probably less so. The Mississippi font has also been used for ages, so points for consistency. Thanks to the New Orleans basketball team and this license plate, I think we can all safely say we know there are pelicans in Louisiana. I can't say I really want one on the back of my car, though. Ultimately, this is a nice, uncluttered design, with a distinctive color scheme, a good slogan, and yep, a big old bird. With a few tweaks, this plate would probably rocket up the list to somewhere around Maine.

First, the fonts are too brightly colored, easily clashing with the car itself. Second, the "North Carolina" is punctured by the plate holes, which could be corrected by making the font smaller or moving it up see New Mexico. And third, "First in Flight" is also too big and yet can still be difficult to read because of the Wright Brothers doing their thing in the background. Ultimately, this plate is just a bit busy and could use a subtle update of the same generally solid design.

This plate could have easily been up around No. Other states, like New York and Texas, managed to fit seven while maintaining the space and general aesthetics. Such a shame. That unique Rainier backdrop, flush-left state name in bold red, and the clean contrasting "Evergreen State" was originally a great design.

Washington just mucked it up. Worse, from afar, it kinda just looks like a dirty California plate. Wyoming has had that iconic Bucking Horse and Rider emblem on its license plates since , which speaks to knowing a good thing when you have one. Scroll down to see what license plates look like in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Technically a distinctive license plate rather than a standard-issue one, the patriotic "God Bless America" plate became so popular in Alabama that the state decided not to charge drivers extra for it.

The upper right corner features a heart inscribed with Alabama's nickname, the "Heart of Dixie. In contrast, the standard Alabama plate depicts a bucolic nature scene — a river and green hills backdropped by a golden sky. Alaska's current license plate features the state's nickname, "The Last Frontier," paired with an image of the state flag.

They respectively symbolize strength and Alaska's northern location. Arizona's license plate informs people of the state's nickname the "Grand Canyon State" and showcases its famous desert landscape. In Arkansas, typical license plates are characterized by a diamond graphic. The gem symbolizes one of the state's most significant natural resources.

Arkansas is home to Crater of Diamonds State Park. The white, blue, and red California license plate you see today has been around since , when the state celebrated its sesquicentennial th anniversary. Colorado's license plate is embossed with a mountain design — a fitting choice for the state where you'll find the Rocky Mountains. In fact, the style of the plate hasn't changed much since the s. But the constitution in question isn't the document that laid the groundwork for American democracy.

The nickname actually refers to a set of local government rules circa called the Fundamental Orders. The nickname wasn't official until a first grade class made the suggestion in The District of Columbia's license plate is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Washington's slogan, "Taxation without Representation," references the fact that District residents have no representatives in Congress. Florida is known for its oranges, so it make sense that the citrus fruits — set against an outline of the state — adorn the Sunshine State's license plate.

Similar to Florida's license plate, Georgia's shows its most famous export — peaches — and an outline of the state. Hawaii's license plate is the most magical of the lot.

But the pretty image is far from arbitrary, signifying the Aloha State's status as a rainbow-viewing destination. In fact, Honolulu, is known as the "rainbow capital of the world. Until last year, Illinois' license plates focused solely on the state's identity as the "Land of Lincoln" Abraham Lincoln lived in the state capital, Springfield, between and The clunkier new design — which has been criticized by the public — crams half of Lincoln's face, Chicago's Willis Tower, and the Illinois Capitol Building onto one plate.

Between and , Indiana issued this classy license plate bearing the state's motto, " The Crossroads of America. The current design, which features one of the covered bridges the state is known for, is a little cartoonish but has more character.

Iowa's license plate not only tells other drivers which state a resident's car is from — it also identifies his or her county. Kansas' license plate includes half of the state seal , including the state motto "Ad astra per aspera" Latin for "to the stars through difficulties". The Kentucky license plate, like Iowa's, has a spot for county names. Maryland Enlarge license. Massachusetts Enlarge license. Michigan Enlarge license. Minnesota Enlarge license. Mississippi Enlarge license.

Missouri Enlarge license. Montana Enlarge license. Nebraska Enlarge license. Nevada Enlarge license. New Hampshire Enlarge license. New Jersey Enlarge license. New Mexico Enlarge license. New York Enlarge license. North Carolina Enlarge license. North Dakota Enlarge license. Ohio Enlarge license. Oklahoma Enlarge license.