Which US state has the best-looking license plate?

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itsmecinder@reddit

I always smile when I see Hawaii's rainbow on the mainland!

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GeneralOrgana1@reddit

I always want to know the story when I see those: Why are they here? How did they get to the mainland? Are they going back, or have they just not gotten their new plates yet?

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theniwokesoftly@reddit

For default, maybe New Mexico. But I like the Virginia Heritage plate thats light blue with a dogwood branch and a cardinal sitting on it.

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Master-Bed-3710@reddit

I’m a big fan of Washington’s. Just feels right.

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Because of how easy it is to get them approved and how relatively inexpensive it is to get one, Virginia has probably the biggest selection of plates and the most people WITH custom plates. Currently over 300 you can get. There's even a Jimmy Buffet Parrothead one. https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/license-plates/search

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JanuriStar@reddit

I think Virginia might have the most. Florida has around 180 options.

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bluebellberry@reddit

Maryland has over 900 designs to pick from apparently.

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No-Author-2358@reddit

In Arizona, we have an Alice Cooper plate.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CupXHzVpYUD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

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claudiatiedemann@reddit

Florida has some really pretty specialty plates - Endless Summer, Sea Turtles, Manatees, Dolphins, Black Bear, State Parks, Everglades w/Roseate Spoonbill, Biscayne Bay, Indian River Lagoon, Florida Panther, and more. The regular Florida one isn’t as exciting.

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glowybutterfly@reddit

The Florida oranges does have a special place in my heart. As a kid, it was my favorite plate, because food!

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rgg40@reddit

The New Hampshire “Live Free or Die” plate has a song written about it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzfDSNvh0Xw&list=RDVzfDSNvh0Xw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUQbGl2ZSBmcmVlIG9yIGRpZaAHAdIHCQkECwGHKiGM7w%3D%3D&ra=m

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skatemexico@reddit

The teal New Mexico one is awesome

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the_wires_dun_moved@reddit

Objectively both the Chile (which is my favorite with Turquoise an extremely close second) and the turquoise plate have won the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association’s (ALPCA) best plate award in their respective years.

https://www.alpca.org/bestplate/

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Quadraought@reddit

I've collected/bought/sold license plates as a hobby since I was a kid, and I agree completely that the teal N. Mex. centennial plate is the best out there right now. I love the chili pepper plate down there too. N. Mex. has it going on with their tags.

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greenmtnfiddler@reddit

Traitor!

White on Green is iconic, baby.

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Apprehensive_Camel49@reddit

Yes the black chile one is my favorite

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AgentCatBot@reddit

And it says New Mexico USA so that you don't confuse it with the other Mexico.

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Tsquare43@reddit

Woah Smithers, what's this about a NEW Mexico?

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Apprehensive-Fig3223@reddit

It is cool however the tribe who's art it's based off has been trying to end it's use because it's a spiritual symbol that was used without their permission

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Hoopajoops@reddit

The state did their permission to use it so long as it was used respectfully. And to my knowledge it has been used respectfully, though I don't know what the tribes' current opinion is.

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Hoopajoops@reddit

He'll yeah! Came here to say NM. though I got the chili plate. Sad thing is, I don't really like the green chilies haha.

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pita4912@reddit

It’s Turquoise!

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Playful_Question538@reddit

Technically it's #36849a color RGB value is (54,132,154).

#36849a hex color red value is 54, green value is 132 and the blue value of its RGB is 154. Cylindrical-coordinate representations (also known as HSL) of color #36849a hue: 0.54 , saturation: 0.48 and the lightness value of 36849a is 0.41.

The process color (four color CMYK) of #36849a color hex is 0.65, 0.14, 0.00, 0.40. Web safe color of #36849a is #339999. Color #36849a contains mainly BLUE color.

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RedStatePurpleGuy@reddit

Can you give us the Pantone number while you're at it?

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Playful_Question538@reddit

17-4328 TCX

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RedStatePurpleGuy@reddit

Thank you. 😉

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Soft_Race9190@reddit

That makes sense.

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asteroi@reddit

Came looking for this and was not disappointed. I picked the chili pepper, but I do love the turquoise one, too! Both designs are standouts.

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benk4@reddit

New Mexico is also the flag champion. They have great style.

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In2TheMaelstrom@reddit

The Maryland council takes offense at the flag remark. Even in exile, I still am in the cult of the Maryland flag.

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eapaul80@reddit

I’ll probably get downvoted, but I hate the Maryland flag. I’ll give it credit for being unique, but it’s way too busy for my taste.

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Radiant_Bluebird4620@reddit

I also liked their old yellow one

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newimprovedmoo@reddit

They're both available. I miss the other one we used to have with the hot air balloons, they got rid of that a few years ago now. I think they replaced it with the black chile peppers one.

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Shoddy_Consequence78@reddit

In terms of number pattern, the turquoise ones replaced the balloon one. All non vanity plates used to just be 123ABC, which is still used on the yellow ones. Turquoise is ABC123 and the black ones are ABCD12.

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Southern-Usual4211@reddit

The balloon ones faded like crazy for some reason

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t-poke@reddit

The chili pepper one is even better.

Saw one of those the other day and was reminded how cool it is. If I could register my car in New Mexico just to get that plate, I would.

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PeorgieT75@reddit

I like that and the black with the chili pepper.

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John_cCmndhd@reddit

It's just sad that they have to specify they're in the USA on the plate to reduce the harassment residents will get when traveling to other states

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Soft_Race9190@reddit

Yes. I know someone who needed federal forms and called to get some (before everything was online). The clerk insisted on sending the international ones as well as the domestic ones because, you know, New MEXICO.

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No-Author-2358@reddit

I live in AZ and see those quite a bit. I am envious!

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Southern-Usual4211@reddit

Im partial to the classic Yellow, that's what all my cars have

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Unnnatural20@reddit

I always liked the yellow ones, because that's my favorite color, but the teal is also cool. They're a rare sight up here in New England.

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Legitimate-Donkey477@reddit

It’s turquoise!

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owlesque5@reddit

I moved from NM to Maine this past fall and still have my teal/turquoise plate! I’m much happier in my new home but I will at least miss the pretty license plate when I finally switch it over soon.

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skatemexico@reddit

I always love seeing them. Also rare sight in Minnesota

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AtlantisSky@reddit

It's so simple and so clean. It's one of my favorites. Hawai'is rainbow plate is another one.

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Unusual_Soup@reddit

The one with the chili pepper is pretty cool too

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protossaccount@reddit

Oh hell yeah. I’ve been saying this for years.

It’s always cool to see the rainbow Hawaiian on when you’re on the mainland.

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skatemexico@reddit

Just saw a Hawaii a couple weeks ago in Minnesota. So cool

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trinite0@reddit

Yep, New Mexico and it's not even close.

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Zestyclose_Put_4143@reddit (OP)

I've searched it it is coooool thanks

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JediLincoln14@reddit

This is the correct answer

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my_clever-name@reddit

Michigan flag 2026 plate. It’s the same design as the 1976 plate.

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Wyoungv01@reddit

The Mn black plate (not the LE plate) looks pretty good. Mn also has pioneer and classic car plates that look good

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hawffield@reddit

My mom has a nice one from Oregon, but I can’t actually remember what it looks like.

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PokeCaptain@reddit

Standard issue: Vermont Green

Special: Montana Glacier NP

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revengeappendage@reddit

Not Pennsylvania lol

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Formo1287@reddit

It’s just the Liberty Bell. I get it with USA 250 and all but something for western PA would have been nice too. Did Charlie Kelly design the new plate?

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Elendril333@reddit

I miss the old yellow and blue ones.

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strugglingtransgrl@reddit

wdym old? they changed???

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Tsquare43@reddit

They've issued a new plate, with the Liberty Bell and the slogan "Let Freedom Ring"

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strugglingtransgrl@reddit

ah, ew

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revengeappendage@reddit

The you’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania ones. Hell yes.

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nachobitxh@reddit

Those new ones are just weird. They look like temp tags.

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revengeappendage@reddit

They seemed cool in concept. Til you realize you gotta be like 2 inches away to see the liberty bell on them.

But really, they just look like we gave up. Lol

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nasadowsk@reddit

PennDOT, being on brand, screwed up a lot about those plates. The lettering confuses license plate readers, it's hard to tell WTF state it is, it bland as fuck, and the roll out is pretty slow.

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tlrmx@reddit

And where the bell is placed makes the color on the middle number look like they’re bleeding. I generally don’t mind the simplicity, but that part bothers me.

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94grampaw@reddit

Still better than Texas

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Delicious-Ad5856@reddit

I don't like the new ones at all. I'm glad i was able to get the old one last year.

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Katze-der-Kanale@reddit

PA has an otter one though! I want that one, but we just have a crab Chesapeake one here in MD.

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TheRainbowConnection@reddit

I lived in NJ for a year and absolutely could not tell you what PA plates look like.

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Zestyclose_Put_4143@reddit (OP)

Loooool 😂😂

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Oolon42@reddit

Whoever has a plain black one with white lettering. It would go better with my car

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PokeCaptain@reddit

Delaware has this

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3catlove@reddit

Iowa has black out plates. That’s what we have on our vehicles. It looks really nice on my red car.

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B_O_A_H@reddit

Iowan here, blackout looks good on almost everything. The blackouts on my burgundy car looked great, and the blackouts look great on the ivory car I have now.

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3catlove@reddit

They really do. Our other vehicle is “meteorite grey” and they look really nice on it as well.

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1Negative_Person@reddit

Indiana just released blackout plates. Iowa has had them for a while. Michigan has a blackout version of their Water, Winter, Wonderland plates, but both the University of Michigan blue and gold, and the Michigan State green and white look better in my opinion.

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bigdisplaygto@reddit

Texas black plate

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Far_Kangaroo2550@reddit

Montana seems to have every color combination possible when I drive through. They have white on black as one option.

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K4NNW@reddit

Sadly, the knees around here like that are "Friends Of Coal" specialty plates.

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DoublePostedBroski@reddit

The Chicago White Sox plate

Actually I think Texas’ plates are this now too

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Willibrator_Frye@reddit

The new Oklahoma "Star 46" plate is a vast improvement over the old barn swallow silhouette plate - which was near impossible to identify. But it's not as good as the 2008 "Native America" tag.

Since retro styled "throwback" tags are being issued (California, Michigan, Tennessee, New York's iconic Kojak-era navy-on-yellow tag), I'd love seeing Alabama's unique 1972 "mint chocolate chip" color scheme come back in style - preferably embossed like a good tag should.

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HeilStary@reddit

99-08 Texas plates

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Natural_Parfait_3344@reddit

MT has a bunch, but I haven't seen all of them in the wild. MT License Plate Designs

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Itchy-Astronaut-7388@reddit

Does MT let anyone design a plate? There's some extremely specific ones in there.

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Natural_Parfait_3344@reddit

Not sure how they decide, but it costs you an additional $25 per yr to have one of these and the extra $ goes to benefit that group. They trimmed the list down a few years ago and angered a bunch of the organizations who depended on the funding.

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EyeIll7026@reddit

The state requires 400 plates to be sold within the first 3 years of the design, and maintain 400 of them in use. The ones getting trimmed aren't meeting those requirements.

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Xeno2014@reddit

Having grown up in Montana, I assumed every state had as many plate options as us. I also assumed every state offered permanent registration on vehicles over 10 years old (literally never have to update the registration or pay the annual fee as long as you have that car. It's awesome!)

You can imagine my disappointment when I moved to North Dakota and found NEITHER of those things exist here. At least our default plate design is pretty cool imo

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DoublePostedBroski@reddit

Omg I want that horse one

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Reaganson@reddit

There are only 12 States out of 50, that don’t offer Personalized license plates, otherwise there are too many options to consider “best-looking”.

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New-BH@reddit

I particularly enjoy how jurisdictions use license plates to message things. DC's Taxation without Representation is the most notable. I always enjoyed Ohio and North Carolina bickering about aaviation "Birthplace of Aviation" vs "First in Flight."

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thatsaSagittarius@reddit

Massachusetts has probably a dozen choices but my current favorite is the 250 plate recently released

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Bigmtnskier91@reddit

The old 90s red and white NY plate

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Sad_Supermarket_176@reddit

This is the answer. Statue of Liberty plates, never should have changed those.

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Tsquare43@reddit

It was a result of losing a lawsuit about which state the Statue of Liberty actually belonged to - NJ.

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IAmBaconsaur@reddit

Agreed. I was so annoyed when they brought back those navy and gold ones.

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Sad_Supermarket_176@reddit

The ones in between were worse, the light blue Niagra Falls plate were terrible. Gold ones are an upgrade from that. Current plates not great either.

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nasadowsk@reddit

Just wait a year. NY changes plates so often, because there's so many counterfeit / invalid ones that end up on the streets after a few years. NY is constantly changing their plates as a result.

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Redbird9346@reddit

We should really adopt some kind of anti-falsifying font for our plates.

A motorcycle belonging to a guy from western New York was allegedly caught entering Manhattan's Congestion Zone, but according to the guy, he's never taken his motorcycle anywhere close to Manhattan.

The photos make it clear the vehicle in the photos was using an altered plate, with a 2 altered to look like a 9.

If our plates used an anti-falsifying font, like the one used in Germany, incidents like this should be far less likely.

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jllauser@reddit

But now you can think of Stan Lee every time you see one. Excelsior!

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dan_blather@reddit

New York’s ham radio license plate has a hidden Morse Code message!

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02K30C1@reddit

The old 70s yellow and black Wisconsin plate

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jeremiah1142@reddit

I mean, lol, it’s not just 50 designs. It’s hundreds, maybe thousands. States can have multiple designs.

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dan_blather@reddit

Canadian provinces have better basic plates but worse specialty plates, in my opinion.

Mexico state plates can be rather attractive. I especially like the designs of Michoacán and Mexico City plates.

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jeremiah1142@reddit

I have always loved the basic BC plate.

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dan_blather@reddit

A stale American joke is that “Je me souviens” on Quebec plates translates to “I am soup” in English.

I like the basic Ontario plate. Just a nice, simple design with a decent typeface, good white space, easy to read, and no clipart.

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MrOxion@reddit

North Carolina has a classic which has remained unchanged since 1982.

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valandsend@reddit

My favorite was Maine’s plate with the chickadee on a pine branch. I just looked it up and found that it’s been recently retired.

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quietude38@reddit

The Michigan “Mighty Mac” with the Mackinac Bridge.

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Fantastic-Pop-9122@reddit

Someone has a black one with white letters but there was a frame around it so i dont know which state it was it was in NY but its not NY, but i liked that one.

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WorstDeal@reddit

North Carolina has 3 base plate and they're all ass

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IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

In Virginia, they have a couple of hundred specialized plates to choose from. The standard plates are very plain.

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HughJManschitt@reddit

Ohio used to have bright yellow plates for people who had DUIs. We called em Party Plates. I like the color scheme of New York.

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UsedToBePOS@reddit

So it has “scarlet letters” eh?

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HughJManschitt@reddit

It does. It's effective. When you're younger it's not such a big deal and some see it as a twisted rite of passage but the charm fades.

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IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

Can you imagine driving to work with those? How humiliating. Although I guess you’d be out of kid car pool duty!

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gus_in_4k@reddit

Apparently Minnesota has them too, they're plain black-on-white and they call them Whiskey plates because the plate code for them starts with W

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Is that true

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HughJManschitt@reddit

It is. It's used with Repeat OVI (DUI) Offenders and first timers who blew a high BAC, but are still allowed limited vehicle usage. It alerts other drivers that this person has a history of impaired driving, encourages police to watch out for them more, and discourages repeat offenses by increasing their visibility and providing consequences. It's not subtle and kind of humiliating. The crappy thing is that anybody who uses the vehicle has to suffer through it, not only the person guilty.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Thanks for the information- difficult to understand US laws -

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HughJManschitt@reddit

"US laws" is the first problem. Crimes crossing state borders, federal property/agencies (e.g., mail fraud, bank robbery), constitutional rights, immigration, federal taxation, and federal antitrust violations are Federal laws. State laws cover everyday matters such as family law (marriage, divorce), property disputes, contracts, torts (personal injury), traffic violations, and most local criminal offenses (e.g., robbery, assault). The majority of people charged with crimes in the US are there for breaking STATE laws, and are prosecuted at the County level. It can even go down to City laws, although those are usually misdemeanor/small crimes such as parking tickets or rules infractions. If you murder someone in Ohio for example, you will be charged by the State of Ohio and tried in whatever County courthouse you did the the crime in. If you commit a Federal crime, you will be tried by the United States Federal Government (or the Feds as they are known) and be tried in a Federal courthouse. All 50 states have variations of the same laws that any society needs to have, and a DUI/OVI would be considered a state level charge. You wouldn't be charged by the US Gov for a DUI.

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dan_blather@reddit

Supposedly the resemblance of Ohio’s party plate to New Mexico’s yellow zia license plate was intentional.

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s-r-g-l@reddit

Just saw a car with party plates broken down on the side of the road today

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filkerdave@reddit

Wyoming was great until we changed it.

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UsedToBePOS@reddit

With the cowboy? That one was legit

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filkerdave@reddit

Oh, we've always used the rider on the bucking bronco (the horse is named Steamboat) but now the plates are the Wyoming flag; dark blue with a bison, rather than the light blue mountainscape.

Comparison of old and new

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UsedToBePOS@reddit

Steamboat! I love it. Thanks for the new Dadfact I can tell my children

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NoMoreMustaches@reddit

It used to be that every state just had one design, maybe they would change it so there would be a couple floating around on the roads.

I think it was my own home state of Florida that started with a few alternate designs. A NASA related one, a nature related one with a panther or manatee… now there are at least 50 varieties including all of the pro sports teams, major universities, there aren’t supposed to be overtly political plates, but there’s one that’s clearly meant to be anti-abortion. When you buy it you pay a little extra, and some of that can go to a charity, like Autism Speaks, for the autism awareness plate.

Somewhere along the way many other states copied and started having loads of their own varieties. In TN there’s a plate with Dolly Parton that promotes her huge child literacy charity.

Oklahoma is really cool because they have a ton of tribal plates for people from different Native American tribal groups.

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travelinmatt76@reddit

My favorite plate was the Texas Cowboy Space Shuttle plate, but it's discontinued and now we just have a boring white plate with black letters

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No-Heat-436@reddit

Colorado has the best ones, but I’m bias cuz I live here. 😂

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1Negative_Person@reddit

The red or the green?

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No-Heat-436@reddit

The red, green and blue ones have always been my favorites because they have the Rocky Mountains on them. 😊

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BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

The NC Venus fly trap plate is gorgeous

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Streetduck@reddit

New Mexico

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3m2coy@reddit

If we are talking about default plates, I like Arizona. The colors are lovely.

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Crazynoob159Shutdown@reddit

Me too, although I’m a bit bias

But honestly I like just having the standard AZ plate because it looks nice

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GeneralBlumpkin@reddit

We have just about every custom design. I like the wood agriculture one

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_Androxis_@reddit

For a state as beautiful as California is, I hate how basic our plates are

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rinky79@reddit

The Oregon Crater Lake one is pretty (although I liked the original version better than the current one)

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okamzikprosim@reddit

Oregon Smokey Bear special plate

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cardifan@reddit

I love this.

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Yelloweggs@reddit

I've had one of these for years! Oregon keeps introducing really cool ones every year but it's so hard for me to want to switch.

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oswin13@reddit

I was going to say my MN state park plates are pretty cool but I really love these.

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Alcoholitron@reddit

Oregons free one is pretty dope too?

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CronosWorks@reddit

It looks cheap when you see it every day.

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okamzikprosim@reddit

Yes. Probably even better than my special GA plate I have now.

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Alcoholitron@reddit

Them trees!

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wolfmann99@reddit

But hes from New Mexico.

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RockShowSparky@reddit

I’m not even a fan, but honestly the Nevada Las Vegas Raiders plate goes hard as fuck.

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Unusual_Soup@reddit

Oregon

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RockShowSparky@reddit

There’s so many

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GrannyTurtle@reddit

That’s like asking which publishing house has the best book covers! My state (Arizona) has a minor industry going on how many different kinds of license plates you can buy (for a small yearly fee). We have sport teams, veterans (men and women), police, clean air, pets, be kind, and many more varieties!

I must admit liking the basic New Mexico plate the best: yellow with the red sun glyph. Very attractive.

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JanuriStar@reddit

It's always a treat to see a Hawai'i, or Alaska, plate on the mainland/lower 48.

Florida has 180 options, with my favorites being Save the Sea Turtles, and Endless Summer.

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Aggravating-House620@reddit

I’m from Virginia originally and we had a LOT of plate options there. One of the free ones is a simple rolling hills background with the normal plate. There’s some pretty fun ones though.

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mjm666@reddit

I liked my Florida manatees one, because manatees, but probably have to admit it wasn't the best design.

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1Negative_Person@reddit

I don’t like pretty much anything about Florida, but their sea turtle plate isn’t bad.

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JanuriStar@reddit

That's the one I have. <3

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xtheredberetx@reddit

The Endless Summer plate is awesome though

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JonMatrix@reddit

I have a Florida shark plate and I love it.

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Sea_Currency_3800@reddit

I miss Florida, there were several good ones

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imthedocbasicallyfun@reddit

I like the Nebraska Arts Council one.

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Sapphire_Dreams1024@reddit

Im biased and love the Rhode Island shark plates

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The-Almighty-Pizza@reddit

California Lake Tahoe plate is my favorite

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

California with the cursive is clean and rad

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1Negative_Person@reddit

Indiana’s “Environment” plates are classic and very tasteful. Their white on blue from a few years back was very nice too. And while it was kind of ugly, I personally liked the Hoosier sunset ones they had back in the 90s.

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1Negative_Person@reddit

Michigan’s new-ish “Water, Winter, Wonderland” plates are S-tier, particularly in blue and gold. They look simultaneously modern and classic. The font is perfect, the kerning is perfect. They just look classy as fuck.

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GreenBeanTM@reddit

I’m biased to our white and green ones

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gus_in_4k@reddit

Whatever the plate design, even if it's the prettiest-looking baseplate, if it uses 3M's Zurich-based font for the number, it ruins it.

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OhThrowed@reddit

I'm pretty fond of Utah's three choices.

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Seeggul@reddit

Nahhh arch supremacy all the way

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Ambitious-Elk5705@reddit

I only like the arch plate. In my family, we call the "in god we trust" plates 'religious narcs' and the black and white ones as 'asshole drivers'.

Have family who would only ever get the in god we trust plates, claiming it would protect them. But they were also huge narcissists who used the local religion for gaslighting and abuse.

Have plenty of old neighbors who were assholes who had the black plates. Most drivers I see with those plates drive like an asshole and give Utah the worst driver title.

I like Idahos trout.

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OhThrowed@reddit

Heh, I forgot the 'in god we trust' plates. I was thinking of the third as the 'Life Elevated' skier plate.

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Dustteas@reddit

The new black and white ones are pretty cool!

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UntidyVenus@reddit

As a Utahn, I have 4 vehicles all with the delicate arch one on it, and am thrilled!

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jarheadatheart@reddit

That’s the one I was going to say. I’m in Illinois. Ours are lame.

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Icy_Consideration409@reddit

Ours (with mountain peaks) is great.

But New Mexico (teal) is next level.

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shifty1032231@reddit

Plus I know who is driving a rented car when driving on the road especially in the mountains.

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Icy_Consideration409@reddit

Do you mean the white CO plate with red sky and characters?

They aren’t always rentals. Company fleets use those plates too.

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Henrithebrowser@reddit

I like the MN ones but I’m obviously biased lol

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Usual-Ad6290@reddit

The old Tennessee plates were in the shape of Tennessee, very unique.

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JustDontBeFat_GodDam@reddit

Why does Tennessee have a quadrilateral parallelogram shape on the plate when the state isnt even shaped like that? Its more of a boat shape

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only_because_I_can@reddit

Florida has 150+ designs to choose from. You can also get a vanity plate with your choice of words/letters/numbers. There is an extra cost for those, and the DMV can deny your choice if they feel it's inappropriate. Some of the extra fee usually goes towards a certain cause, like autism awareness (which has a colorful puzzle on it) or environmental causes (like save the manatees with a manatee on it). Many people get plates with their favorite sports team's logo, college or professional.

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Wild-Bill-H@reddit

Yellow New Mexico with red Zia.

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Wetald@reddit

It ain’t Texas.

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legalcarroll@reddit

Hawaii’s National Park plate is pretty cool.

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yeezymcsleezyo_0@reddit

The new ohio plates are pretty cool

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mkt853@reddit

The red white and blue Texas plates were cool. Now I think they are just basic black and white.

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obiworm@reddit

I’m partial to RI’s shark plate and CT’s pizza plate

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eirinne@reddit

I like the RI wave plate, more when it was bluer not so green

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mkt853@reddit

I think the new version looks great. it’s more contrasty or something. Really basic but clean design.

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Neat-Ad11@reddit

Isn’t the green one for electric vehicles? I think even the new one is still blue.

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SonuvaGunderson@reddit

The new pizza plate totally slaps.

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MaroonTrojan@reddit

The answer, unequivocally, is Idaho.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/434-artistic-license/

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ReceptionMuch3790@reddit

Arizona and New Mexico

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DubiousAdviceGiver@reddit

It’s a tie between New Mexico and the last Wyoming plates. The new ones suck.

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Appropriate_Lynx4119@reddit

Utah

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anotherdamnscorpio@reddit

I like the Oklahoma one with the Scissortail Flycatcher on it, but im into birding so yeah.

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Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

New Mexico, every variant. Washington DC has a cool tagline, and New Hampshire has the coolest one.

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largos7289@reddit

I'm still a fan of New Hampshire. Live free or die

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From-628-U-Get-241@reddit

NM. Both the yellow and the turquoise plates are awesome.

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Effective-Map-2987@reddit

A lot of the Montana plates are pretty cool! I believe they have the largest selection of vanity plates out of any state

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MalarkeyMcGee@reddit

I can tell you that everyone from Maryland will say Maryland

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paulschreiber@reddit

This sounds like it would be a good 99pi episode. Or a CGP Grey video.

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timbotheny26@reddit

Everyone has prettier license plates and drivers licenses than we do and that's really disappointing.

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ITrCool@reddit

New Mexico and Colorado are tied as the best one, in my book.

I like the green plate with the mountain caps over the numbers on the plate for CO.

The Yellow background, with the red borders on the NM plates are awesome.

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LiqdPT@reddit

Most states have several optional designs, too. My state of Washington must have about 20, and that's not even close to the most I've seen.

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tychii93@reddit

The Northern Lights design for Alaska plates by far.

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FluffusMaximus@reddit

The RI shark plate is top tier.

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Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Many states have about 50 different designs so that question is a lot bigger than you might think.

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sinesquaredtheta@reddit

I think it is really hard to tell unless you are comparing only the standard issue plates.

I think there's a bunch of them special plates that are really cool!

Florida - Manatee plate, and NASA plate

Tennessee - Smoky Mountains Haze plate, and Friends of the Smoky Mountains plate

Virginia - Blue Ridge Parkway plate, and Mountain to seashore plate

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Brilliant_Shoulder89@reddit

The Protect Lake Tahoe or Pyramid Lake ones from Nevada.

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Capable-Society-2043@reddit

Hey, then there's Indiana's new Blackout plates, so beautifully designed to be easily read by Flock surveillance cameras and other licenses plate readers that are popping up like weeds all across the US these days.

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Current_Poster@reddit

Maryland had a pretty sweet one last I checked.

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Similar_Jelly_4375@reddit

I think the new massachusetts 250th plates look pretty dope

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Cant-think-of-a-nam@reddit

To me ny was before they switched to the god awful blue and yellow it is now

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rockettaco37@reddit

I’m a bit biased, but I like NY’s latest one

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Carinyosa99@reddit

I like the Maryland plate we got back at the bicentennial of the War of 1812 (which is also the anniversary of our National Anthem). I have that one on my car. My husband has the newer Maryland one which has our flag (which as Marylanders you are practically obligated to love) along the bottom, but I hate the font that they used for "Maryland" at the top. It's some cheap looking italic font that was on our really old license plates and I don't like that they brought it back.

But I really love our Chesapeake Bay plate. You can see it here if you scroll down a little.

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postit58@reddit

California black plate with yellow letters/numbers

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lsp2005@reddit

The old NY one with the Statue of Liberty.

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natigin@reddit

The New Hampshire “Live Free Or Die” ones are pretty great, but California black and yellow alternates

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5hallowbutdeep@reddit

New Mexico

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New-External1308@reddit

Hawaii has beautiful plates

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AVDLatex@reddit

Maryland. How is that in doubt??

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BouncingSphinx@reddit

Oklahoma's new red plates aren't bad, but they're not really iconic. The older Texas plates that had the blue border with the Space Shuttle and all were pretty nice, but they got rid of them by the time I had a Texas vehicle.

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Eclectic7112@reddit

Maryland, with the Maryland flag of course!

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Jexthis@reddit

Not gonna lie im still salty they got rid of the shuttle plate. The new white plates are lame.

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Quirky-Invite7664@reddit

Delaware

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GearNo4524@reddit

Not a state but Northwest Territories is pretty cool.

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Dizzy-Ad4584@reddit

NC Venus Fly Trap is cool

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Gettles@reddit

The blue fading to white with the little tree, South Carolina's looks comfy. Gives a good "sipping a beer on the beach" feel.

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NoIncrease299@reddit

I'm biased as I grew up there ... but I still think North Carolina's "First In Flight" plate looks great.

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Tier71234@reddit

I like my Oregon bee and flower plate, even begins with BZ

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time_travel_rabbit@reddit

California

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secrerofficeninja@reddit

I like Colorado’s.

I did like my state of Pennsylvania’s until now. It’s always been blue and yellow but for some reason the state is changing to generic dark letters on white background. Very lame.

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CorrectCondition9458@reddit

I love floridas space shuttle plates.

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EmperorDolan@reddit

Wisconsin butter plate.

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herpafilter@reddit

New Hampshire, primarily because it has the state motto, which is objectivly the best state motto, and not some horseshit tourism promoting marketing wank. Live Free Or Die.

The moose plate is a cool option, which has both the best motto and the best animal. Can't beat that.

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MamaLlama629@reddit

Oregon’s cultural trust plates are pretty

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dgrigg1980@reddit

New Mexico

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g0d_help_me@reddit

Not a US state, but the Northwest Territories in Canada is objectively the best.

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Return_Of_The_Whack@reddit

Not Virginia. Ours is sooooo boring

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Loud_Inspector_9782@reddit

We used to have one in Texas to had a Horned Lizard on it. It was awesome.

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CronosWorks@reddit

CA black and yellow is the best imo.

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ohgeejeeohdee@reddit

The D.A.R.E one from PA was always rad looking to me, unfortunately they don't produce them anymore since the program became a huge farce.

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HonestLemon25@reddit

Totally subjective. But I like Arizona’s a lot. The simplicity and font on California’s is pretty cool too

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turdferguson3891@reddit

California has been using basically the same design for standard issued ones for years and years. There was a time when they had the DMV url on it and a time when they commemorated the 150th anniversary of statehood. Other than that they've been the same since the 90s even the previous design was the same color but it just had the red California in stamped block printing instead of cursive. We have some many specialty plates I guess they don't feel the need to update the regular one.

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normiepitbullmom@reddit

If you are interested in learning more about the history of US license plates, 99% Invisible did a nice story on this: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/434-artistic-license/

If the list can’t work for you for some reason, search for episode 434 Artistic License

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ElectroGhandi@reddit

The Rhode Island plates before they changed it a few years ago were absolutely perfect. The new design is still good, but was so much better before.

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Prior-Beautiful-6851@reddit

Hawaii. Plain white with a rainbow.

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ElectroGhandi@reddit

Unfortunately the strong sun often fades the rainbow over the years so it just looks like plain white.

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Steampink8@reddit

Came here to say this! 🌈

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Pumpkin-doodle@reddit

I’ve always liked DC’s license plate. It’s simple but patriotic looking to me.

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Efficient_Advice_380@reddit

Depends, Illinois has 70 different options

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Emergency-Office-302@reddit

It depends on when you ask. Since the states have discovered this new revenue stream, there are so many that next month there will be a new one (or more) somewhere.

Also, it’s not just 50 states churning them out; every possession and territory, plus the District of Columbia (the US Federal Capital district) all have their own. Most Americans have no idea how many not-quite states there are in the United Stares, but there are six with semi-non-voting representation in the US House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress.) I say “semi” because they can introduce legislation and vote in committees, but they cannot vote on the passage of legislation on the Floor of the House.

Sadly, this has become arcane knowledge, because we have abandoned the teaching of what used to be called “Civics” in public schools, because the ignorant are more easily led and duped.

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Psychoboy@reddit

That's tough cause some states have a ton of specialty plates. Arizona for example has 114 different specialty plates, which the extra money for those go to charities, schools, and other organizations.

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IAmBaconsaur@reddit

I’m a fan of the trend of “blackout” plates, personally.

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Emotional_Ad5714@reddit

The standard Minnesota plate isn't great, but we have several alternative critical habitat plates that are awesome, plus we have an all black plate, a plate for all the professional sports teams, and plates for every college in the state.

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rhb4n8@reddit

Not Pennsylvania that's for fucking sure

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Shiny_Mew76@reddit

VA has so many that you could argue they have the best out of sheer variety.

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Victimless-Criminal@reddit

I like every Colorado plate that I've seen. I lived there for a few years and still regret not getting one.

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DocStromKilwell@reddit

Partial to the standard Florida plate with the oranges, but I gotta say North Carolina’s “First in Flight” plate is a legitimately nice bit of design.

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molotovzav@reddit

Turquoise NM and Chili pepper NM. I live on NV, specifically Vegas, and see a lot of different state plates. New Mexico's always stand out.

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wyvern713@reddit

I really like Hawaii's rainbow plate!

From my home state (Oregon), I really like the Gray Whale, Crater Lake, and Bees plates.

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Apart-Shelter-9277@reddit

I like the CA Yosemite one

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Apart-Shelter-9277@reddit

Also the one with the palm trees and the sunset. (OG from California)

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OldRaj@reddit

Indiana now has a flat black plate. Many people dig it. I’m not really a fan.

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jim2527@reddit

New Mexico but Florida has some nice ones as well.

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ravenfan09@reddit

This is such a subjective question because we’ll all claim our favorite states. That being said, I like North Carolina’s classic “First In Flight” plate. It hasn’t changed in like 40 years and represents where the first successful powered flight in world history took place, no matter how much Ohio claims the Wright brothers!

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WatermelonMachete43@reddit

I like the Oregon pine tree. The New Mexico chili peppers, both the turquoise and black backgrounds are very pretty too.

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nowinterever@reddit

Let me make your day: www.alpca.org Automobile License Plate Collectors Association. And their convention is coming up on July!

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I_am_Russ_Troll@reddit

Colorado sesquicentennial plate

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FreeStateOfPortland@reddit

I love our Smokey The Bear plates in Oregon

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Both-Structure-6786@reddit

The new Indiana blackout plates are pretty cool.

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obmotut@reddit

I love my Minnesota Critical Habitat plate (the Loon one). Though I miss my Utah plate (the Arches one)

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Entropy907@reddit

Alaska default plate. Keep it simple. Blue on yellow, the state flag, and THE LAST FRONTIER.

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excitedllama@reddit

Man oklahoma has some bangers. Both the red and blue ones are really good. Arkansas' is lame

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Me_be_Artful_Dodger@reddit

Partial to the new Indiana plates (dark blue) and the precious NY blue and yellow plates.

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eirinne@reddit

The Massachusetts 250 commemorative plate is outstanding.

https://www.mass.gov/news/rmv-celebrates-massachusetts-250-with-commemorative-license-plate

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TheRainbowConnection@reddit

This is my pick too.

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Neat-Ad11@reddit

Yah. They finally got a decent plate after I moved to NH.

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brutongaster666@reddit

The Maryland Farm/Agricultural plate was always one of my favorites. It's orange and yellow like a sunset.

The old Chesapeake Bay plate was really nice also. The one with the heron. They shouldn't have changed it - the new version looks lame.

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Northman86@reddit

Minnesota. Clean, clear and better than everyone elses. Also has the best alternate wildlife fund license plates.

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CauseSpecific8545@reddit

I think the MN base one is lame. The one the doubles as a park pass is pretty cool though. I think it is nice they offer a black one, it goes well with some vehicles.

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dethloonollie@reddit

and the new mnufc license plates are doooope

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longipetiolata@reddit

I like the Yellow on Black custom California plate. Simple and discreet. It’s a modern version of the standard plates from the 1960s.

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relikter@reddit

VA has a lot of choices (Google says over 250 choices) but the Friends of Tibet one is the best looking IMO.

New Mexico is still better though.

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Hollocene13@reddit

VA also has the only good font.

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Rose_DCLXVI@reddit

I love the fall leaves VA plate!

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cheersmdears@reddit

Montana has a gazillion options, but I’m very partial to our Glacier Park northern lights option.

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Senior-Jellyfish-816@reddit

The green Colorado plates by far

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Crazy_Raven_Lady@reddit

Hawaii 🌈

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Independent-Dark-955@reddit

I am in California, but my vote is for South Carolina with the palm tree and crescent moon.

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Katy-Moon@reddit

The Wisconsin Sandhill Crane plate. Gorgeous!

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DoublePostedBroski@reddit

You know, the Disney World one in Florida kind of slaps

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turdferguson3891@reddit

It's hard to say anymore. There are so many different options in many states. Used to be you just had the standard issue one and you could get it personalized. And maybe you could get a special one for being a veteran or for a college or some special event like the Olympics. Now most states have like 10 or more options.

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alvvavves@reddit

I agree. This would be more interesting if it was limited to standard plates.

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jderrick6@reddit

I love the classic blue and yellow California license plates.

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Active_Yellow_1573@reddit

Delaware

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Ninja0428@reddit

South Carolina used to with the sunset design but it was watered down and now they're introducing a hideous new plate

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ramnet88@reddit

Oklahoma used to have a pretty good license plate design: https://imgur.com/vKOGw0T

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Eater_of_yellow_snu@reddit

Not Pennsylvania

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Lowcord@reddit

I really like the California Lake Tahoe plate. Really clean and simple with the blue/yellow colors and mountains. The Sunset plate from the 80s is awesome too, wish it was still available.

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