and do so for 30 years? And despite having, well, a rainbow of colors on it, the plate still manages to be clean and legible. What other state would put a rainbow on its license plate. Still, even if you'd never seen one of these before, you'd instantly know that it's from Hawaii. True, you're not going to see this one very often here on the mainland, so the thing has an inherent mystique. There are only three things that say "Vermont" more to me than this license plate: Bernie, Ben and Jerry. 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. 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. I chose the better of the two here, but even the yellow one would've been up here near the top. 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). 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 1960s. The state's "Zia" symbol, which has been on its plates for almost ever, makes its boldest statement yet. You have the state nickname of "Land of Enchantment" in a neatly sized and placed font that doesn't conflict with the equally classy "New Mexico USA" below.
The design itself, which actually got better when adapted from its original centennial design, is clean and classic, yet also distinctive. The overpasses in Albuquerque are this color, for Pete's sake. Hmm, you don't like teal? Sorry, I love it, but more important, "turquoise" is truly indicative of New Mexico. I also like that the numbers are stamped and that there are only six of them. There's only one state this could possibly be from, due to its familiarity/longevity, distinctive color scheme and that everyone knows Colorado is filled with mountains. Oh sure, the mountains have oscillated between white and green, the shade of green has been tweaked, and the mountains were given some detailing, but this is pretty much the same plate as always.
Tier 1: The colorful classicsĮvery other state in the country wishes it could've come up with a unique, colorful and iconic license plate design 60 years ago and pretty much just moved on with their lives thereafter. And yes, I'm totally biased against the state you live in. In instances where there are multiple standard plates, I just picked the one I liked best. I also only considered "standard" plates, or those that the DMV will give you by default. The criteria I considered included whether it enhances or worsens a car's aesthetics is it symbolic of the state is it distinctive enough to ID without reading the state name is it stamped or printed/flat and does it have a slogan, nickname or website (the latter is a bad thing and stupid - am I supposed to call it up while driving?). These rankings were chosen by a blue-ribbon commission consisting of myself. Now, for the record, the Northwest Territories have unquestionably the best license plate in North America, but 50 is already way too many things to create a list about, and I had to draw the line somewhere.
So here is a definitive ranking of all 50 United States license plates. For something that's on a car for a purely practical purpose, they're surprisingly artistic. American license plates are pretty darn interesting when you consider the drab white and yellow rectangles found in Europe.
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