Arizona’s cactus-emblazoned plate has been voted the favorite license plate in America, with nearly a third of the 1,000 respondents in a new survey ranking it as the best state standard-issue design in the country.

Coming in second place was California’s classic white plate with the red script font reading “California.” Alabama’s picturesque lake scene-emblazoned plate came in third, according to the survey.

Nearly a third of survey respondents picked their favorite plate because it represents their home state, but half of the respondents chose plates with excellent color schemes. Other reasons: The imagery captures the state’s spirit, the plate features a great slogan and it’s bold and strong.

Top 25 license plates in the U.S.
Rank State
1Arizona
2California
3Alabama
4Arkansas
5Connecticut
6Colorado
7Hawaii
8Alaska
9Florida
10Texas
11Idaho
12New York
13Minnesota
14Utah
15Illinois
16New Mexico
17Washington
18Delaware
19Georgia
20North Dakota
21North Carolina
22Kansas
23Maryland
24Maine
25Nevada
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Written by:
Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.
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Reviewed by:
John McCormick
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Editorial Director
John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.

What’s the key to a winning plate design?

A photo of a Nevada license plate

States with well-liked designs tend to stick with a good thing, such as:

  • Arkansas, with its barely-there white diamond (representing its diamond mines) and the motto “The Natural State.”
  • A corner-to-corner rainbow has graced license plates in Hawaii since 1991.
  • Alaska’s blue-on-gold “Last Frontier” plates. (The state’s 1921 plates may be the country’s most highly valued collector plates, fetching some $20,000).
  • Utah has two standard plates: one depicts an iconic giant red-rock arch, but its other features a skier and a much-beloved motto dating to the mid-’80s, “Greatest Snow on Earth.”
  • Delaware’s plate reminds folks it’s the first state with a bold blue-and-gold design.
  • Nevada’s plate features multicolored abstract mountains and the phrase “Home Means Nevada.”

A brief history of license plates in the U.S.

States began to issue license plates 110 years ago. Owners were initially assigned numbers and told to make their own, often fashioned from leather and metal.

Drivers do care what these ubiquitous, mobile billboards look like. This is most evident when things go wrong, as in 2003, when Kentucky released a license plate featuring a rising sun with a giant smiley face and the motto, “Kentucky: It’s that friendly.”

Residents promptly took pens and duct tape to their bumpers, defacing the sun with mustaches and frowns. The state spent $3.5 million for new plates, money it said it would recover 50 cents at a time from license renewal stickers.

More than a license plate

License plates’ crucial role, of course, is for identification. However, when more people started driving to more places, the plate’s design took on the part it has continued to serve to this day: to entice travelers to visit the state.

Of course, if you don’t like your state’s standard-issue license plate and, like 95% of the population, are not about to pay extra for a specialty version, you can always cover up the art as long as you don’t obscure the numbers or tags. The U.S. Supreme Court has already given the OK.

In 1977, the nation’s high court heard a case involving a New Hampshire couple fined for masking New Hampshire’s logo, “Live Free or Die,” on their plates. Jehovah’s Witnesses, the couple said it conflicted with their moral, religious and political beliefs. In a 6-3 ruling, the court ruled in favor of the couple on First Amendment grounds.

Maybe what’s on a license plate matters more than we can ever know.

In 1928, Massachusetts issued a plate with a small fish on the bottom facing away from the state’s name. That year, the state’s commercial fishermen had one of the worst seasons ever. The state turned the fish around. Pointing toward “Mass.” the following year, the fishery rebounded.

Laura Longero

Ask the Insurance Expert

Laura Longero

Executive Editor

Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

John McCormick

Ask the Insurance Expert

John McCormick

Editorial Director

John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.

Leslie Kasperowicz

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Leslie Kasperowicz

Managing Editor

Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.

Nupur Gambhir

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Nupur Gambhir

Managing Editor

Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.

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Executive Editor

Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.