Maryland License Plates

FN, FS-FZ, GE and GF series omitted in 2023-24. GZ series omitted in 2026.

C is constant, bottom URL added in 2007, low 065 00C.

P in 5th position. Used on various types of cross-border highway coaches since 1989. Charter buses required to register with Apportioned plates beginning 2016 per updated IRP rules.

E over D in 5th position

T over E in 5th position. Issued in pairs to "wrecker" type tow trucks.

F in 5th position starting in 1989 until series exhausted and letter moved to 6th position around 2020. Originally issued in pairs, changed to single plate only since 2003.

Only issued from 1989-2001. G in 5th position. Very few surviving examples.

E in 5th position

Baltimore City (B/C) and Anne Arundel (A/A), Baltimore (B/A), Howard (H/C), Montgomery (M/C) and Prince George's (P/G) counties all have independent police departments that are assigned their own plate series.

A/A 1590: Anne Arundel County Police

B/A 2055: Baltimore County Police

H/C 1103: Howard County Police

M/C 0936: Montgomery County Police

P/G 3812: Prince George's County

P/P 0288: Maryland National Capital Park Police, Prince George's County (There is also a Montgomery County version of the National Capital Park Police plate, also with P/P prefix.)

S/P 0053: Baltimore City School Police

Tom Castelli informs us that other counties not listed here have a county sheriff's office that performs the same functions as an independent county police department. These departments use similar plates in the S/A 1234 series with "[county name] Co." screened below the serial. Cities and other municipalities that have independent police departments (e.g. Laurel, Westminster) use similar plates in the M/G 1234 series with the name of the municipality screened below the serial, although the L/G series is used by some towns.

Municipal series:

M/G 2376: Westminster

Sheriff series:

S/A 1800 series, S/A 3900 series (Baltimore City)

S/A 1932 (Worcester County)

S/A 2400 series (Baltimore County)

S/A 4720 (Wicomico County)

S/A 5913 (Carroll County)

University of Maryland Campus Police: C/P 0105

From Tom Castelli: It was the standard police type, with a caption of "University of Maryland." This was on a UMBC campus police car on the UMBC campus; I assume this type and prefix is used across all UMd campuses for their campus police cars. (Also assuming C/P stands for Campus Police.)

Maryland Department of Labor and Licensing Police: L/L0003

Reported by Jeff Ellis

"P" is constant. Website added in 2005; high without website 084 65P, low website 085 01P.

1988 Charter Bus (now obsolete): I00 345

Original numbering format: 1A00001

H/T suffix issued 2016-25; low 55000H/T.

H/W suffix issued 2025-present.

D/M is silkscreened -- constant on 4 x 7" plate. Tom Castelli observed 2D436 on 2009-09-13 with wheelchair symbol embossed to right of serial. Later a revision appeared with wheelchair symbol screened to left of stacked D/M prefix, embossed serial number D/M 0437.

4806 D/M low War of 1812 base circa 2014-15.

E and D are constant. Website added in 2005; high w/o website E36978D, low with website E37001D.

Class K includes vehicles operating on farm and adjacent roads only on inhabited islands. Website added to Farm Area plates in 2005; high without website 124 27K, low with website 129 94K.

Stacked F/T suffix and "Farm" both screened, numbers embossed.

Same format used on separate Farm Truck Tractor plates but with stacked T/R suffix instead, high 086 91T/R. Formerly issued in pairs, single plate only since 2003.

Original series was 000 00L followed by L00 000 which ended in 2005 and followed by these.

000 0L0 2005-10

000 00Z 2010-13

Z00 000 2013-16

000 0Z0 2016-18

000 Z00 2018-21

0Z0 000 2021-24

000 L00 2024-26

Plate was resized in 2008; high original 4.5"x8" 17135 L/D, low 4x7" 18414 L/D.

Some plates observed with Avery sheeting.

Bottom URL added in 2007, high without 03420LM.

Limousines previously used Class B plates until switching to this dedicated class in 1997.

Updated format with crest on far left side.

Website added in 2005; high without website L/G 74892, low with website L/G 75011.

Avery sheeting observed in 2012 beginning at L/G94500.

Type created by 2006, issued in pairs starting at observed 000R01. Example usage noted on a 4-wheel, electric taxi.

See History tab for numbering formats.

In 2005, "www.maryland.gov" was added in very small print along bottom. High without web site 737M49, low website 741M83.

In 2008, Motorcycle plates were resized from traditional 4 1/2x8" to the more standard 4x7" size. High traditional size 7D0003, low 4x7" size 8D8444.

2010 War of 1812 series ranged from low D39381 through end of Y suffix.

1B is constant. Changed from old non-standard size (4.5" x 8") to 4 x 7" around 1B3000 or 1B3100 in 2010.

M is constant, originally suffix, later prefix, moved to middle 000M001 in 2002 (low 000M002) and to 00001M0 format in 2006.

"www.maryland.gov" added in 2005, low 480M000.

Hologram threads appeared in 2009 at 45000M0.

See note under 1986 Passenger about NJ dies.

894M522 high with MD dies.

895M023 low with NJ dies.

909M500 high with NJ dies.

910M000 low with MD dies.

It appears Multi-Purpose plates from 895Mx to 909Mx used NJ dies.

Numbers for this type are randomly assigned, not issued in sequential order. Flat yellow on black, design.

Tom Castelli observed flat red on black version. We would love a clear photo.

2R is constant

This type was created in 2025.

There are also motorcycle (0000DR), semi-tractor (0000FDR) and trailer (0000DRX) varieties of the rental plate.

Motorcycle:

Semi-tractor:

Trailer:

"School Charter" caption on bottom

"School Vehicle" caption on bottom

4E is constant

High without website is S/G 22722. Low with website is S/G 22806. The 24000 series uses an odd 2 die.

A separate series of State Gov't plates exists for State Highway Administration vehicles, beginning at S/G 80000. High for that series is S/G 87364. No website seen yet in this series.

There is a THIRD series of State Government plates for State Highway Administration PASSENGER CARS. Low is S/G 29607, and NEW High is S/G 29909. No website yet in this series.

'2' digit is back to a normal die. High with the odd '2' die is S/G 24366.

From Jeff Ellis: Many Maryland Transit Authority buses are sporting newly-remade State Gov't plates, retaining the old numbers, but now sporting the website at the bottom and Avery Sheeting.

These were probably issued up to S/G29599, then skipped to S/G30000 to avoid scattered numbers issued to State Highway Administration passenger cars in the intervening range.

Our high for the original type is S/G30274. It now appears that shortly after that number range, the state reversed to the 01234S/G format around late July 2014.

The state seal appears at the far left of the plate on the new, reversed format Local and State Govt plates.

This is the only known Maryland m/c plate with state shield.

Modified Historic Vehicles

Modified Historic motorcycles

Website started in 2005 at 375 00B, high without 374-99B.

No special numbering for taxis on Agriculture base -- registered among the regular passenger cars, trucks, & multipurpose vehicle plates.

Taxis did have their own series on the 1990 Chesapeake base.

This point of sale computer generated black on white permit has been printed by car dealers since October 2010. Permit design includes year, make, model, color, and VIN of vehicle with expiration date printed in white on black.

Numbering started at T000001 and appears to be shared between passenger cars and motorcycles. Some permits observed with missing T suffix or final digit were found to be a printing error. T floats between prefix and suffix as numbers are recycled continuously.

Motorcycle version is printed with blue ink on smaller sized paper; 72588K observed.

TT is constant, numbering started with TT0-000, then 000-0TT and 00000TT since 2001. Tow trucks previously used E class truck plates.

Website added in 2005; high without website 00694TT, low website 00712TT.

Website replaced with "Tow Truck" in 2010; high website 06763TT, low "Tow Truck" 06918TT.

"F" suffix is constant. Changed from pairs to singles by 2004, high pair 290-26F, with 02 hologram.

Website added in 2005; high without website 301-49F, low website 302 72F.

Trailer plates have displayed URL along bottom since 2005.

Lowest Trailer with website: 854079G

Highest Trailer without website: 853890G

Very rare type

One of seven classes not assigned to individual vehicles. Others are: 1A (Dealer), 1B (M/C Dealer), 1C (Trailer Dealer), 2R (Recycler), 3F (Finance[Repossession]), 4E (Special Equipment)

Originally 300 001 to 299 999, then 00A 001 to present, low: 10A 813. "www.maryland.gov" started at 23R 000 in 2005 and VST sheeting threads appeared at 12X 000 in 2009.

www.maryland.gov added in 2008; high without website 033 19J, low website 034 52J.

This nostalgic reproduction of Maryland's 1910 plate was first available only by application in 2014. It was re-activated in October 2025 and should remain available indefinitely. All plates issued from the Vehicle Services back office and mailed to the customer. Available once again to order in regular series, personalized and/or handicap versions in these plate classes and schemes:

A passenger vehicle, E light truck and M Multi-purpose vehicles all use VR series 2014 low VR00005

L Historic vehicle plate features smaller "HISTORIC" caption directly below state name; 2014 lows VL00300-319 plus 00156

N Street rod plate features smaller "STREET ROD" caption directly below state name; 2025 prefix VN

Introduced July 2001, this license plate ("Ag Tag") was an optional issue celebrating Maryland's agricultural heritage with the slogan "Our Farms, Our Future," beside a farm scene on a bright red and yellow background. It was available for passenger vehicles / light trucks / multipurpose vehicles / taxis in A000000 format, low A000052. Other ag tags were Trailer (A900000), Farm Truck (F/T00000), and Handicapped (00000A/E).

The production month for an Avery "SecureMark" code can be determined by subtracting the number of circles arrayed in a diamond pattern around the year from twelve. Eleven circles = January; ten circles = February, ... zero circles = December.

Numbering started at 00001 in 2001, stacked suffix screened to high 02221A/E, changing in the early-2000s to embossed suffix at low obs 02301A/E.

F/T stacked and screened.

Agriculture trailer series started at A900000.

This Chesapeake version debuted in 2018 at 50000 C/H, low 50811 C/H.

Commemorates the 2007 induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

This Baltimore Orioles plate was introduced in June 2012. Orioles logo to left of serial, stacked B/A/L prefix is screened, numbers embossed.

Baltimore Ravens logo to left of serial. R/A/V stacked prefix screened.

Redskins helmet to left of serial. F/A/N stacked prefix screened, serial embossed.

DAV prefix (NOT stacked) is screened in black outlined letters -- D is red, A is white, V is blue. Number is embossed.

Wheelchair embossed to the left on numbers up to DV9999. Wheelchair symbol did not appear on 7-digit DV10000 format due to lack of space so a revised 6-digit format was implemented in the late-2010s. "Disabled Veteran" screened along bottom.

Standard Base. "Waving" US flag on flagpole graphic to left of serial. Stacked H/D/V screened.

Motorcycle: 0106 H/D/V

Old style National Guard 00000N/G format no longer issued, but still valid. High is 03735N/G.

This version dates from around 1990. The original, plainer 86-base Purple Heart plate in the PH00001 format is off the roads.

This base started at NAA 001 in February, 1986 and progressed through ZZZ 999, then from AAA 001 through MZZ 999. Final numbering format emerged in 2004 with 0 (zero) never produced in first position. Website applied only for a short time in 2005; high without 9AK Z95, low with website 1AL A01.

Maryland plates used New Jersey dies for a short period in 2006 due to violence affecting plate production in the Maryland prison.

8CM X22 high with MD dies.

3CN Z46 high with NJ dies.

1CP A90 low for MD dies after NJ dies.

Jeff Ellis figures NJ dies ran between 1CN A01 and 9CN Z99.

Sheeting hologram threads appeared in 2010 at 1FC A01.

This general use passenger base was issued only between June 2010-15 for new and replacement plates. 1986 "crest" base remained valid.

The M/D series appeared first (low 1M/D0000), followed by the A/A series. B/J and B/S were skipped, 0 (zero) never used in first position, Avery sheeting confirmed low 5 A/G 9000.

When the original Bay plate debuted at the very end of 1990, for a premium price passenger car owners could get Bay plates with a BAY suffix. High on this type was 520-BAY.

899 BNN was the final plate produced in the Heron passenger series in 2004.

Issued from 1990-2004. From Jeff Ellis: Wheelchair and "H/P" screened to high of 13315H/P. Wheelchair embossed and "H/P" screened from low of 13541H/P through high of 13946H/P. Wheelchair AND "H/P" embossed from at low of 14121H/P.

AEY 99W was the final plate produced in this 1990-2004 Heron multi-purpose series.

When the original Bay plate debuted at the very end of 1990, for a premium price passenger car owners could get Bay plates with a BAY suffix. Somewhat lesser known is that the same deal applied to multipurpose vehicles. Jeff Ellis observed high BAY 53A on this rare variation.

This was the last of the Chesapeake bases to use a special numbering series for taxis. Issued from 1990-2004.

Issued only between 1990-2004.

1EY 899 was the final plate produced in this 1990-2004 Heron truck series.

This was the 2004 replacement for the Heron plate. First available 26 Jan 04. The first series ran through 99999 C/B, then B/Y, C/A, C/C and C/D onwards.

Tiger Joe and Andrew Turnbull report spotting the low for the C/A series, 00001 C/A. The reported low for the C/B series is 00001 C/B.

"Barbed wire" hologram started at 15000C/D.

Switch to Avery sheeting at approximately 08000C/E.

From Jeff Ellis: Background made much bluer beginning 98000C/E; still Avery.

First available 26 Jan 04.

"www.maryland.gov" appeared along bottom in 2005; 69000 H/V low. 68892 H/V high plain.

Progression: 00001H/C, 00001H/D, 00001H/V and 00016H/T.

Wheelchair and stacked letters screened through 35999H/D, embossed thereafter.

Confirmed issue range for this War of 1812 handicapped series was low 09343H/T through high 50665H/T.