Maryland License Plates

FN series skipped. The rest of the F series was skipped after about FR. GE & GF were skipped.

C is constant. 065 00C appears to be the low with website.

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. Used on "wrecker" type tow trucks.

F in 5th position starting in 1989 until series exhausted and letter moved to 6th position.

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

The "P" is a constant. Now with website, starting at 085 01P. 084 65P is the high without the website.

Charter Bus (now obsolete): I00 345

Original numbering format: 1A00001

On Md Proud (2016) base. Base began somewhere between 50665H/T (war of 1812 high) and 55600H/T (Md Proud low)

68892 H/V highest plain reported. 69000 H/V is the current low with "www.maryland.gov" at bottom.

Progression: 00001H/C, then 00001H/D, then 00001H/V, now 00016H/T. Wheelchair and stacked letters screened through 35999H/D, embossed thereafter.

War of 1812 base low: 09343H/T

D/M is silkscreened -- constant

Tom Castelli reports 2D436 on 2009-09-13 as a possible new series on the 4x7" plate. Wheelchair symbol embossed to right of serial.

D/M 0437 reported by Tom Castelli, but we are unsure of the progression. Wheelchair symbol screened to left of stacked D/M prefix. Serial embossed. National standard 4"x 7" size.

Now on War of 1812 base.

4806 D/M reported as a low on the War of 1812 series.

E and D are constants. High w/o website: E36978D. Low with website: E37001D. Now with VST threads.

Vehicles operating on farm and adjacent roads only. Class K includes vehicles used only on inhabited islands effective 10/2006. Now with website.

High without website: 124 27K.

Low with website: 129 94K.

Probably changed at 125 00K, but not confirmed.

"Farm" screened at bottom on both Farm Truck and Farm Truck Tractor. The stacked F/T and T/R are screened.

Farm Truck Tractor high: 086 91T/R Stickers go on the FRONT plate when these are issued in pairs, but Semi Tractor, Apportioned Semi Tractor, and Farm Semi Tractor were all changed to singles in 2003 or 2004.

Original series was 000 00L, followed by L00 000, then 000 0L0, and then 000 00Z. After 999 99Z, the Z changed to the first position. After Z99 999, the new format appears to be 000 0Z0. After reaching 9Z9 999, the series started at 000 L00.

Now in 4x7", same as regular Motorcycle. Now on Avery sheeting.

High for 4.5"x8": 17135 L/D

Low for 4x7": 18414 L/D

Now with website. High without website 03420LM.

Limousines used to use Class B plates, then spun off to separate class in 1997.

L/G 74892 high without website; L/G 75011 low with website

Avery sheeting in use beginning at L/G94500.

New format with the crest on the far left side.

New class; 000R09 is the lowest reported. Two full-size plates are issued, with a 6-character format WITHOUT the state crest. "Low Speed Vehicle" screened bottom. Plate was spotted on a 4-wheel, electric taxi in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Jeff Ellis spoted 000R01, which is the lowest possible number in this type.

Now on Avery sheeting, and now on War of 1812 base.

New format: first 00000D, then 0000D0, then 000D00, then 000M00, then 0D0000, now D00000. The expected 00D000 would have conflicted with the truck series.

Motorcycle plates have "www.maryland.gov" in very small print at the bottom as of 741M83. High without web site is 737M49. Split was probably at 740M00.

In Fall 2008, Maryland changed Motorcycle plates from the traditional 4 1/2x8" size to the 4x7" size that is becoming the standard for most of the US. The high for the traditional size is 7D0003.

The low for the new size is 8D8444.

High for the new size: D35831

War of 1812 Low: D39381

1B is constant

Old non-standard size (4.5" x 8")

Newer issues appear to be standard size. The change probably took place at 1B3000 or 1B3100.

The new high is back to MD dies. See the note under 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 that the block of plates from 895Mnnn to 909Mnnn had NJ dies.

000000M - 999999M used originally, then M000000 to M999999, then 000M001 to 999M999, now 00001M0 to current. Newest issues have "www.maryland.gov" at the bottom, making it the first slogan on Maryland plates since 1947. The website began at 480M000.

Jason H. reports a low of 000M002 on this type.

Hologram threads begin 45000M0.

Yellow on black, flat. Tom Castelli reports a red on black, flat.

Chris Morris reports that numbers for this type are randomly assigned, not issued in sequential order.

2R is constant

"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.

From Jeff Ellis: Only known m/c plate with state shield. Not sure if equivalent Local Gov't m/c plate exists; have never seen one.

Modified Historic Vehicles

Modified Historic motorcycles

Still on crest base with website.

Website started at 375 00B High without is 374-99B. Christopher F. reports seeing a taxi with an Agriculture plate.

Taxi plates also appear on the Chesapeake plate in the reverse format.

Taxis that use Maryland's Agriculture license plates share the same serial format as regular passenger cars, trucks, & multipurpose vehicles.

Computer generated Black on White, starting Oct. 2010. These are point of sale issues that are printed by the dealer and wrapped in a protective plastic sleeve. Same fonts and sizes used as Virginia's print on demand temp for state name and serial. Includes year, make, model, color, and VIN of vehicle. Expiration date printed in white on black. Started at T000001. Numbers have progressed into the T suffix. The T suffix was dropped temporarily, so just the number appeared. The change seems to have taken place between 039999T and 040000 (no "T.")

This type is also used for Motorcycle, but printed smaller. The numbers appear to be shared between Pass. and Motorcycle. Now the T has returned.

Tom reports another misprint of 143432 without the T.

From Jeff Ellis: The missing T suffix is a printing error -- the same error resulted in the dropping of the final digit on a number of temp plates in the T000000 format.

Earlier series were Blue on White cardboard.

Z suffix rolled over to A, B, C, D, E, G, H, P. N began to appear after P. F and O were skipped.

Motorcycle Temporary - 72588K (Blue on white like Pass, but MC size)

From Paul Freeze: In addition to the regular sequence of temp tags (now appearing to be somewhere around T81nnnn), I've been noticing odd temp tags since the beginning of the year (4 in the T002nnn range and the current high, all far out of sequence) and saw one the other day with the wrong number of digits (T80852).

TT0-000, then 000-0TT, now 00000TT.

High without website: 00694TT

Low with website: 00712TT

TT is constant.

The website has now been replaced with "Tow Truck"

High with website: 06763TT

Low with "Tow Truck": 06918TT

Tow truck plates are now their own class: Class T. Until 2001 or so they were considered a type of truck plate ("E").

"F" suffix is a constant. Apparently now issued as singles. Issued as pairs as late as 2003 or 2004, plate number 290-26F, with 02 hologram. Now featuring the website. High without website is 301-49F. Break likely at 302-00F. Low with website is 302 72F.

Trailer plates now have the website.

Highest Trailer without website: 853890G

Lowest Trailer with website: 854079G

The TL suffix appears to be the next after 999999G.

99999TL has been reached, and the new format for trailer plates is 000000X.

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 current.

"www.maryland.gov" is on the current high. The website began at 23R 000. Now with VST threads beginning at 12X 000.

Truck low: 10A 813

www.maryland.gov, probably starting at 035 00J

High without website: 033 19J

Low with website: 034 52J

The official name is the "Maryland 1910 Vintage Registration" plate and the numbering is as follows" VR#####. The Special Vintage Reproduction plates are a nostalgic reproduction of Maryland's 1910 registration plate and are available to most drivers. You can apply on-line through the MVA's website or a KIOSK located at all MVA offices. The plates will be mailed to the vehicle owner. Only vehicles in the following classes are permitted to display Special Vintage Reproduction plates: A (passenger vehicle) EPO (truck one (1) ton or less) M (multi-purpose vehicle) L (historic vehicle) N (street rod) Personalized license plates may also be ordered with the Special Vintage Reproduction plate background. Please note that it takes approximately 4 weeks to receive personalized plates. Special Vintage Reproduction plates may also be issued as a disability plate provided the vehicle owner meets the requirements for obtaining disability license plates. Special Vintage Registration plates will only be available for a limited period of time, and may not be ordered after December 31, 2014.

Low: VR00302

From Jeff Ellis: On Historic versions of this plate, the word "HISTORIC" appears in block letters directly below the state name -- same typeface as state name, but smaller size. Presumably this is true of Street Rod plates as well, but there are still no sightings to corroborate this.

Other formats on this base: Handicapped VR0001&; Historic VL00001; Street Rod VG00001. No sightings of any Street Rod yet, but Handicapped VR0001, and Historic VL00319, were spotted by Tom Castelli. They use Avery sheeting which appears to be the same sheeting used for State Police plates.

From Tom Castelli: Low spotted: VR00156. This may be a political favor plate; I understand these likely started at VR00300.

Introduced July 2001. The Agricultural license plate ("Ag Tag") is an optional issue celebrating Maryland's agricultural heritage, and bearing the slogan "Our Farms, Our Future," and featuring a farm scene on a bright red and yellow background. It is available for passenger vehicles / light trucks / multipurpose vehicles / taxis in an A000000 format. Other formats issued on the same base are Trailer (A900000), Farm Truck (F/T00000), and Handicapped (00000A/E).

Tom Castelli reports A000052 as a low.

Hologram threads started at A221000.

All 3M through A246xxx. A247xxx all Avery. A248xxx and A249xxx mixed Avery and 3M. A250xxx all Avery.

Month of 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.

Christopher F. spotted the first plate in the series - 00001 A/E on 2007-09-30.

From Jeff Ellis: Stacked "A/E" screened through at least 02221A/E. Lowest embossed "A/E" sighted is 02301A/E, so embossed probably started at 02300A/E.

FT is stacked and screened.

Agriculture trailer series begins at A900000.

Plate switched to new design with "Protect The Chesapeake" on the bottom in 2018, starting with 50000 C/H.

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

New type for Baltimore Orioles, first issued June 2012. Orioles logo to left of serial. Like other special types, stacked B/A/L prefix is screened.

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 does not appear on DV10000 and up due to lack of space. "Disabled Veteran" screened 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 is a graphic dating from around 1990. The original, plainer 86-base Purple Heart plate in the PH00001 format is off the roads.

This base began issuance in February, 1986, replacing the previous base. Although it is not currently being issued, it will return, and all plates of this type continue to be revalidated.

Maryland used New Jersey dies for a short period on some plates. Joseph reports that the reason for the temporary change to NJ dies was that plate production in the Maryland prison was shut down due to violence. So far, only Pass and Multi-Purpose plates have been reported with NJ dies.

8CM X22 is the high with MD dies.

3CN Z46 is the high with NJ dies.

1CP A90 is the low for MD dies after NJ dies.

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

This is the new format for Maryland passenger plates. The previous series ended at MZZ 999. That series started at NAA 001 in February 1986 and progressed through ZZZ 999, then upwards from AAA 001 through MZZ 999. 0 (zero) is never issued as the first character in the new format.

MZZ 999 was issued and spotted by Joseph.

9AK Z95 is the highest pass reported without "www.maryland.gov" at the bottom.

1AL A01 is the lowest pass plate reported with the new "www.maryland.gov" at the bottom.

Joseph reports that some 2008 stickers are the wrong color.

Hologram threads are now appearing, having started at 1FC A01.

This general issue base began in June, 2010 for new registrants, but the previous "crest" base is still valid. This new base will only be issued through June, 2015, at which time the state will revert to issuing "crest" plates.

The M/D series appeared first, followed by the A/A series. B/J and B/S were skipped.

0 (zero) is never used in the first position. The lowest plate issued in this series was 1M/D0000.

Switch to Avery Sheeting confirmed low 5 A/G 9000.

The B/J series was skipped.

899 BNN was the final plate produced in the Heron passenger 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. High on this type is 520-BAY.

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 the 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 reports a high of BAY 53A in this rare type.

On the new Bay base, taxis use the passenger format.

1EY 899 was the final plate produced in the Heron truck series.

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

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.