New York License Plates

KAA-1000 through KCH-9999 were recalled and reissued due to being too reflective for cameras. Numbers KCJ-1000 through KCZ-9999 were never produced.

Numbering format was changed to the Z-- prefix by 2003. This paper permit originated in the 2001 base Empire State era using numbers initially blocked off between AAA-1000 and ABZ-9999.

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The state agency name is spelled out to the left of the serial. The next character indicates the vehicle type (1 = Automobile). Stacked prefix indicates model year of vehicle; '13' indicates replacement plate.

The state agency name is spelled out to the left of the serial. Stacked characters indicate the vehicle model year. The next character, "5", indicates Heavy Truck.

The state agency name is spelled out to the left of the serial. Stacked characters indicate the vehicle model year. The next character, "8", indicates Trailer.

Taxi & Limousine Commission. Higher numbers between T400000C and T808299C previously issued may be reissued on this base.

Started at prefix CA in 2020.

This Empire Gold base was issued between 2010-20, low: FAB 1774.

Omitted prefixes: FAA, FAG, FAT, FCC, FCK, FDA, FDK, FDR, FED, FEK, FEM, FFK, FGK, FHK, FKK, FLK, FME, FMK, FNK, FRK, FRT, FTA, FTC, FTD, FUK, FVK, FWK, FZK, GGG plus entire ranges FKx, FNx, FUx, FxU and FVx.

2010 base Agriculture plates started at 10000-GL, observed low 10121-GL. Used by individuals or corporations moving their own farm produce or livestock for the purpose of selling at retail or wholesale. Registration rates are somewhat less than Commercial plates. Agriculture-plated vehicles must be insured and cannot be used "for hire". Registrations are annual, staggered and validated by windshield sticker.

2001 Empire State base low 12042-GR, high 61782-GR.

Agriculture plates were first issued on the Liberty base in late 1994.

This series of Ambulance plates was issued between 2010-20 starting at 10000-EV.

MikeR66 has the lowest 2001 Empire State base Ambulance plate, 10000-ET in his collection.

2010 Empire Gold base started at 10000-PC.

2001 Empire State high: 23135-PB

2010 Empire Gold plates started at 10000-BB.

2001 Empire State plates issued between 10000-BA and high: 63337-BA. 10th Bus plate 10009-BA reported as a low by MikeR66.

Series began at 10000-MA. John Rotella reports 10207-MA as a low. MF series skipped.

Dealer plates appear to have started at 7100000 on this 2010 Empire Gold base, low: 7100009 by John Rotella.

2001 Empire State base dealer range 8100000 to high 8175404.

This flat 2010 Empire Gold Handicapped series started at 600000. Wheelchair symbol appears to right of numbers and takes up two of the eight spaces available on the plate.

2001 Empire State base flat Handicapped plates were in the 200000 and 500000 series.

Out of sequence numbers 957363 and 957472 observed. in 2004

There have been at least three major variants of this type since 2010:

1. 2010-14 town/village/county name screened on left in blue, corresponding stacked two-letter code followed by blue numbers on gold background, all flat.

2. 2010-14 state entity name screened on left in blue. corresponding stacked two-number code followed by blue 4-digit number and dark screened "STATE" along bottom of gold background flat plate.

3. 2014 revision to an all-new WHITE background Emergency Management flat plate featured entity name screened on left, stacked two-number code and former vehicle plate number all in red. Screened dark "STATE" along bottom, small black on white "EM" square top left; sticker with four letter county code in top right corner and red background top banner with white state name. SAMPLE IMAGE.

Farm plate applicants must own a legitimate farm or livestock operation in order to qualify for these plates & specific information regarding the use of the vehicle must be provided to the DMV. These plates are intended for use only on vehicles moving equipment between farms, from farm to dump, on migrant worker buses or other vehicles engaged in farming activity.

Vehicles with Farm plates do not require insurance, are registered for one year and expire in December., validated by plate sticker. 2010 Empire Gold base plates started at 10000-FR.

FA suffix was used on the previous 2001 Empire State Farm plates.

Flat 2010 Empire Gold base Historical plates started at HX-50000. Cars in their 26th model year are eligible for Historical Plates.

Limited Use Auto is defined as a motor vehicle with a maximum speed of not more than forty miles per hour. Jim S. observed the first plate of this 2010 Empire Gold base, 10000-LU on an electric vehicle of NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. Plate suffix changed to LS in 2012.

2001 Empire State base high: 22283-LU 2012-09-11 Mike Vickers

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Started at 10RA00.

ATV/ORV: 67JF40 2013-08-20 Willie C. Brock, Jr.

Empire Gold apparently started at 00MT00 yet all observations here only used letters MD.

2010 "Empire Gold" Official series started at R-10000.

2001 Empire State range K-10000 through high M-75533

1986 "Liberty" range was A-10000 through D series.

This is a new type of Official plate that denotes the Political Sub-Division. The town, county, or agency name is spelled out to the left of the numbers, and the county name appears at the bottom. The format is a two letter stack to the left of the four digit number.

Low: A/A 1110 2015-05-14 Eric Forand

Plates for the City of New York have that on the left, but have "NYC" where the county name normally appears on the bottom. (The City of New York is comprised by 5 counties.)

2010 "Empire Gold" embossed plates started at 10000-SH and are used on smaller school buses not school-owned..

Flat

Earlier numbers in this series have the state silhouette as a separator between letters and numbers. This and newer issues are printed with no separation.

From Sal Dodd:

Semi-Trailer is a five year dated plate. First issued in Nov. 1989 on liberty base for 1990 model semi-trailers, with a 1995 expiration. Only 1990 or newer trailers can be registered with these plates. The numbering format was 1234A5, with the A5 appearing as a constant on all 1995 expiring plates, the lowest number being 1000A5. Each year a new series is started, generally appearing in November for the next 5 year term, i.e. 1991 trailer = 1996 expiration. The format on this plate would be 1234A6. 1992 trailer = 1997 expiration. Format 1234A7 and onward. The year of the trailer from 1990 onward makes little difference in what plate is displayed though. A 1993 trailer may have displayed a standard trailer plate for two years, then get a five year plate if desired, and expiration will reflect 5 years from issuance, with no relationship to model year.

Liberty base: 1995 =A5 1996 =A6 1997 =A7 1998 =A8 1999 =A9 2000 =A0 2001 =A1

2002 =A2 2003 =A3 2004 =A4 2005 =B5

2006 =B6 2007 =B7 2008 =B8 2009 =B9

These were fairly rare, but needed as those renewing exp 00 plates needed plates before the Empire bases were ready, and some were issued in early 2001 due to Empire base not ready in Jan 2001 for some non pass types that were low in registration levels. New 5 year registrants also needed these if registering during Nov or Dec 2000. NY allows up to 60 days before a registration period starts on trailers.

Empire Base: 2006= B6 2007= B7 2008= B8 2009= B9 2010= B0 2011= B1 2012= B2 2015= C5

This fully-embossed type features "SPEC-COMM" along bottom and is used on bulldozers, concrete pumpers, cranes, farm tractors and any specialized equipment that uses New York roads. Numbering started at 10000-SM in 2010.

Previous Empire State base high 46504-SC.

This "STATE" plate replaced in 2014 with a new flat Empire Gold agency-specific series. The agency's name is on the left, followed by the original vehicle number - but with the first two numbers (vehicle year) stacked. Small sticker upper right with a four letter county code. Several different public agencies observed.

Empire Gold flat plate with the Seal of New York to the left and the serial to the right, www.ny.gov along bottom, observed plate 111103 in 2013.

2001 Empire State flat version had www.state.ny.us white on dark blue along bottom, state outline graphic on left side of plate, "STATE" in red letters under outline. First 2 digits indicated model year of the vehicle or equipment.

Empire Gold (flat) Park Police logo to left

First number is State Park District (No. 1-11) then vehicle Radio Call Sign No.

Flat Empire Gold with "T&LC" along bottom, low: T600004C

All previous numbers on the Liberty base were replaced with 2001 Empire State plates starting at T400000C.

Series originally started with T10000C on the 1986 Liberty base, then expanded to 8 characters in 1999 with numbers reaching as high as T34xxxxC.

Thanks to Felice Batisti for providing this information.

2010 Empire Gold base started at N200000C, low N200003C, this taxi plate features "NASSAU COUNTY T&LC" along bottom.

Some "door to door" taxis in Nassau county traded their TX-suffix taxi plates for this type when it was introduced decades ago.

Flat in the same style as the other T&LC plates, but legend at the bottom couldn't be verified because of a plate frame.

2010 Empire Gold base Westchester County series started at W200000C.

2001 Empire State high: W104042C

License plate numbers on NYC Taxis are the same as their medallion numbers. Produced in the 1A23H and 1A23J ranges on the Empire Gold base from 2010-17, end letter was about half the size of the other characters. Example number 1A10H was the second plate issued to that taxi. Medallion/plate numbers ran from 1A10-9Y99, excluding the letters F, I, O, Q, R, S, X and Z. All numbers were issued by 2017 when the Y123456C format emerged.

T800205T format plates started in the 1970s when they were the standard issue for NYC taxis. They were replaced around 1989-90 with Liberty plates displaying driver medallion numbers. The 1970s number format plates were then repurposed for temporary use on NYC taxis while they waited for the plate with their medallion number to be manufactured.

2001 Empire State base NYC taxi plates were issued in the 1A23A format with end letter about half the size of the other characters, all letters A-E plus G were used. Low: 1A70A

On the 1986 Liberty base a small suffix number was used, #s 1-6 verified.

Letter F has not been used on any base.

Many thanks to Felice Batisti.

2010 Empire Gold series appears to have started at 15000-TY.

2010 Empire Gold series started at 10000-TT, low 10001-TT 2013-01-25 Mike Vickers.

2001 Empire State base high: 35360-TW

Flat "TRACTOR" along bottom, plate assigned to tractor portion of tractor/trailer rigs.

2010 Empire Gold trailer series started at BA-10000.

2001 Empire State base started at AA-10000; low AA-10181, high AX-37774.

Issued to businesses (not dealers) involved in transporting vehicles from one location to another.

2010 Empire Gold flat transporter plates are in the 2000000 series with "TRANSPORTER" along bottom. Issued in blocks to branch offices in descending order, or a backwards progression, but the offices issue the individual plates in an ascending order. Therefore, the low is actually the high for this type.

2001 Empire State base was in the 3000000 series.

Flat, Empire Gold Base. VAN-POOL on bottom of plate

This 2001 base Empire State passenger plate used numbers ACA-1000 through EYH-2999. Some higher series plates were made as special registrations, including several embossed EYS prefixes in the 24xx-series. Low survivor ACA-1000 observed by Andy Goncalves on 5/20/25.

Some plates in the DNB 8250 through 8274 range were produced without the state silhouette between the letters and numbers.

Prefixes omitted: AFU, ASS, AZZ, BAD, BAT, BLK, BMW, BRA, BRP, BVD, BYU, BYV, BZB, BZY, BZZ, CAD, CAT, CBA, CBS, CDC, CFU, CHP, CLT, CNN, CNT, CPA, CPR, CUD, CUF, CUM, CUN, CUS, CVS, CYA, DAD, DAH, DAM, DAV, DCJ, DDS, DEA, DEC, DEM, DET, DKS, DLR, DPW, DSU, DTZ, DUD, DUH, DUM, EAG, EAL, EAP, EAT, EEP, EFU, EMS, EMT, EPA, EPT, ERA.

Entire ranges omitted: AI-, AO-, AQ-, BF-, BJ-, BS-, and BU-. Letters I, O, and Q were not used in any position.

This series of Commercial plates started in 2001 at 10000-JA, Some prior 1986 Liberty base Commercial numbers from the 10000-Ax range were remade on this base.

Mike V. noted in 2010 that it took less than 10 years to get from 10000-JA to 99999-JZ, probably because light trucks became eligible for passenger plates during that time.

2001 base Empire State doctor series low: M/D 1 observed by Kevin Gallagher.

Ross Day reports that this series, issued 2001-2010, was issued a fixed number of plates (90000), with serial numbers constantly reissued as numbers 'died'.

For the succeeding series, see Physician under Specialty Plates.

Mike Russo notes that special issue plates are coded with a "P" on the date sticker.

Series started at 10DA00. Mopeds use same format with 10AA, 10BA, or 10CA depending on weight class. ATV/ORV use same format with red lettering in the 10XA series. Mtnrider reports 46YD36 on 2006-02-24.

New York in 2014 replaced this 2001 series "TWY" plate (used on official sedans), with the flat Empire Gold plate. It featured stacked "NYS THRUWAY AUTHORITY" followed by the original vehicle number. The county name "ALBANY" (location of their Maintenance Division HQ) typically appears along the bottom.

Flat plate "Conserve Open Space" on bottom, Blue Bird on left side

Bird flying on left, numbers to right, Conserve Habitat on bottom.

Flat plate including stacked "EMTP" along the right side, low: 12 EMTP spotted by Mike Russo.

Flat regional specialty plate available with either Nassau or Suffolk County on the bottom of the plate. Light house to the left of the serial and a graphic map of Long Island water marked under the serial.

There is a newer version of this plate from 2023 with VRM suffix and revised graphics featuring a race scene at left.

Tyler Rotondo noted this flat New York NASCAR plate appears nearly identical to the New Jersey NASCAR plate.

Nascar discontinued the CAR suffix and replaced it with the FAN suffix in 2020.

Per Ross Day: Issued 90001 to a reported high of 97236, as well as reissues of earlier serials, before changing over in early 2023 to the current 000AAA format, shared with other specialty plates, low 122AMS observed.

New York Press plates, used only by members of those news media "approved" by DMV. "NYP 1" is usually given to the president of the New York Press Club but New York otherwise does not grant requests for low numbers.

V/F 8 reported as a low by Steven Weinstein. Previously-issued numbers are sometimes remade onto a new plate, for example V/F 14351 in July 2012.

Colourful flat Veteran design with the American flag over most of plate background, wheelchair emblem to right of numbers.

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There are at least two versions of this flat type. Both feature the words "Combat Wounded" atop purple heart image along the left side of numbers with stacked P/H stacked along right.

First older version has a mostly purple left side logo and text with number and stacked P/H but NO bottom caption, as on personalized "TJM 518" observed by Jim Sadler.

Second newer version illustrated here has a slightly different logo design and state name font plus the "PURPLE HEART" bottom caption.

This Veteran design debuted 6/29/12 according to Steven Weinstein. Graphics include US flag over the entire plate background with blue "Veteran" on the left.

Prior design had waving flag to left of numbers with small red Veteran caption below flag on mostly-white background.

Order of issue is uncertain, confirmed suffixes are VET, SVC, SRV, VTN, VTR, MLV, VUS, and AMV. See our History tab for more details.

low 101VET

Persian Gulf Veteran - 146PGV

Vietnam Veteran - 515VNV

"WW II Veteran" along bottom in gold.

Issued from 1986-2001, all were legislated off the road by April 30, 2003.