The U.S. state of New York was the first to require its residents to register their motor vehicles, in 1901. Registrants provided their own license plates for display, featuring their initials until 1903 and numbers thereafter, until the state began to issue plates in 1910. Plates are currently issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (NYSDMV). Front and rear plates are required on all vehicles except for motorcycles and trailers.

Passenger baseplates

1910 to 1965

In 1956, the United States, Canada and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at 6 in in height by 12 in in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1956 (dated 1957) issue was the first New York license plate that complied with these standards.

1966 to present

Notes on serials 1. Plus remakes of 1966–72 serials, issued upon request. 2. Plus remakes of 1966–72 and 1973–86 serials, issued upon request. 3. Plus remakes of Liberty serials, issued upon request. 4. Plus remakes of Liberty and Empire State serials, issued upon request. 5. This is the highest serial reserved by the NYSDMV. 6. Plus remakes of Liberty, Empire State and Empire Gold serials, issued upon request. 7. These were originally recalled as being too reflective but have been reprinted and reissued.

Passenger baseplate variations

1973–1986: Blue on orange

The letter series on the original run of 1973 orange plates were allocated by county and were determined by a number of factors such as geographical names or features found in any said county. The entire 1973–74 allocation list is displayed below. By 1975, the DMV began to issue letter series that were not part of the original allocation. These were issued alphabetically, beginning with the 'A' series and running until the final 'V' and 'W' plates were issued in 1979–80. This was done on a rotating basis in the alphabetical order of the county name. At times, issuing offices or counties ran short of plates and plates would be diverted to where they were needed, sometimes breaking the intended issuing order. In late 1979, the state introduced new narrower dies that were to be used on the upcoming seven-character passenger plates. Most of the 'V' series of six-character plates used these dies (except for VS, VV, and the series issued in the original allocation), as well as series UYA through UYH, WXC through WXZ, and WYX through WZZ. The new seven-character passenger plates started to be issued in late 1980. These plates were issued sequentially, starting at 1000-AAA, with the letters I, O and Q not used, and 0 not used as the first digit. The 'A' series ran until around the end of 1983 and the 'B' series from around the beginning of 1984 until June 1986; there were also a few mis-stamped plates with the GAM suffix in Nassau County. The final known issue was in the BUR series. The seven-character passenger plates were issued without regard of the meaning of any specific three-letter combination, with one exception: 1000-AUB through 4999-AUB were assigned to Cayuga County for its county seat at Auburn, where the Corcraft plate facility is located. In 1984 the DMV began to issue plates directly through dealers, using the 'T' series. The plates were issued in the same manner as described above, and can be dated in this manner: TAA-TAZ in 1984, TBA-TBZ in 1985, and TCA-TCS in 1986. The final known issue was in the TCS series. In July 1986 the DMV began to issue the Liberty plates to replace this issue, and it took two years for the blue-on-orange plates to be fully off the road.

1986–2001: Statue of Liberty

All Statue of Liberty plates in the ABC 123 serial format, plus those in the early 1AB 234 format, featured the word "Liberty" in their 3M security marks. During 1990, the security marks changed, with "Liberty" replaced by the last two digits of the year in which the sheeting was manufactured (the plates may actually date from later). In 1993, the marks changed again to feature 3M lot numbers, which were used until the end of Liberty plate manufacture in 2000. Plates were issued two ways: "over-the-counter" from a DMV or County office or "mail-out" in which registrants received new plates directly by mail. When the 1AB 234 serial format made its first appearance in September 1988, the first serials observed began with 6VB; this was because most plates with serials from 2VA 100 through 9VZ 999 and 2XA 100 through 9XZ 999 were issued from new car dealers, which had exhausted their allocations in the ABC 123 format (roughly VAA 100 through VZZ 999 and XGA 100 through XZZ 999; XAA 100 through XFZ 999 were issued in Suffolk County as mail-out replacement passenger plates). Most plates, including specialty, vanity, and non-passenger plates, contained embossed characters, except a few in the A12 3BC format, which had screened characters. To date, these earlier Liberty plates are:

2001–2010: "Empire State"

In 2001, the state began the process of replacing all of the Liberty plates with a new "Empire State" design depicting Niagara Falls, the Adirondack Mountains, and the New York City skyline, including the Empire State Building. This base was the first to use the "Empire State" slogan since 1963. As with the Liberty base, standard passenger plates had embossed serials, but unlike on the Liberty base, all vanity plates, most specialty plates, and many non-passenger plates had screened serials. Existing registrants with Liberty plates were given the option of keeping the serials from these plates on new Empire State plates, for a one-time fee. Many took this option, and thus many Liberty serials can still be seen on the road; plates with these serials have them embossed. The ABC-1234 serial format for standard passenger plates was introduced with this base, beginning at ACA-1000 (series AAA through ABZ were reserved for Transit Permit plates). The 'A', 'B', and early 'C' series were issued during the replacement of the Liberty plates, the last of which came off the road in early 2003. The 'D' series began in 2004, followed by the 'E' series in 2007. The last standard passenger serial issued was EYH-2999. The letters I, O and Q are not used in this serial format.

2010–2020: "Empire Gold"

In 2010, the standard plate was redesigned to "Empire Gold". This plate consists of dark blue numbers on a gold background, and retains the ABC-1234 serial format. As with the Empire State base, standard passenger plates have embossed serials, while all vanity plates, all specialty plates, and many non-passenger plates have screened serials. Originally, the Empire Gold plate was supposed to be a reissue, replacing all of the Empire State plates in two years; however, after controversy over the new design and the $25 fee for reissue plates, mandatory replacement was called off, and the Empire State plates remain valid. All new registrants received Empire Gold plates, while existing registrants with Empire State plates could keep them or pay $25 for new Empire Gold plates; they could also keep their previous serials on new plates for an additional one-time fee of $20. Standard passenger serials on the Empire Gold plate began at FAA-1000. The 'G' series began in 2012, followed by the 'H' series in 2015 and the 'J' series in 2018.

2020–present: "Excelsior"

On August 19, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the initiation of a statewide survey to select a new design for New York's license plates, which would be available in April 2020. A design was selected in September 2019, depicting the words "New York"; images of Niagara Falls and mountains on the bottom left; the state motto "Excelsior" at bottom center; and a New York City skyline and Long Island lighthouse at bottom right. Originally, starting in April 2020, plates older than ten years would have to be replaced upon the renewal of vehicle registration. However, as with the Empire Gold plates, there was controversy over the mandatory replacement scheme, leading Cuomo's administration to consider reducing the new-plate fees. Ultimately, the requirement to replace plates greater than ten years old was dropped, as long as the plates remained legible. The first deliveries of the new plate design to state DMVs took place in April 2020, but ended up being returned without entering circulation. These early manufactures, in the series KAA through KCH, were too reflective and thus impossible for toll and speed cameras to read. New York state therefore only started issuing Excelsior plates beginning with the KDA series. The earlier codes were subsequently issued to motorists following release of the LZA-LZZ plates. Standard passenger serials on the Excelsior Plate began at KAA-1000. As of 2024, plates have progressed into the 'L' series.

Optional plates

Non-passenger plates

Below are some non-passenger and professional plates on the Empire Gold and Excelsior bases. Empire State non-passenger plates remain valid as of October 2019.

Vanity plates

Prior to 1977, all vanity plates, or special registration plates in NYSDMV parlance, in New York had combinations consisting of up to three letters and up to three digits (e.g. RED-123, JD-555, JIM-1). In 1977, the NYSDMV began to allow vanity plates featuring up to six letters (e.g. ALBANY, WAYNE, METS-1). In 1978, narrower dies were introduced that allowed for vanity plates featuring up to eight characters (e.g. BROOKLYN, AMERICA, GRADE-12). Until 1982, digits could not be interspersed with letters (e.g. GOOD2GO, ALL4U2, TERMIN8R), and a dash (itself considered a character) could only separate letters and digits. Vanity plates began to be issued for some non-passenger types in 1982, including Commercial, Motorcycle, and Trailer. Since the introduction of the Empire State base in 2001, all vanity plates have been manufactured with screened, rather than embossed, combinations. As of 2019, vanity plates continue to feature up to eight characters, including letters, digits, spaces, and state-shaped dashes (the last two are not recognized as characters on the vehicle's windshield decal). All plates must feature at least one letter, and combinations that are currently in use on standard plates are not allowed: for instance, if FAB-1000 is currently in use on a standard passenger plate, then FAB 1000 (with a space instead of a dash) and FAB1000 (without a dash or space) cannot be used. Offensive and questionable combinations are also not allowed, and some are permanently banned. Of 152,430 applications for vanity plates from 2010 to 2015, more than 5,000 were rejected.

County coding

New York never placed the full name of the county of registration explicitly on its standard-issue plates. Some states encode the county of issuance into the selection of serial number, with varying degrees of subtlety. New York intentionally encoded county into the serial number from 1946 through 1986. One system was used from 1946 through 1973, and a second system was used from 1973 through 1986. County coding was also used on the first two formats of Liberty plates, 1986 to 1990. While mostly similar, the county coding on Liberty plates did have variations from the 1973-86 orange base (for example, JTA and JTB being used on Liberty plates in Chautauqua County).

1973 base: original allocation

On the 1973–86 orange base, plates were issued in letter blocks by county, initially with phonetic combinations similar to the county's name or the names of communities, companies, or colleges/universities within the county. Alphabetical cross-reference Notes a. Duplicate use. FIL: Allegany County (from "Fillmore") ROP: Clinton County (from "Rouses Point") L****G: Warren County (from "Lake George")