Personalized Plates: A State-By-State Guide

Today’s vehicles come with a variety of individualized options, so adding personalized plates is a natural addition. Crafting the perfect message or choosing a meaningful design is a way to make your license plates a reflection of your personality, life, or style, rather than a random set of numbers and letters.

Most states allow you to order personalized plates online, which makes it simple to see what is available and pay for them from the comfort of your home. 

Find your state below, and pick your plates!

Iowa

Click here to see the endless options for Iowa specialized plates, including designs for causes like breast cancer awareness, organizations like Ducks Unlimited and the Iowa DNR, jobs like firefighter or EMS, team plates, college or university plates, and military service plates.

You can order them online or by mail.

In July 2019, Iowa introduced the black-out plate, which has been a hit with drivers. According to this article in the Des Moines Register, in September 2019 over 19,500 blackout plates had been ordered, with a third of them personalized.

Terry Meyer, of Dubuque, has this LUVCRZN license plate on his 2016 Chevy Corvette Stingray Coupe.

“I ordered the same message on the black-out plates – I think that is going to look really cool,” he said.

According to the Iowa DOT, you are able exchange any plates for non-personalized blackout plates at your local county treasurer’s office, saving the two- to three-week order processing time if ordered online or by mail. Your new blackout plates will not have the same letter/number combination as your current plates. Specialty plate fees apply. Due to the change, non-personalized blackout plates will no longer be available to order online.

Illinois

In Illinois, unique plates are divided into two categories: Vanity Plates and Personalized Plates. Vanity Plates contain up to 3 numbers or 1 to 7 letters only. Personalized plates contain both letters and numbers.

Costs vary depending upon what you drive. Click here to order vanity or personalized plates in Illinois!

According to the website, the plates allow drivers to be creative, say something special, or support an important cause.

“The sale of vanity and personalized plates helps support highway maintenance as well as preserve our state parks, raise money for violence prevention, promote organ/tissue donor awareness, and support a variety of other benevolent causes through the purchase of specialty plates,” said Jesse White, secretary of state. 

Wisconsin

Options include Milwaukee Brewers license plates, antique, Celebrate Children, Choose Life, donate Life, Ducks Unlimited, EMS, Firefighter, golf, Green Bay Packers and more.

Click here to see the various options!