Vehicle registration plates of South Dakota

The U.S. state of South Dakota first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1913.

Passenger baseplates 1913 to present

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for license plates for vehicles, except those for motorcycles, at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the state's first license plate that complied with these standards.

First issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
1913	Brown on white	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 14000
1914	White on red	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 21000
1915	Yellow on brown	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 26000
1916	Green on black	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 43000	First plate with actual year.
1917	White on brown	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 67000
1918	Brown on white	none	12345 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 84000
1919	Silver on brown	none	123456 (variable number of digits)	1 to approximately 105000
1920	Brown on white	none	12345 123456	30000 to approximately 135000	Numbers below 30000 reserved for motorcycles and trucks.
1921	White on green	none	12345 123456	30000 to approximately 154000	Numbers below 30000 reserved for motorcycles and trucks.
1922	White on dark blue	none	12345 123456	30000 to approximately 150000	Numbers below 30000 reserved for motorcycles and trucks.
1923	Black on silver	none	12-345 123-456	30-000 to approximately 153-000	Numbers below 30-000 reserved for motorcycles and trucks.
1924	Silver on black	none	12-345 123-456	20-000 to approximately 151-000	Numbers below 20-000 reserved for motorcycles and trucks.
1933	Black lettering and border embossed on yellow base	none	12-3456	unknown
1950	Black on orange	none
1960	Black on tan with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1961	Green on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1962	Black on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1963	Red on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1964	Dark blue on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1965	Green on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1966	Dark blue on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1967	Red on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1968	Light blue on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1969	Orange on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1970	Dark blue on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1971	Dark green on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1972	Black on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1973	Red on white with stamped Mount Rushmore graphic at top	none
1974	Blue on white with screened red and black Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none			First screened graphic license plate in the United States. Awarded "Plate of the Year" for best new license plate of 1974 by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, the first time South Dakota was so honored.
1975	Red on white with screened light blue and black Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none
1976	Embossed blue on white with screened blue and white Mount Rushmore graphic and three red stripes at top	none	AB:1234	Coded by county of issuance (AB)
1981	Embossed red on white with screened dark blue Mount Rushmore graphic in bottom right corner	none	ABC:123	AAA:001 to approximately KAS:888^[1]	Awarded "Plate of the Year" for best new license plate of 1981 by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, the second time South Dakota was so honored.
1987	Embossed red on white with screened blue Mount Rushmore graphic in bottom right corner	Celebrate the Century (optional)	0AB 123 00A 123	Coded by county of issuance (0 or 00)	Numeric county codes reintroduced.
1990	Embossed green on gradient gold and white with Mount Rushmore graphic in top right corner	Great Faces. Great Places.	0A 1234 00 A123 00 AB12 (following exhaustion of above format)	Coded by county of issuance (0 or 00)
1996	Embossed green on white with large gold Mount Rushmore graphic in background	Great Faces. Great Places.	0A12345 00A1234	Coded by county of issuance (0 or 00)
2000	Embossed blue on red, white and blue with blue Mount Rushmore graphic at bottom	none	0AB 123 00A 123 00A B12 (following exhaustion of above format)	Coded by county of issuance (0 or 00)
late 2003	As above, but with numbers screened	none		Coded by county of issuance (0 or 00)
2006	Screened dark blue on full-color Mount Rushmore graphic	Great Faces. Great Places.	Coded by county of issuance: 0AB 123 0ABC 12 (following exhaustion of above format) 00A 123 00A B23 (following exhaustion of above format) 00A BC3 (following exhaustion of above format)	Serial progression continued from where 2000 base ceased.	Awarded "Plate of the Year" for best new license plate of 2006 by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, the third time South Dakota was so honored.

Non-passenger types

2006 to present

Type	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Notes
City Government	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	CTY1234
County Government	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	CO 1234 CO12345
Fire Department	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	FD 1234
School	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	S 1234
Oglala Sioux Tribe government	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	OST 123 OST1234
State Government	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	none	AB123	State seal at left, state flag bottom right corner.

Optional types

Image	Type	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Notes
	Veteran	Modified blue Mount Rushmore base.	VETERAN	1234A	Logo for branch of service at left.

County coding

Code	County
1	Minnehaha
2	Pennington
3	Brown
4	Beadle
5	Codington
6	Brookings
7	Yankton
8	Davison
9	Lawrence
10	Aurora
11	Bennett
12	Bon Homme
13	Brule
14	Buffalo
15	Butte
16	Campbell
17	Charles Mix
18	Clark
19	Clay
20	Corson
21	Custer
22	Day
23	Deuel
24	Dewey
25	Douglas
26	Edmunds
27	Fall River
28	Faulk
29	Grant
30	Gregory
31	Haakon
32	Hamlin
33	Hand
34	Hanson
35	Harding
36	Hughes
37	Hutchinson
38	Hyde
39	Jackson
40	Jerauld
41	Jones
42	Kingsbury
43	Lake
44	Lincoln
45	Lyman
46	McCook
47	McPherson
48	Marshall
49	Meade
50	Mellette
51	Miner
52	Moody
53	Perkins
54	Potter
55	Roberts
56	Sanborn
57	Spink
58	Stanley
59	Sully
60	Tripp
61	Turner
62	Union
63	Walworth
64	Ziebach
65	Shannon
66	Washabaugh
67	Todd

References

↑ "South Dakota License Plates". licenseplates.tropikordia.com. Retrieved March 29, 2015.

External links

South Dakota license plates 1969-present

Vehicle registration plates of the United States

States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Federal district	Washington, D.C.

Insular areas	American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

Vehicle registration plates of North America

Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States

Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

State of South Dakota

Pierre (capital)

Topics	Delegations Famous South Dakotans Geography Government History Transportation Symbols Universities Visitor attractions

Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics

Regions	Badlands Black Hills Coteau des Prairies Coteau du Missouri Dissected Till Plains East River Pine Ridge Siouxland West River

Larger cities pop. over 5,000	Aberdeen Belle Fourche Box Elder Brandon Brookings Huron Madison Mitchell Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Spearfish Sturgis Vermillion Watertown Yankton

Smaller cities pop. 1,000 - 5,000	Baltic Beresford Britton Canton Chamberlain Clark Clear Lake Crooks Custer De Smet Deadwood Dell Rapids Eagle Butte Elk Point Flandreau Fort Pierre Freeman Garretson Gettysburg Gregory Groton Harrisburg Hartford Hot Springs Lead Lemmon Lennox Martin Milbank Miller Mission Mobridge North Sioux City Parker Parkston Platte Redfield Salem Sisseton Springfield Summerset Tea Tyndall Volga Wagner Webster Winner

Largest CDPs pop. over 1,000	Blackhawk Colonial Pine Hills Dakota Dunes Fort Thompson North Eagle Butte North Spearfish Oglala Pine Ridge Porcupine Rapid Valley Rosebud

Counties	Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman Marshall McCook McPherson Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Oglala Lakota Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach