Vehicle registration plates of Minnesota

The U.S. state of Minnesota first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1909.

Passenger plates 1940 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 1954 (dated 1955) issue was the first Minnesota license plate to comply with these standards.

Minnesota requires license plates be replaced every seven years, due to the reflective coating.

Image	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	1935	Golden yellow lettering and rims on maroon base.		123-456		Long design.
	1939	Black lettering and rims on golden yellow base.		123-456		Long design.
	1940	White lettering and rims on black base.		123-456
	1941	Black lettering and rims on silver base.		123-456
	1944	White lettering and rims on black base.		123-456
	1945	Black lettering and rims on silver base.		123-456
	1947	Black lettering and rims on silver base.		123-456
	1948	White lettering and rims on black base.		123-456
	1949	Embossed black numbers on waffle-textured silver plate; "MINNESOTA" embossed in narrow black block letters centered above numbers	"CENTENNIAL" embossed in narrow black block letters centered below numbers, with "1849" to the left and "1949" to the right	123-456	1 to approximately 871-000	Commemorated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Minnesota Territory.
	1950	Embossed white numbers on black plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "50" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers	123-456	1 to approximately 962-000
	1951	Embossed black numbers on silver plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "51" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in black block letters centered above numbers	123-456 1-234-567	1 to approximately 1-005-000
	1952	Embossed blue numbers on gold plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in blue block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "52" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in blue block letters centered above numbers	123-456	1 to approximately 994-000
	1953	Embossed white numbers on black plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "53" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers	123-456 1-234-567	1 to approximately 1-040-000
	1954	Embossed blue numbers on cream plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in blue block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "54" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in blue block letters centered above numbers	123-456 1-234-567	1 to approximately 1-075-000
	1955	Embossed yellow numbers on maroon plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in yellow block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "55" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in yellow block letters centered above numbers	AA 1234	First letter corresponds to congressional district of issue	Letters A, B, C, E, F, G, H, J and K were used to indicate the nine congressional districts of the time, in that order.
				LA 1234 MA 1234	LA 1000 to approximately MD 9999	Mail-order issues.
	1956–57	Embossed green numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in green block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "56" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in green block letters centered above numbers	1A 1234	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MA 1234		Mail-order issues.
	1958–59	Embossed blue numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in blue block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "58" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in blue block letters centered above numbers	1A 1234	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MA 1234		Mail-order issues.
	1960–61	Embossed black numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in black block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "60" in bottom right corner	Embossed black bar centered above numbers containing debossed "10,000 LAKES" in white	1A 1234	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MA 1234		Mail-order issues.
	1962–64	Embossed maroon numbers on white plate with border line; embossed maroon bar centered below numbers containing debossed "MINNESOTA" in white; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "62" in bottom right corner	Embossed maroon bar centered above numbers containing debossed "10,000 LAKES" in white	1A 1234	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MA 1234		Mail-order issues.
	1965–67	Embossed green numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in green block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "65" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in green block letters centered above numbers	1AB 123	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MAB 123		Mail-order issues.
	1968–70	Embossed blue numbers on white plate with border line; embossed blue bar centered below numbers containing debossed "MINNESOTA" in white; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "68" in bottom right corner	Embossed blue bar centered above numbers containing debossed "10,000 LAKES" in white	1AB 123	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MAB 123		Mail-order issues.
	1971–73	Embossed green numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in green block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "71" in bottom right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in green block letters centered above numbers	1AB 123	First number corresponds to congressional district of issue
				MAB 123		Mail-order issues.
	1974–77	Embossed orange numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in orange block letters centered below numbers; "19" embossed in top left corner and "74" in top right corner	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in orange block letters centered above numbers	AB 1234	AA 1000 to approximately PW 3999
	1977	Embossed blue numbers on white plate with border line; "MINNESOTA" embossed in blue block letters centered above numbers	"10,000 LAKES" embossed in blue block letters centered below numbers	ABC 123	AAA 001 to CGZ 999
	1978–82	Embossed blue numbers on lake scene with pale blue and white water, pale blue sky, green island and trees, and a small green canoe; "Minnesota" screened in light blue serifed letters centered above numbers	"10,000 lakes" screened in light blue serifed letters centered below numbers	ABC 123	CHA 001 to approximately FOR 999
	1982–87			ABC-123; state icon used as dash	LAA-001 to approximately RME-999
	1987–93	Embossed blue numbers on lake scene with light blue and white water, light blue sky, dark green island and trees, and a small dark green canoe; "Minnesota" screened in blue serifed letters centered above numbers	"EXPLORE" screened in blue serifed letters to left of state name, giving "Explore Minnesota"; "10,000 lakes" screened in blue serifed letters centered below numbers	123-ABC; state icon used as dash	001-AAA to approximately 999-HZK	Same design as previous, but with darker colors.
	1993–97				001-HZL to approximately 999-PYW	White section of water now fades into the light blue band at the bottom containing the "10,000 lakes" slogan.
	1997–2000			ABC-123; state icon used as dash	AAA-001 to DBZ-999
	2000 – June 2008				DCA-001 to XZZ-999; SAA-001 to SZZ-999	White section of water increased in size; fade to light blue at bottom now occurs behind the "10,000 lakes" slogan. W, Y and Z not used as first letters in serials; S issued after X.
	June 2008 – June 2009	Screened black numbers on lake scene with light blue and white water, light blue sky, dark green island and trees, and a small dark green canoe; "Minnesota" screened in dark blue serifed letters centered above numbers	"EXPLORE" screened in dark blue serifed letters to left of state name, giving "Explore Minnesota"; "10,000 lakes" screened in dark blue serifed letters centered below numbers	123-ABC; dark blue state icon used as dash	001-AAA to 999-UEB (as of January 11, 2016)	001-BAA to 999-BZZ reserved for mail-order issues; over-the-counter issues thus jumped from 999-AZZ to 001-CAA. F and S not used as first letters in serials.
	June 2009 – present		As before but with ".com" added to right of state name, giving "Explore Minnesota.com"

External links

• Minnesota license plates 1969-present