Vehicle registration plates of New Hampshire

The U.S. state of New Hampshire first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1905.

Passenger baseplates 1905 to present

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that standardized 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 first New Hampshire license plate that complied with these standards.

Image	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
150px	1918	White on dark green	none	12345	unknown	Porcelain
150px	1920	White on dark green	none	12345	unknown	Not embossed
150px	1933	White based with embossed green lettering and border	none	12-345	unknown
	1950-52 (even years only)	Embossed white on forest green with border line; NH - (last two digits of registration year) embossed between upper screw holes	none	A/B 123 (stacked letters square; numbers rectangular with slight curving).	See county code tables below.	Alternated with white plates from 1949 to 1953
150px	1949-53 (odd years only)	Embossed forest green on white with border line; NH - (last two digits of registration year) embossed between upper screw holes	none	A/B 123 (stacked letters square; numbers rectangular with slight curving).	See county code tables below.	Alternated with white plates from 1949 to 1953
150px	1954-70 (even years only)	Embossed white on forest green with border line; NEW HAMPSHIRE in square font below numbers; 19 to left of upper left screw hole, last two digits of registration year to right of upper left screw hole	SCENIC (centered above numbers, same font as NEW HAMPSHIRE)	AB 123 (letters square; numbers rectangular with slight curving).	See county code tables below.	Alternated with white plates from 1956 to 1970
150px	1955-61; 1965-69 (odd years only)	Embossed forest green on white with border line; NEW HAMPSHIRE in square font below numbers; 19 to left of upper left screw hole, last two digits of registration year to right of upper left screw hole	SCENIC (centered above numbers, same font as NEW HAMPSHIRE)	AB 123 (letters square; numbers rectangular with slight curving)	See county code tables below.	Alternated with green plates from 1956 to 1970
150px	1963	Embossed forest green on white with border line; NEW HAMPSHIRE in square font below numbers; 19 to left of upper left screw hole, last two digits of registration year to right of upper left screw hole	PHOTOSCENIC (centered above numbers, thin embossed font)	AB 123 (letters square; numbers rectangular with slight curving)	See county code tables below.	Only year "Photoscenic" used instead of "Scenic"
150px	1971	Embossed forest green numbers on white plate with border line; "NEW HAMPSHIRE" embossed in wide forest green block letters at bottom; "19" embossed in top left corner and "71" in top right corner	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" embossed in narrow forest green block letters centered at top	AB 123	County-coded	First base to carry the state motto.
				1234	1 to 9999	Statewide reserved series.
150px	1972	Embossed white numbers on forest green plate with border line; "NEW HAMPSHIRE" embossed in wide white block letters at bottom; "19" embossed in top left corner and "72" in top right corner	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" embossed in narrow white block letters centered at top	AB 123	County-coded
				1234	1 to 9999	Statewide reserved series.
	1973–4	As 1971 base, but with "73" in top right corner and no "19" in top left corner	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" as on 1971 base	AB 123 A/B1234	County-coded	Revalidated for 1974 with stickers. Four-digit serials and stacked county codes introduced in counties that had exhausted their three-digit allocations.
				1234	1 to 9999	Statewide reserved series.
150px	1975–6	As 1972 base, but with "75" in top left corner and revalidation sticker in top right corner	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" as on 1972 base	AB 123 A/B1234	County-coded	Staggered registration introduced, with each plate expiring in the same month as the registrant's birthday.
				1234	1 to 9999	Statewide reserved series.
	1977 – December 1978			AB123 AB1234	County-coded	Narrow dies introduced, allowing for six-character serials with full-size county code letters.
	December 1977 – July 1978	Embossed red numbers on white plate with border line; "NEW HAMPSHIRE" embossed in wide red block letters at bottom	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" embossed in narrow red block letters centered at top	XA1234	XA1 to XF9999	Interim plates issued only to new registrants. Elements changed from red to green in response to concerns of confusion with Massachusetts plates of the time; unissued red plates were recalled and repainted accordingly before issue.
	July 1978 – December 1978	As above, but with elements in green rather than red	As above, but green		XG1 to approximately XN7000
	January 1979 – December 1983	Embossed forest green numbers on white plate with border line; "NEW HAMPSHIRE" embossed in forest green block letters centered at bottom	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" embossed in forest green block letters centered at top	123456	1 to 999999
150px	December 1983 – December 1986			12345A	10000A to approximately 59000G
150px	January 1987 – March 1989	Embossed forest green numbers on white plate; "NEW HAMPSHIRE" screened in pale green block letters centered at top, with a pale green graphic of the Old Man of the Mountain in a circle between the two words	"Live Free or Die" screened in small pale green block letters centered at bottom	123456	1 to 999999
150px	March 1989 – December 1998	As above, but with dark green numbers and graphic, and state name in larger dark green letters	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" screened in larger dark green block letters centered at bottom	ABC-123	AAA-001 to approximately DEX-500
	January 1999 – present	Embossed dark green numbers on graphic plate with Old Man of the Mountain and Cannon Mountain against pale blue sky; screened "New HAMPSHIRE" centered at bottom, with "New" in dark green cursive letters above "HAMPSHIRE" in dark green serifed letters	"LIVE FREE OR DIE" screened in dark green block letters centered at top	12345	1 to 99999	Old Man graphic at far right (also the style for vanity plates).
				123 456	999 999 to 100 000	Serials progressed backwards. Old Man graphic in center.
				123 4567	100 0000 to 395 0000 (as of January 1, 2016)	Old Man graphic slightly to left of center.

County coding

From 1949 to 1979, passenger plates in New Hampshire featured a two-letter code indicating the county in which the vehicle was registered, as follows:

County code allocations

County	Letter blocks
Belknap	BA-BZ
Carroll	CA-CZ
Cheshire	EA-EZ, ZA-ZZ (from 1972)
Coös	OA-OZ
Grafton	GA-GZ
Hillsborough	HA-HZ, LA-LZ, IA-IZ (from 1959), JA-JZ (from 1968)
Merrimack	MA-MZ, NA-NZ (from 1967)
Rockingham	RA-RZ, KA-KZ (from 1955), PA-PZ (from 1968)
Strafford	FA-FZ, DA-DZ (from 1970)
Sullivan	SA-SZ

Alphabetical cross-reference

Letter blocks	County
BA-BZ	Belknap
CA-CZ	Carroll
DA-DZ	Strafford
EA-EZ	Cheshire
FA-FZ	Strafford
GA-GZ	Grafton
HA-HZ	Hillsborough
IA-IZ	Hillsborough
JA-JZ	Hillsborough
KA-KZ	Rockingham
LA-LZ	Hillsborough
MA-MZ	Merrimack
NA-NZ	Merrimack
OA-OZ	Coös
PA-PZ	Rockingham
RA-RZ	Rockingham
SA-SZ	Sullivan
ZA-ZZ	Cheshire

In addition, XA-XN were used on interim plates issued to new registrants between December 1977 and December 1978, while the serial AC 000 was and still is used on sample plates.

Non-passenger types

Image	Type	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	Motorcycle	1987–94	Embossed green numbers on white plate with border line; green graphic of Old Man of the Mountain screened in top left corner with 'N' and 'H' on either side; "MOTORCYCLE" screened at bottom	none	12345	1 to 99999
		1994–2004			1234A	1000A to approximately 2000T
		2004–8	As above, but without border line			2001T to 9999Z
		2008–present			A1234	A1000 to present

External links

• New Hampshire license plates 1969-present