Vehicle registration plates of Nebraska


The U.S. state of Nebraska first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1905. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1915, when the state began to issue plates. Plates are currently issued by the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.
All state-issued plates were made of steel until 1947 when aluminum plates were introduced. With the exception of 1945, all plates have been issued in pairs since 1922.

Passenger baseplates

1915 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 at in height by in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1955 issue was the first Nebraska license plate that complied with these standards.
ImageDates issuedDesignSloganSerial formatSerials issuedNotes
1915Black on white; "NEB 1915" at rightnone123451 to approximately 70000
1916White on navy blue; "NEB 1916" at rightnone1234561 to approximately 101000
1917Black on cream; "NEB 1917" at rightnone1234561 to approximately 148000
1918Yellow on black; "NEB 1918 at right"none1234561 to approximately 171000
Black on light green; "NEB 1919" at rightnone1234561 to approximately 273000Revalidated for 1920 with dark blue tabs.
1921White on black; "NEB 1921" at rightnone1234561 to approximately 272000
1922Black on white; "NEB 1922" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance First use of county codes.
1923Green on black; "NEB 1923" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1924White on black; "NEB 1924" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1925Black on orange; "NEB 1925" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1926White on green; "NEB 1926" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1927White on maroon; "1927 NEB" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1928White on dark blue; "NEB 1928" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1929White on black; "1929 NEB" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1930Yellow on dark blue; "NEB 1930" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1931Red on gray; "1931 NEB" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1932White on blue; "NEB 1932" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1933Dark blue on orange; "1933 NEB" at rightnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1934White on dark green; "NEBRASKA – 34" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance First use of the full state name.
1935Black on gray; "NEBRASKA – 35" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county off issuance
1936Silver on black; "NEBRASKA – 36" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1937Black on gray; "37 – NEBRASKA" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1938Silver on black; "NEBRASKA – 38" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1939Black on gray; "NEBRASKA – 39" at topnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1940Orange on turquoise with State Capitol graphic; "NEBRASKA 40" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1941Dark blue on orange with State Capitol graphic; "NEBRASKA 41" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1942–44Red on white; "NEBRASKA 42" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for 1943 with dark blue tabs, and for 1944 with orange tabs, due to metal conservation for World War II.
1945White on black; "NEBRASKA 45" at bottomnone1-12345
10-1234		Coded by county of issuance
1946–47White on brick red; "46 NEBRASKA" at topnone1-12345
10-12345		Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for 1947 with brown tabs.
1948Dark blue on unpainted aluminum; "19 NEBRASKA 48" at bottomnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance
1949Maroon on unpainted aluminum; "19 NEBRASKA 49" at topnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance
1950Dark blue on white; "19 NEBRASKA 50" at topnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance
1951White on black; "NEBRASKA 51" at bottomnoneA1234A
AB123A		Coded by county of issuance
1952–53Black on golden yellow; "NEBRASKA 52" at bottomnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for 1953 with black tabs.
1954Golden yellow on black; "NEBRASKA 54" at topnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance
1955Black on golden yellow; "NEBRASKA 55" at bottomnone1-12345
Coded by county of issuance
1956White on black with border line; "19 NEBRASKA 56" at topThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance First 6" x 12" plate.
1957Green on white with border line; "19 NEBRASKA 57" at topThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance

1958–59Black on golden yellow with border line; "19 NEBRASKA 58" at topThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for :File:Nebraska 1959 11-4082.jpg|1959 with aluminum tabs.
1960–61Golden yellow on black with border line; "19 NEBRASKA 60" at topThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for :File:1961 Nebraska license plate.JPG|1961 with stickers.
1962–64Green on white with border line; "19 NEBRASKA" and green sticker box at bottomThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance Revalidated for 1963 and 1964 with stickers.
1965Black on white with border line; "19 NEBRASKA 65" at bottomThe Beef State
Coded by county of issuance

1966 to present

Optional plates

Non-passenger plates

County coding

Nebraska established a county-code system for its passenger and motorcycle plates in 1922, with one- or two-digit codes assigned to each county in order of the number of registered vehicles in the county at that time. These codes remained constant through 1950.
For 1951, letter codes were used. One-letter codes were assigned to the first counties whose names began with those letters, while all other counties were assigned two-letter codes consisting of the initial letter and the next available letter in their names. There were three exceptions: Douglas County, the most populous in the state, was assigned single-letter X to increase capacity; Otoe County was assigned Z as O was not allowed; and Dodge County was assigned DG instead of DD as double-letter codes were also not allowed.
The numeric code system was reintroduced in 1952, with the codes the same as before. It remains in use, except in Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy Counties, which adopted an uncoded ABC 123 serial format in 2002.
CountyNumeric codeLetter code, 1951
Adams14A
Antelope26AN
Arthur91AR
Banner85B
Blaine86BA
Boone23BN
Box Butte65BX
Boyd63BY
Brown75BR
Buffalo9BU
Burt31BT
Butler25BL
Cass20C
Cedar13CE
Chase72CH
Cherry66CR
Cheyenne39CY
Clay30CL
Colfax43CF
Cuming24CU
Custer4CS
Dakota70D
Dawes69DA
Dawson18DW
Deuel78DE
Dixon35DX
Dodge5DG
Douglas1X
Dundy76DU
Fillmore34F
Franklin50FR
Frontier60FN
Furnas38FU
Gage3G
Garden77GA
Garfield83GR
Gosper73GS
Grant92GN
Greeley62GE
Hall8H
Hamilton28HA
Harlan51HR
Hayes79HY
Hitchcock67HT
Holt36HL
Hooker93HK
Howard49HW
Jefferson33J
Johnson57JH
Kearney52K
Keith68KE
Keya Paha82KY
Kimball71KM
Knox12KN
Lancaster2L
Lincoln15LN
Logan87LG
Loup88LU
Madison7M
McPherson90MC
Merrick46ME
Morrill64MR
Nance58N
Nemaha44NE
Nuckolls42NU
Otoe11Z
Pawnee54P
Perkins74PE
Phelps37PH
Pierce40PR
Platte10PL
Polk41PK
Red Willow48R
Richardson19RC
Rock81RK
Saline22S
Sarpy59SA
Saunders6SU
Scotts Bluff21SC
Seward16SE
Sheridan61SH
Sherman56SR
Sioux80SX
Stanton53ST
Thayer32T
Thomas89TH
Thurston55TU
Valley47V
Washington29W
Wayne27WA
Webster45WE
Wheeler84WH
York17Y