Vehicle registration plates of Missouri
The U.S. state of Missouri first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1907. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1911, when the state began to issue plates.
Plates are currently manufactured at the Jefferson City Correctional Center and are issued by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Front and rear plates are required on all vehicles except for motorcycles and trailers.
Passenger baseplates
1911 to 1948
1949 to 1966
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 Missouri license plate that complied with these standards.| Image | Dates issued | Description | Serial format | Serials issued | Notes |
| Embossed white serial on maroon plate with border line; "MISSOURI" centered at top; month of expiration at top left | 123-456 | 1 to 905-000 | Staggered registration introduced. All plates validated for 1949 with orange tabs, for 1950 with green tabs, for 1951 with white tabs, and for 1952 with black tabs. Plates expiring between January and August were validated for 1953 with maroon tabs, while those expiring between September and December were validated for that year with stickers. All plates were then validated for 1954 and 1955 with stickers. | ||
| Embossed white serial on maroon plate with border line; "MISSOURI" centered at top; month of expiration at top left | A12-345 | Letter corresponds to month of expiration | Staggered registration introduced. All plates validated for 1949 with orange tabs, for 1950 with green tabs, for 1951 with white tabs, and for 1952 with black tabs. Plates expiring between January and August were validated for 1953 with maroon tabs, while those expiring between September and December were validated for that year with stickers. All plates were then validated for 1954 and 1955 with stickers. | ||
| 1956–61 | Embossed yellow serial on black plate with border line; month of expiration at top left and "MO" at top right | 123-456 | 1 to 999-999 | Validated with stickers each year. | |
| 1956–61 | Embossed yellow serial on black plate with border line; month of expiration at top left and "MO" at top right | A12-345 AB1-234 | First letter corresponds to month of expiration | Validated with stickers each year. | |
| 1962–66 | Embossed white serial on maroon plate with border line; "MISSOURI" centered at top; month of expiration at top left and white box at top right containing debossed "62" | First letter corresponds to month of expiration | Valid without stickers in 1962, then revalidated with stickers each year thereafter. |
1967 to 1978
1979 to present
Month coding
Missouri implemented a monthly staggered registration system in 1949, when it introduced its first multi-year passenger plate. At first, serials were in an all-numeric format, with a block allocated to each month. When these were exhausted, a new format was introduced, featuring a one-letter prefix corresponding to the month. When new multi-year plates were introduced in 1956, the same all-numeric and one-letter serial formats were used, with some months then exhausting their one-letter serials and introducing a two-letter format.| Month | All-numeric serials, 1949–55 | All-numeric serials, 1956–61 | Letter code |
| January | 1 to 75-000 | 1 to 75-000 | A |
| February | 75-001 to 150-000 | 75-001 to 160-000 | B |
| March | 150-001 to 225-000 | 160-001 to 245-000 | C |
| April | 225-001 to 300-000 | 245-001 to 330-000 | E |
| May | 300-001 to 375-000 | 330-001 to 415-000 | H |
| June | 375-001 to 450-000 | 415-001 to 500-000 | K |
| July | 450-001 to 525-000 | 500-001 to 585-000 | M |
| August | 525-001 to 600-000 | 585-001 to 670-000 | P |
| September | 600-001 to 675-000 | 670-001 to 755-000 | S |
| October | 675-001 to 750-000 | 755-001 to 840-000 | X |
| November | 750-001 to 825-000 | 840-001 to 925-000 | Y |
| December | 825-001 to 905-000 | 925-001 to 999-999 | Z |
Two-letter serial formats were used exclusively from 1962 through 1978, including the twelve-year period in which Missouri reverted to the use of single-year plates. An ABC-123 format was introduced in 1979 with the maroon "Show-Me State" plate, which was issued through 1996; months which exhausted their allocations subsequently used the A1B-234 and 1A2-34B formats.
Throughout this period, the first letter in the serial continued to correspond to the month. Increasing demand resulted in each of the months from April through September being assigned a second letter code in the mid-1960s. March and October were assigned second letters in the mid-1970s, and by the 1990s all twelve months were using two letters.
| Month | Original letter code | Second letter code |
| January | A | V |
| February | B | D |
| March | C | L |
| April | E | F |
| May | H | G |
| June | K | J |
| July | M | N |
| August | P | R |
| September | S | W |
| October | X | T |
| November | Y | U |
| December | Z | Q |
Since June 2008, serials on passenger and truck plates are coded by the month of the registration's expiration. The first letter of the serial constitutes this code. Once all available combinations beginning with the first letter assigned to that month are issued, a second code letter may be used for that month.
| Month | Codes |
| January | A, B |
| February | C |
| March | D, E |
| April | F, G |
| May | H, J |
| June | K, L |
| July | M, N |
| August | P, R |
| September | S, T |
| October | U, V |
| November | W, X |
| December | Y, Z |
Non-passenger plates
Previous non-passenger plates
1998 base
Optional types
Optional types on this base continue to be issued, likely until January 2009. Most, if not all, optional types on this base were available in personalized format and with certain non-passenger designations. Where applicable, this designation was printed in a small rectangle screened in the upper right corner of the plate.| Image | Type | Slogan | Serial format | Serials issued | Notes |
| Conservation | |||||
| Fight Terrorism | |||||
| God Bless America | |||||
| Helping Schools | |||||
| Purple Heart | |||||
| St. Louis Cardinals | |||||
| Shriners | |||||
| Southwest Missouri State University |