In Washington state, it’s not unusual to see Washington state license plates with specialty themes like WSU or University of Washington but more new designs are coming, and they’re available now.
The question is.
How much money are these specialty plates making for the state? Washington state is now providing 67 different specialty designs for license plates. Obviously, some are more popular than others, but how much money is being spent?
According to Seattle.imes.com,
‘The State Legislature last year approved a bunch of new specialty designs, some of which became available for purchase in November — plates dedicated to pickleball, honeybees and more.
Data from the Washington Department of Licensing shows that in 2025, nearly 184,000 vehicles in the state carried a special-design plate, generating nearly $5.8 million in fees.’
If you add vanity plates to the mix, then total expenditure by Washington drivers was up around 9.8 million. The latest round of specialty plates being added this year includes a pickleball license plate. (I guess it’s because pickleball isn’t already intrusive enough.)
Screen shot / seattletimes.com/seattle-news
If you go to the special Design Plates Website for the Washington State Department of Transportation, you can view all of these options.
Including U.S. Armed Forces.
Screen shot / seattletimes.com/seattle-news
Along with other categories like.
Military services and veterans.
Charitable organizations.
Collector vehicles.
Colleges and universities.
Screen shot / seattletimes.com/seattle-news
First responders.
Marks and nature.
Special interest.
Sports.
Tribal.
And miscellaneous.
Miscellaneous is fun because that also includes personalized or vanity license plates. If you’re not quite sure whether your vanity license plate is going to actually pass the so-called decency inspection, there’s even a phone number to call to ask if your choice is OK, (360-902-3770))
So what is the most popular specialty plates in Washington state?
Let’s look at the top five.
Number 5 was the Seattle Seahawks. 11,095 plates sold. Total dollars. $336,713.
Number 4 Law Enforcement Memorial. 11,296 plates sold. Total dollars. $351,128.
Number 3 Washington National Parks. 12,749 plates sold. total dollars. $414,000.
Number 2 collector vehicles. 20,298 plates sold. Total dollars. $711,430.
The number one most popular license plate sold last year.
Washington State University. 24,088 plates sold. Total dollars $734,250.
We could look at the bottom 5 specialty plates that were sold last year. Suffice it to say that the least popular specialty license plate in Washington state last year was square dancing.
I think we need to expand the number of specialty license plates that should be available for Washington state. 67 is definitely not enough.
We should explore specialty license plates for categories like,
Favorite pizza,
Favorite Seattle grunge band,
but my personal favorite would definitely be, favorite radio station.
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