Vehicle registration plates of Hawaii

Each of Hawaii's four counties registered vehicles completely autonomously starting with the City & County of Honolulu in 1906, and license plates were homemade / owner-provided. The first government-issued plates were used by both Honolulu and the County of Hawaii in 1915. Maui County first issued plates in 1919, while Kauai County retained homemade plates through 1921; this was the last jurisdiction in the United States to do so. All license plates were standardized throughout the Territory of Hawaii for the first time in 1922. Despite its status at the time as a territory, Hawaii's vehicle registration laws and license plates were the same as the rest of the United States until the State of Hawaii was admitted to the U.S. as the 50th state in August 1959.

Background

Hawaii was a sovereign constitutional monarchy until its government was overthrown in January 1893, but many of its laws were already modeled after those of the United States, including registering dogs and issuing metal tags for them since the 1870s. The Republic of Hawaii which replaced the previous government was annexed as a Territory by the United States in August 1898, and the first automobiles to be shipped to the Hawaiian Islands arrived in 1899.

Passenger baseplates

1922 to 1952

No slogans were used on passenger plates during the period covered by this subsection.

Image	Dates issued	Design	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	1922	Embossed white on dark green; vertical "HAWAII" and "1922" at right	12-345	Issued in blocks by county	Serials started from 1–000 in Honolulu County, from 20 to 000 in Hawaii County, from 30 to 000 in Maui County, and from 40 to 000 in Kauai County. This continued through 1925.
	1923	Embossed green on white with border line; "HAWAII 1923" at bottom	12345	Issued in blocks by county
	1924	Embossed red on white with border line; "HAWAII 1924" at top	12345	Issued in blocks by county
	1925	Embossed black on orange with border line; "HAWAII 1925" at bottom	12345	Issued in blocks by county
	1926	Embossed white on green with border line; vertical "HAWAII" and "1926" at left	12345	Issued in blocks by county	Serials started from 50000 in Honolulu County; starting serials in other counties same as 1922–25. This continued through 1939.
	1927	Embossed black on silver with border line; "HAWAII 1927" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1928	Embossed orange on black with border line; "HAWAII 1928" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1929	Embossed golden yellow on blue with border line; "HAWAII 1929" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1930	Embossed white on red with border line; "HAWAII 1930" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1931	Embossed white on black with border line; "HAWAII 1931" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1932	Embossed yellow on green with border line; "HAWAII 1932" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1933	Embossed red on orange; "HAWAII 1933" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1934	Embossed white on blue; "HAWAII 1934" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1935	Embossed black on golden yellow; "HAWAII 1935" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1936	Embossed white on green; "HAWAII 1936" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1937	Embossed blue on white; "HAWAII 1937" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1938	Embossed yellow on black; "HAWAII 1938" centered at bottom	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1939	Embossed white on blue; "HAWAII 1939" centered at top	12-345	Issued in blocks by county
	1940	Embossed black on yellow; "HAWAII 1940" at bottom, offset to right	A/A''1234	County-coded	Honolulu County used O as the second letter and numbers 5000–9999; Hawaii County used H and numbers 2000–2999; Maui County used M and numbers 3000–3999; and Kauai County used K and numbers 4000–4999. The number allocations were used through 1950.
	1941	Embossed red on gray; "HAWAII 1941" centered at top	A1234	County-coded
		Embossed white on black; "HAWAII 1942" centered at bottom	A1234	County-coded	Revalidated for 1943, 1944 and 1945 with windshield stickers, due to metal conservation for World War II.
	1946	Embossed black on white; "HAWAII 1946" centered at top	A1234	County-coded
	1947	Embossed white on green; "HAWAII 1947" centered at bottom	A1234	County-coded
	1948	Embossed black on golden yellow; "HAWAII 1948" centered at top	A1234	County-coded
	1949	Embossed golden yellow on black; "HAWAII 1949" centered at bottom	A1234	County-coded
	1950	As 1948 base, but with "HAWAII 1950" at top	1A1234 A1234	County-coded	1A1234 serial format used in Honolulu County, with the prefix progressing 1A-5A, 1B-5B, etc.
	1951	As 1949 base, but with "HAWAII 51" at bottom	1A''-123 A 123 A-1234	County-coded	Honolulu County used letters A, B, C, E, F, N, T, W and X; Hawaii County used H and Z; Maui County used M and L; and Kauai County used K. This continued through 1980.
	1952	As 1948 base, but with "HAWAII 52" at top	1A-123 A-123 A-1234	County-coded

1953 to present

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 first Hawaii license plate that complied with these standards was a modification of the 1953 plate, introduced in 1956.
Since 1969, all Hawaii passenger plates have featured a round mounting hole at the top right and horizontal slots in the other three corners. This irregularity is to accommodate the yearly registration sticker in the upper right corner of the rear plate.

Image	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
		Embossed golden yellow on black; "HAWAII" at bottom, offset to left	none	1A-123 A-123 A-1234 1A-1234	County-coded	Validated annually with one metal tab attached to the lower right corner of the front license plate: 1953 - plain aluminum, 1954 - black on yellow, 1955 - red on white, and 1956 - black on deep yellow.
	1957–60	Embossed white on red with border line; "HAWAII" centered at bottom	"ALOHA" centered in white at top	1A-123 A-123 A-1234 1A-1234	County-coded	Validated annually with windshield stickers: 1957 - red on white, 1958 - gold on green, 1959 - black on yellow, 1960 - white on blue.
	1961–68	Embossed white on green with border line; "HAWAII" centered at top	"ALOHA STATE" centered in white at bottom	1A-1234 A-1234 K-12345	County-coded	Validated annually with windshield stickers: 1961- white on green, 1962 - red on yellow with Hawaii Visitors Bureau Hawaiian warrior logo, 1963 - yellow on red with Hawaii Visitors Bureau Hawaiian warrior logo, 1964 - black on gold, 1965 - white on blue, 1966 - white on green, 1967 - yellow on red, 1968 - black on gold.
	1969–75	Embossed black on reflective yellow with border line; "HAWAII" centered at top; "69" etched at top right	"ALOHA STATE" centered in black at bottom	1A-1234 A-1234 K-12345	County-coded
	1976–80	Embossed blue on reflective white with border line; "HAWAII" centered at top; pink graphics of King Kamehameha I and Diamond Head screened in background; red hibiscus screened at top left and "76" at top right	"ALOHA STATE" centered in blue at bottom	1A-1234 A-12345	County-coded
	1981–90	Embossed brown on reflective white; orange warrior head graphic screened in center; "HAWAII" screened in brown centered at top; "81" screened at top right	"ALOHA STATE" screened in brown centered at bottom	ABC 123	County-coded	Honolulu County used A, B, C and D as the first letter; Hawaii County used H; Maui County used M; and Kauai County used K. Letters I, O and Q not used, and H, K, L and M not used in Honolulu County; these practices continue today.
	1991–2025	Embossed black on reflective white; rainbow graphic screened in background; "HAWAII" screened in black centered at top	"ALOHA STATE" screened in black centered at bottom	ABC 123	County-coded	Honolulu County has used E, F, G, J, N, P, R, S, T, W and Y as the first letter; Hawaii County has used H and Z; Maui County has used M and L; and Kauai County has used K. The design was set to run out in Honolulu County mid-2024 with the letter W however it was announced in late 2023 that the letters Y, A, B, C, and D have been added to Honolulu County. It is estimated that this will keep the Rainbow series in production for the next 15 years.
	2025–present	Embossed black on reflective white; rainbow graphic screened in background; "HAWAIʻokina" screened in black centered at top	"ALOHA STATE" screened in black centered at bottom	ABC 123	County-coded	Honolulu County has used E, F, G, J, N, P, R, S, T, W and Y as the first letter; Hawaii County has used H and Z; Maui County has used M and L; and Kauai County has used K. The design was set to run out in Honolulu County mid-2024 with the letter W however it was announced in late 2023 that the letters Y, A, B, C, and D have been added to Honolulu County. It is estimated that this will keep the Rainbow series in production for the next 15 years.