These plates were among Colorado’s most popular specialty license plates in 2023

Colorado’s retro retired black license plate crushed it in 2023 with nearly 170,000 sold in its initial year, far outpacing the retro red, blue and green mountain license plates, which collectively recorded nearly 19,500 in sales.

All that love for the black plates, which are based on the state’s 1945 license plate, resulted in $4.2 million in funding for the Colorado Disability Funding Committee, through the $25 plate fee that funds grants supporting community organizations that work to improve the quality of life and independence of Coloradans with disabilities.

The blue background plate is based on the state’s 1914 plate and the red from its 1915 plate. The retro green plate is based on the 1962-1999 plates.

Colorado has nearly 6.2 million actively registered license plates on the road and offers 218 license plate designs, according to the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles.

This year, four new specialty plates will be available: Born to be Wild, “In God We Trust,” Stegosaurus State Fossil and Navy Seabees Military.

The DMV recently revealed its most popular license plates of 2023. 

Here is a look at the year’s other best sellers by category.

Columbine ‘Respect Life’ overwhelming most popular choice for specialty license plate

Here are the top 10 most popular specialty design plates in 2023 sales:

1. Columbine: 75,692

2. Wildlife Sporting: 35,297

3. Pioneer: 30,963

4. Ski Country USA: 28,934

5. Adopt A Shelter Pet: 26,447

6. Breast Cancer Awareness (modified): 25,962

7. Firefighter: 19,681

8. Broncos Charities: 16,302

9. 150th Anniversary Under 13: 13,696

10. Rocky Mountain National Park: 13,299

And the winner of the most popular college alumni category is …

Alumni license plates representing 14 colleges/universities in the state totaled 29,699 plates. Here are the top five:

1. Colorado: 12,557
2. CSU: 5,657
3. Colorado School of Mines: 2,798
4. Northern Colorado: 1,300
5. University of Denver: 1,272

Military specialty plates offer the widest selection of any category

There are 83 different military specialty license plate designs with 164,116 plates sold in 2023. Here are the top five most popular:

1. Disabled Veteran: 61,584
2. Honorably Discharge Veteran: 30,468
3. U.S. Marine Corp: 15,047
4. U.S. Army: 9,223
5. U.S. Air Force: 7,972

Here are Colorado’s favorite sports teams specialty plates

1. Avalanche: 5,161
2. Rockies: 2,904
3. Nuggest: 1,487

Note: Broncos team doesn’t have a specialty plate but Broncos Charities does.

Coloradans can also pay extra for personalized plates, though each year those deemed too naughty get tossed out.

For more information about Colorado’s specialty plates as well as purchasing plates, visit https://dmv.colorado.gov/license-plates.