Exploring Montana’s Unique License Plate System: Deciphering County Codes

You may have seen the plethora of different Montana license plates that make their way into North Dakota, but you may not know that some of those license plates are telling you where in the state the drivers are from.

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Vehicles in Montana are identified by the county in which they were registered through the use of a county-code system. The state assembly established the method in 1934, and the figures are based on the population of each county as reported in the 1930 census.

Standard license plates still feature the county number, albeit with a smaller letter size. With a few exceptions, the state's license plates have featured an outline of the state since 1933.

Some license plates forgo the county demarcation and stick to just six characters, but it's always much more interesting and fun to see a plate with the two digit demarcation leading the charge.

Below is a list of each county with its corresponding county seat and license plate number: