Decoding South Dakota's License Plate Numbers

I remember an old, hacky stand-up comedy joke about now that we have phones in our cars, license plates should have phone numbers on them so we can call and complain about people's driving.

South Dakota license plates don't have phone numbers on them, yet anyway. But, you can learn a little bit from the numbers.

The first number on an SD license plate is the county in which the car is registered. For example, Pennington County where Rapid City is has a '2' starting its plates. In Sioux Falls you have either a '1' or a '44' depending on your relationship to 57th Street.

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Secret Behind South Dakota License Plate Numbers

When established in 1956 (and revised in 1987) the first nine counties were ordered by population.

Starting with 10 they are in alphabetical order through Ziebach, with Oglala Lakota County (65) and Todd (67) rounding out the list.

Now in the 2020's the top 10 plate numbers and populations don't correlate anymore.

1 and 2 are still 1 and 2, but Lincoln (44) is now 3rd in population. Beadle is 4 but it's now 11th in population. See the list by population here.

I was used to this system from growing up in Nebraska where they do the same thing, but I still have a hard time remembering which South Dakota county a license plate is from. So I got a list here so we all will know:

South Dakota License Plate Numbers and Counties

1: Minnehaha (Sioux Falls)
2: Pennington (Rapid City)
3: Brown (Aberdeen)
4: Beadle (Huron)
5: Codington (Watertown)
6: Brookings (Brookings)
7: Yankton (Yankton)
8: Davison (Mitchell)
9: Lawrence (Deadwood)
10: Aurora (Plankinton)
11: Bennett (Martin)
12: Bon Homme (Tyndall)
13: Brule (Chamberlain)
14: Buffalo (Gann Valley)
15: Butte (Belle Fourche)
16: Campbell (Mound City)
17: Charles Mix (Lake Andres)
18: Clark (Clark)
19: Clay (Vermillion)
20: Corson (McIntosh)
21: Custer (Custer)
22: Day (Webster)
23: Deuel (Clear Lake)

24: Dewey (Timber Lake)
25: Douglas (Armour)
26: Edmunds (Ipswich)
27: Fall River (Hot Springs)
28: Faulk (Faulkton)
29: Grant (Milbank)
30: Gregory (Burke)
31: Haakon (Philip)
32: Hamlin (Hayti)
33: Hand (Miller)
34: Hanson (Alexandria)
35: Harding (Buffalo)
36: Hughes (Pierre)
37: Hutchinson (Olivet)
38: Hyde (Highmore)
39: Jackson (Kadoka)
40: Jerauld (Wessington Springs)
41: Jones (Murdo)
42: Kingsbury (De Smet)
43: Lake (Madison)
44: Lincoln (Canton)
45: Lyman (Kennebec)
46: McCook (Salem)

47: McPherson (Leola)
48: Marshall (Britton)
49: Meade (Sturgis)
50: Mellette (White River)
51: Miner (Howard)
52: Moody (Flandreau)
53: Perkins (Bison)
54: Potter (Gettysburg)
55: Roberts (Sisseton)
56: Sanborn (Woonsocket)
57: Spink (Redfield)
58: Stanley (Fort Pierce)
59: Sully (Onida)
60: Tripp (Winner)
61: Turner (Parker)
62: Union (Elk Point)
63: Walworth (Selby)
64: Ziebach (Dupree)
65: Oglala Lakota County (Wounded Knee)
66: Washabaugh (merged with Jackson County in 1983)
67: Todd (Antelope)

Source: Wikipedia

What Did South Dakota's License Plate Look Like the Year You Were Born?

The first number on a South Dakota license plate is the county that the car is registered. For example, Pennington county where Rapid City is has a '2' starting its plates. In Sioux Falls you have either a '1' or a '44' depending on your relationship to 57th street.

When established in 1956 (and revised in 1987) the first nine counties were ordered by population. Starting with 10 they are in alphabetical order through Ziebach, with Oglala Lakota County (65) and Todd (67) rounding out the list.

Today the top 10 plate numbers and populations don't correlate anymore. 1 and 2 are still 1 and 2, but Lincoln (44) is now 3rd in population. Beadle is 4 but it's now 11th in population. See the list by population here.

On January 1, 2023, South Dakota started issuing a new license plate design for license plates.

So, let's take a look back at what South Dakota license plates looked like over the last 100 years.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

See How Minnesota's License Plates Have Evolved Since 1909

Nothing beats a nostalgia trip. It's always fun to see how things looked the year you were born and how much they've changed throughout the years.

Minnesota's license plates have certainly gone through many evolutions. The first "license plate" was actually a rectangular black leather automobile license tag with a brass number '1' on the center front. It was issued by the State Boiler Inspector in the State of Minnesota in 1903.

The first Minnesota license plate as we know it was issued in 1909. Let's take a look at that license plate and then all the plates that followed, along with some interesting Wikipedia knowledge as we go.

We've certainly come a long way, but it's also interesting that the now popular blackout plates have been around before.

Gallery Credit: David Drew

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