These Are The Top 3 Specialty License Plates In Iowa Within The Last Year

Does it seem like you see one kind of license plate more than another?

If you think so, you're probably not far off. Stats from the Iowa DOT obtained by Des Moines Register show the most popular specialty plates that drivers in Iowa picked over 2025.

Here are the top 10:

10. Natural resources plate-Eagle (5,146)

9. Cattlemen Care (8,838)

8. Flying Our Colors (10,196)

7. Natural resources plate- Goldfinch (12,519)

6. Veteran's plate (12,783)

5. Firefighter (13,928)

4. Iowa State University (19,125)

Top 3

3. University of Iowa (25,995)

2. Persons with disabilities plate and sticker (57,727)

1. Blackout design (713,550)

So clearly, by far, the blackout plate is the most popular custom plate. Of those over 700,000 plates, almost 144,000 were customized. Iowa is one of a handful of states that offer the blackout plates. More and more states are beginning to allow the blackout plates design in recent years since they're so popular because of a minimalist design that matches different paint colors.

The blackout plates have a $35 initial fee, with an annual $10 fee. Personalized blackout plates are an $60 initial fee, along with a $15 renewal fee.

In 2025, the Iowa DOT offered 83 different plate designs to drivers. They have 23 general license plates, 30 collegiate license plates, 6 natural resources license plates, and 24 military license plates.

The Iowa DOT began offering the blackout plate in 2019, and it has become more popular every year since. Before the blackout design was available, Iowans got creative. They would order and personalize the black Dordt University plates, using a frame to hide the college insignia.

But as we all know, the creativity of some of the actual personalizations on these plates, however, is questionable.