Is It Illegal To Drive Without A Front License Plate In North Dakota?

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to North Dakota more than 3 years ago is how many people are driving around without this one particular thing.

It was so bizarre to me, because where I'm from everyone has them. I'm talking about front license plates. There are tons of people in the state of North Dakota driving around without license plates on both ends of their cars.

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I was so shocked to see this. There are even some very lucky and brave individuals who only have a front plate on and drive around without a back one (Yes, I've seen this many times).

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What Is The Law?

I was thinking about this on my drive to work the other day, so I looked it up. What are the license plate laws in the state of North Dakota?

Here's what I found:

According to nd.gov, there is a ND Century Code 39-04-11 that explicitly states you are required, by law, to have a license plate on both the back AND front of your car.

While this may be true, it doesn't seem like many of us are following it, nor is the law being strictly enforced.

How Many States Require This?

According to insurancenavy.com, there are 30 states that require a front license plate.

States That Require License Plates (According to insurancenavy.com):

• Alaska
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Dakota
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

All the remaining states do not require two license plates to be displayed.

Get Going

If you don't have two license plates, why? -- They give you two at the DMV. Also, you might want to remedy that situation, before you get caught.