# Are New York license plates orange or yellow? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977 "2017-08-29T00:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/21 "2017-08-29T20:16:36Z")
New Mexico (at least, the old ones)? Yellow New York? Orange ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/22 "2017-08-29T20:43:34Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Except of course from the ones that are white or some other color. A Google search shows that the orange/yellow isn’t even consistent. I agree, which is why I picked the “contrary people” option. However, I’d consider the majority of NY plates I’ve seen to be orange. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/23 "2017-08-29T22:04:12Z")
It’s [cheese](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=658624) colored. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/24 "2017-08-29T22:13:46Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s [cheese](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=658624) colored. > 😃 At least now I know why you’re called [Lumpy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JOBO8BPpko&t=6s). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/25 "2017-08-29T23:14:07Z")
I picked yellow but it only applies to some of them.[Look at these Google images and scroll down until you see the HOT-POT8-0 one](https://www.google.com/search?q=new+york+license+plates&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPlon7x_3VAhVHB8AKHVTtCcsQ_AUICigB&biw=768&bih=379). That one is yellow to me. The ones next to it to the right of it is orange. I have nearly perfect color vision according to tests but the color spectrum is fairly arbitrary at the fringes. The blue-green spectrum is huge for example and different cultures break it up verbally in different ways. There is also no bright line between a slightly reddish yellow and a lighter shade of orange. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/26 "2017-08-29T23:25:54Z")
It’s orange. Like the Mets. Because of the Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![RingsOfPylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3da27b/32.png) [@RingsOfPylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RingsOfPylon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/27 "2017-08-29T23:49:12Z")
I’m from NY and still keep my old white plates with blue lettering. They’re cheaper to renew while being easier on the eyes. It’s not really yellow and not really orange. It’s 1970s Harvest Gold (shudder). Google it, look at the images, and thank a deity that the 70s are gone. Anyway, this newer color - the color you puke up when you had tomato soup for lunch and it’s mixed with lots of yellow bile- is hideous. This is what happens when you let a blind governor pick the new plates. Actually, though, it’s pretty close to the color they used to be in an older incarnation. The white and blue were a sudden (and welcome) departure from the old ugly gold plates that we used to have. Now we have them again, because retro is trendy. Or something. Pennsylvania had a long run with a similar fugly gold color. I don’t know if they still have them. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/28 "2017-08-30T00:21:23Z")
They are Princeton Orange, because of Mayor John Lindsay. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/29 "2017-08-30T18:50:05Z")
They are orange - unless you’re writing a poem, in which case they are yellow. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/30 "2017-08-30T19:28:08Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Yellow. On the orange side of yellow, but still yellow. About the same color as a school bus. And I would also say that most school buses are actually orange, and not yellow, even though they are referred to as yellow for some reason. I mean, some of them are literally almost the color of an actual orange. I might call the color amber (which is what I call the color exactly between yellow and orange, much like a “yellow” light), but the school buses I see around here are more to the orange side. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/31 "2017-08-30T19:41:48Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > [Current plates](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2009/11/11/nyregion/11plates_ready/popup.jpg) > > [2001 - 2009](http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/New_York/ny2001.jpg) > > [Pre-2001](http://www.15q.net/us4/nylib4a.jpg) They were yellow before the statue of liberty plates came out. You could opt to keep the yellow ones at the time. I think you had to pay extra though. I’m from NY and think the current plates are yellow. More of a “gold”. The orangey side of yellow, but still yellow. (Not the yellowy side of orange. That would be ridiculous.) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/32 "2017-08-30T20:45:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > And I would also say that most school buses are actually orange, and not yellow, even though they are referred to as yellow for some reason. I mean, some of them are literally almost the color of an actual orange. I might call the color amber (which is what I call the color exactly between yellow and orange, much like a “yellow” light), but the school buses I see around here are more to the orange side. I consider the range to be orange, amber, gold, yellow. ETA: this is starting to sound like a geek debate on just how “yellow” something has to be before Green lantern’s ring won’t work on it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/33 "2017-08-30T21:41:41Z")
> [@Lowdown](#): > > They were yellow before the statue of liberty plates came out. You could opt to keep the yellow ones at the time. I think you had to pay extra though. > > I’m from NY and think the current plates are yellow. More of a “gold”. The orangey side of yellow, but still yellow. (Not the yellowy side of orange. That would be ridiculous.) One possible way to somewhat objectively quantify this is to go with HSB (hue, saturation, brightness) values. On this scale, Red is 0, Orange is 30, Yellow is 60. (And Amber would be 45) For your “current plate” link, I get a hue value of 28 in Photoshop, so we’re looking at bang-on orange. Saturation is 82, Brightness in 90, so slightly desaturated, and slightly darkened, but hue is pure orange. Not even “orangey side of yellow” but straight-up orange, even slightly to the red side of orange. [Here’s a quick PS job I did](http://www.pawinskiphotography.com/public/plates.jpg). From left to right, hue is pure red, almost pure orange (the original photo linked to above), pure amber, and pure yellow. The saturation and brightness are all the same as in the original photo, so the colors are actually slightly desaturated and darker versions of the “pure” colors. Now, that doesn’t necessarily prove anything if the original photo we are looking at has the incorrect white balance on it or something. But if the color in the original photo is correct, that’s orange. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/34 "2017-08-30T21:42:59Z")
Orange. They were orange when I was a kid in the 70-80s and they’re orange again, when I moved back in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/35 "2017-08-30T22:18:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Or if you’re old like me, you remember [these](http://www.statetrooperplates.com/OLDSITE/NYSP1968.jpg) (1966-1972). Not quite that old, but this is how I remember them. [Orange.](http://platevault.com/view.php?id=406761) Living in Boston, many of us had a viscerally negative reaction to seeing that plate on a car, and when I moved out to CA, it took me awhile before I did not have that same reaction on seeing an Oregon license plate, which at the time was similarly colored. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/36 "2017-08-30T22:19:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Or if you’re old like me, you remember [these](http://www.statetrooperplates.com/OLDSITE/NYSP1968.jpg) (1966-1972). This is the one I grew up with (1973-80) so I am happy this has come back in the current plates. When they first came out, I thought why do those look so familiar? :smack: It’s orange! > **[Vehicle registration plates of New York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_New_York#/media/File:1974_New_York_Number_Plate.jpg)** > > The U.S. state of New York was the first to require its residents to register their motor vehicles, in 1901. Registrants provided their own license plates for display, featuring their initials until 1903 and numbers thereafter, until the state began to issue plates in 1910. > Plates are currently issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (NYSDMV). Front and rear plates are required on all vehicles except for motorcycles and trailers. > In 1956, the United States, Canada and Mexico... ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/37 "2017-08-31T02:37:16Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I’m looking through [pictures of NYC taxis](https://untappedcities-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5_NYC-Fun-Facts-Why-Are-Most-NYC-Taxi-Cabs-Yellow.jpg), and they look to be just about the same color as the plate. And I wouldn’t call the taxis orange (although, like with school buses, there’s a hint of orange in the yellow). > > (Yes, I know, color is subjective, and something that’s yellow in one context might be orange in another. So they could be yellow when they’re next to a [big expanse of a color](http://www.thecatyouandus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2423.jpg) we’re culturally conditioned to call yellow, and orange when there are different cues.) I don’t know. I see about a zillion NYC yellow cabs a day, and even more license plates than that. The plates definitely aren’t the same color as the paint on a taxicab. I’d say they’re orange, but a pale, yellowy orange. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/38 "2017-08-31T02:56:32Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I don’t know. I see about a zillion NYC yellow cabs a day, and even more license plates than that. The plates definitely aren’t the same color as the paint on a taxicab. I’d say they’re orange, but a pale, yellowy orange. And looking at the cab, I’d say, how in the heck is that NOT orange? (At least of the cab pictures shown above in **Lord Feldon** ’s link) Once again, using the color picker, the color values are all 28-32 in the hue dimension. 30 is orange. 60 is yellow. It’s not even close to being “orangish yellow.” It’s just orange. I’ve asked my child who is 3 and relatively recently learned her colors what color that is, so she doesn’t have any associations of “yellow cab.” She immediately said it was orange. Once again, to demonstrate just how orange it is by comparison, [here’s three color variations of the cab.](http://www.pawinskiphotography.com/public/cabs.jpg) The leftmost cab is the original image, and has an average hue value of 30 (orange). The middle cab is amber (midway between orange and yellow) and has a hue value of 45. The rightmost is yellow, and has a hue value of 60. Seeing them side-by-side, it’s clear how orange that cab is. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/39 "2017-08-31T03:01:54Z")
ETA: Now, the middle one I can accept as calling “yellow,” even though it’s not really yellow, but midway between the two colors. In English, we seem to make the distinction right around there between orange and yellow, calling the pure yellow “lemon yellow” perhaps. I personally make the distinction a little more to the yellow side of amber. That middle color is the color of yellow lights to me: halfway between orange and yellow. But the color on the left is the color of actual oranges (and actually, even more orange than many oranges). I have no idea how anyone can call that yellow, other than in the context of them being known as “yellow cabs” and “yellow school buses,” even though much of the time, they are well on the orange side of amber if not orange (like this one is.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977/40 "2017-08-31T03:07:44Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > This is the one I grew up with (1973-80) so I am happy this has come back in the current plates. When they first came out, I thought why do those look so familiar? :smack: > > It’s orange! > > [Vehicle registration plates of New York - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_New_York#/media/File:1974_New_York_Number_Plate.jpg) See, that one looks amber to me, right in between. It’s nowhere near as orange as the other examples. That one I can understand classifying as yellow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-new-york-license-plates-orange-or-yellow/794977.md?page=3)