North Carolina · sequential passenger map
North Carolina license-plate format
North Carolina passenger plates use three letters, a hyphen, and four digits. In this atlas the pattern string uses A for a letter slot and 9 for a digit slot. Other characters are separators that appear on the metal but do not enlarge the combination space.
- Pattern
- AAA-9999
- Classes
- 3 letters + 4 digits
- Alphabet size
- 26
- Skipped letters
- none modelled
- Combination count
- 175,760,000
- Model year
- 2015
How the map works
Each A slot independently takes one glyph from ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. Each 9 slot takes 0–9. The product of those bases is 175,760,000 — the size of the sequential space taught here. Hyphens, spaces and dots in AAA-9999 are display only.
First in Flight (and later First in Freedom) graphics changed more than the ABC-1234 map. The hyphenated seven-glyph serial is the sequential passenger standard.
Before this map, North Carolina used ABC-1234 First in Flight with a different typeface. Optional graphics (universities, military, environmental) can look nothing like the sequential passenger die and are not counted in the 175,760,000 figure.
SPR-9932 matches. Cross-links to other AAA-9999 states appear on the combination page.
Generated versus issued
A string that fits AAA-9999 is in-class. It is not automatically an issued plate. Series can skip blocks, retire numbers, or reserve low digits. This essay never queries a motor-vehicle file. See also generated vs issued.