Most Common Out-Of-State License Plates In Your Area That DON'T Border Your Stat

[StogieGuy7]

I'm in the SE corner of WI, and I'd have to say Indiana and Ohio are the two most common non-bordering out of state plates.  But I had to think hard about it because Florida, Arizona, Texas and Tennessee aren't far behind.  For this area, the nearest non-bordering states would actually be Indiana, followed by Ohio then Missouri.  Beyond that are the Dakotas, NE, KY, etc.  All are rare here.

When I make the very short jaunt into IL (Lake County), then the easy answer is Ohio, Minnesota and Florida. Michigan doesn't count because it is a bordering state.

[Road Hog]

I'm in the SE corner of WI, and I'd have to say Indiana and Ohio are the two most common non-bordering out of state plates.  But I had to think hard about it because Florida, Arizona, Texas and Tennessee aren't far behind.  For this area, the nearest non-bordering states would actually be Indiana, followed by Ohio then Missouri.  Beyond that are the Dakotas, NE, KY, etc.  All are rare here.

When I make the very short jaunt into IL (Lake County), then the easy answer is Ohio, Minnesota and Florida. Michigan doesn't count because it is a bordering state.

Again, as has been mentioned before, Michigan borders Illinois only by water.

In the same vein, there are no direct connections between Missouri and Kentucky other than the toll Hickman ferry, which is spotty service at best. You have to transition through Cairo or across the I-155 bridge farther south to get from one to the other through different states.

Missouri and Kentucky are the only closely adjoining states in the U.S. that are not connected by a road or bridge.

[ilpt4u]

^^^^ The US 60/62 Cairo Ohio and Mississippi River Bridges separate Kentucky and Missouri by all of 1 Mile of Illinois territory, most of which is on the bridges and very little land actually at the southern tip of the state

I am not sure how you differentiate KY/MO versus IL/MI, MN/MI, NY/RI. All have water borders. One is a river. Two are Lakes. One is a Sound. What definition of "neighboring"  are you applying? I typically think of "neighboring"  states as states that share a border

[kphoger]

Kentucky and Missouri have a direct road connection.

[ilpt4u]

If we are counting exclaves from shifted rivers due to earthquakes and the New Madrid Fault, there is at least another one

https://goo.gl/maps/xZvSPriLgDN7VYhm7

[michravera]

Texas.

Military base near here.  Texas is a populous state.  Lots of military bases.  Lots of Texans in the military, and more who become Texans when they get stationed in Texas.

Oregon or Washington might be next, but most of them have headed back north by now.

Curiously, in my part of California, I was going to say either Washington or Texas as well. Texas because of population. Washington because of proximity. Of course, we see a LOT more Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, and Baja California plates, but that wasn't the question.

[webny99]

Kentucky and Missouri have a direct road connection.

Try getting from that part of Kentucky to the rest of Kentucky by road.

[kphoger]

Kentucky and Missouri have a direct road connection.

Try getting from that part of Kentucky to the rest of Kentucky by road.

British Columbia and Alaska.

[wriddle082]

In South Carolina, it's definitely Florida, but also a lot of Ohio and Virginia.

In Tennessee, it seemed like it was always Illinois.

[allniter89]

TN, MS, LA.

[sharkyfour]

Lately I've been seeing a bunch of Tennessee plates in my Connecticut town.  Seems like people living here with TN plates, too.  Haven't been able to figure that one out...

[webny99]

I think we just found out the character limit for thread titles: 80 characters
"State" in this title has become "Stat", and it wasn't a typo, because I just tried to add the "e" with no success.

85 replies in, and we're still talking about states instead of stats. 

[ilpt4u]

I think we just found out the character limit for thread titles: 80 characters
"State" in this title has become "Stat", and it wasn't a typo, because I just tried to add the "e" with no success.

85 replies in, and we're still talking about states instead of stats. 

Take the apostraphe out of "DON'T"  and the "e"  can be added back. "DONT"  gets the point across

Like that!

[StogieGuy7]

Again, as has been mentioned before, Michigan borders Illinois only by water.

Immaterial; they are still bordering states.  Officially so, because unlike what happens with ocean waters, the Great Lakes are located entirely within state/provincial boundaries. The fact that you can't drive over them doesn't mean the boundary doesn't exist.  Which is why IL has political collaborations and agreements with MI just as they do with other neighboring states.

[FrCorySticha]

In eastern Montana, I see a lot of Washington plates, especially around hunting season.

[US 89]

I've been paying attention to this more lately. Although I think California probably still wins here in the Wasatch Front, there are a lot more Washington and Texas plates than I realized.

[sparker]

Living here in San Jose, it's certainly not surprising to see a substantial number of license plates from specific states:
     (1) Washington; lots of tech-firm transfers between the two states.
     (2) Texas; with the tech boom on the I-35 corridor (Austin, San Marcos, etc.), a lesser version of (1) occurs             
          regularly.
     (3) Virginia -- folks moving on from Fed work; now working for Oracle/Cisco/etc. providing stuff for their former
          colleagues.

[steviep24]

Here in western NY Florida, Texas and Ohio plates are common.

[skluth]

I'm not sure about Palm Springs. You don't see many out-of-state plates this time of year. It would be easy to check from Halloween to Tax Day thanks to the snowbirds. State is probably Washington, but I think I see more British Columbia and possibly Alberta which are provinces. We also get a fair number of Idaho, Utah, Montana and New Mexico. There are far more Oregon plates than any of the above, and while Oregon may be an adjacent state Ashland just across the border is over a 750 miles drive which is further than going through two states in many states east of the Mississippi. Caribou in the northern tip of Maine to NYC is only a little over 600 miles.

[Sanctimoniously]

In my area of northeast Louisiana, California for sure. I also see a surprising amount of Illinois and Virginia, and Mexican states are also not uncommon here.

[Thing 342]

In my military-heavy area, we tend to see a lot of plates from "military"  states, ie Florida, Texas, sometimes Alaska.

We also see a decent number of PA/NJ/NY plates here during the summer months.

[bdmoss88]

It seems like I see a lot of Texas plates around here.

[DJDBVT]

In Vermont, passenger vehicles with Connecticut, New Jersey, or Rhode Island plates are most common. A lot of Indiana, Tennessee and Maine trucks/trailers as well.

[bing101]

California License plates in Georgia because of the filming industry done outside of the CA-134 freeway corridor. Note this was common at the time the article was made.
https://www.georgiatrend.com/2018/03/01/ga-ga-land/

If you are wondering which states have gotten ex-California residents

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/26/894129669/after-californias-camp-fire-some-people-from-paradise-put-down-roots-in-tennesse

some of the articles look at some of the impacts though and stats too on the net loss and gain for people leaving or entering the state.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/04/691145-californians-left-last-year-what-state-did-they-go-to/

Washington, Texas, Colorado and Hawaii were the most common license places in my neighborhood. But at one point Hawaii License Plates were once more common in the early 90's in California due to the Mare Island Shipyards (then active) and Travis Air Force Base (still active). Then again some things have changed dramatically in the past 30 years.

[CoreySamson]

This is SUPER hard for Houston. Most out-of-state plates you see are Louisiana, but since that's excluded, I'll have to go with Tennessee.

Why Tennessee? I can recall seeing it at least a couple of times, unlike other states; plus, my sample size is limited since I don't drive the highest volume routes that often. There's probably another one that pops up more often. Maybe Florida?