Wyoming License Plate Slogan: That's WY

Wyoming is unusual because its strongest plate identifier is a graphic. The Bucking Horse and Rider first appeared on Wyoming license plates in 1936 and has become the state's plate signature. It does the work that a phrase does in many other states: it tells drivers, collectors, and travelers exactly where the plate belongs.

The figure is commonly associated with Steamboat, the legendary Wyoming bronco, and the symbol is protected by the state as a trademark. That visual continuity explains why Wyoming did not need a permanent nickname slogan on the plate for most of its modern history.

Wyoming's official nickname is The Equality State, and its motto is Equal Rights. Those are real state identities, but they are not the standard plate's long-running slogan. On plates, Wyoming has usually led with the western horse-and-rider mark instead.

The current passenger series is the 2025 Wyoming State Flag plate. It uses the state flag as the central design, keeps the Bucking Horse and Rider in the serial format, and prints travelwyoming.com along the bottom with "That's WY" at the lower right.

That matters for accuracy: Wyoming can no longer be described as having no text on its current standard plate. A better distinction is that Wyoming has no permanent old-style state nickname slogan on the standard plate. Its current wording is tourism branding and a web address, not the historic identity phrase found on many other states' plates.

Wyoming's Bicentennial base ran from 1975 through 1977 and carried one of the more distinctive U.S. Bicentennial plate slogans: "THE SPIRIT OF '76 - In the American West!" The first half tied the plate to the national 200th-anniversary celebration, while the second half localized the message to Wyoming's western identity.

The slogan did not become permanent. After the Bicentennial period, Wyoming returned to designs that depended more on the Bucking Horse and Rider than on a printed phrase.

Wyoming's standard plate slogans are best read as short-purpose texts: one national anniversary, one statehood anniversary, and a modern tourism mark.

The historical pattern is clear: Wyoming added text when a particular occasion needed it. The Bicentennial slogan belonged to 1975-1977, and the Centennial wording belonged to the 1988-1992 statehood design.

The 2025 State Flag plate changes the present-tense answer because it includes travelwyoming.com and "That's WY." Still, the state's durable plate identity remains visual. The Bucking Horse and Rider is the piece that has carried Wyoming from the 1930s into the current series.

For a look at how other states chose their plate slogans, see U.S. license plate slogans by state.