Crater Lake License Plate Survey

New survey shows Crater Lake plates remain popular

ASHLAND, OR – A recently completed survey provides new insights into Oregon’s highly popular Crater Lake specialty license plate program, which began in 2002 to mark the park’s 100th anniversary.

The plates are the most popular specialty plate currently sold; in fact, as sales have passed 200,000 units, Oregon DMV has recently begun offering “CA” plates alongside “CL” and “CK” plates.

The nonprofit Crater Lake National Park Trust, in collaboration with Crater Lake National Park and Travel Oregon, recently completed the first survey ever conducted of plate purchasers. “Oregonians love Crater Lake, and they have shown that love by making this specialty plate one of the most popular in the nation” noted survey author Jeff Allen, Executive Director of the Crater Lake National Park Trust. “We wanted to understand what made the plate so popular, and we wanted to learn more about people’s visits to the park.”

The survey was emailed to 5,000 plate owners, and completed online by 475 plate owners. Highlights of the survey:

•    Plate owners are happy with their plates; 73.1% said they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to recommend that others purchase a Crater Lake license plate.

•    The primary reasons for purchase Crater Lake plates were to support the park (50.9%) and because they liked the look of the plate (45.5%). The fact that this plate has a one time fee, rather than the annual fee of some other plates, does not seem to be a significant factor in purchase decisions.

•    Plate owners are not necessarily frequent park visitors. In fact, 17.3% have never visited the park, while only 18.8% have visited more than five times.

•    The most popular “gateway” for visitors to the park is Bend; 24.9% of visitors made that their last stop before entering the park. Medford, Klamath Falls, and Roseburg were close behind.

•    Only 35.9% of plate owners have ever visited the park between November and May.

Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman noted that “License plate funds have enabled us to build and operate a world class Science and Learning Center that is helping us better understand, protect, and appreciate the park. We are deeply grateful for Oregonians’ generous support.” 

More information, including complete survey results, are available from the Trust by contacting Mr. Allen at jeff@craterlaketrust.org