Why is the New York flag orange and blue?

That is the New York City flag, not the state flag. The city flag uses blue, white and orange, taken from the colors of the Dutch flag of colonial New Amsterdam. The state flag is dark blue with the state coat of arms.

What is the official flag of New York?

The official state flag is a dark blue field with the state coat of arms in the center. The legislature changed the field from buff to blue in 1901.

What do the symbols on New York's flag mean?

Liberty and Justice flank a shield showing a ship and sloop on the Hudson River and a rising sun over mountains. The eagle on a globe sits above, and the motto Excelsior, meaning ever upward, is on the scroll below.

Can you fly the New York state flag above the U.S. flag?

No. Under the U.S. Flag Code, the national flag is flown at the position of honor, above any state flag. When flown on separate poles, the U.S. flag is placed to its own right.

When did New York change its flag?

The current blue flag goes back to 1901 (a buff version was adopted in 1896), though the coat of arms on it dates to 1778 and has been redrawn since. A second motto was added to the arms in 2020.

Is New York a state in the USA?

Yes. New York became a U.S. state on 26 July 1788 as the 11th state, and it lies in the Northeastern United States. Its state flag is a dark blue field with the state coat of arms, adopted in its blue form in 1901. See all U.S. state flags .

New York State Flag: Meaning, Coat of Arms & History

The New York flag is a dark blue field carrying the state coat of arms in the center, with Liberty and Justice on either side of a shield. It was adopted in 1901 and is one of many U.S. state flags built around a coat of arms.

What the New York state flag looks like

The state flag of New York has a plain dark blue field with the full coat of arms of the state placed in the middle. There are no stripes or stars. The arms are detailed, so the flag is easier to recognize up close than from a distance.

The central element is a shield. It shows a sun rising behind a range of mountains, and in front of them a river with two ships: a masted ship and a sloop. On either side of the shield stand two female figures. On the left is Liberty, with a pole topped by a liberty cap and a crown lying at her feet. On the right is Justice, blindfolded and holding scales and a sword.

Above the shield sits an eagle on a globe, and below it a scroll carries the state motto, Excelsior. Since 2020 a second motto, E pluribus unum, appears beneath it, though flags with the older version are still widely used. The flag's ratio is about 1:2.

New York flag meaning and symbolism

Each part of the arms refers to the state's character and history. The ship and sloop on the Hudson River stand for inland and foreign commerce. The shield with the rising sun, mountains, river and meadow has been read as joining the idea of the old world with that of New York in the new world.

Liberty, with a liberty cap on a pole and a crown under her foot, represents the state's independence from the British monarchy. Justice wears a blindfold for impartiality and holds scales for fairness and a sword. The eagle on a globe forms the crest above the shield. Excelsior is Latin and is usually translated as "ever upward".

Unlike the flag of New York City, the state flag has no orange, a point many people ask about.

History of the New York flag

New York's coat of arms goes back to the American Revolution. The state first adopted arms in 1778, and the design has been redrawn several times since, which is why older versions look different from the current one. Variations of a flag with the arms have existed since 1777. The legislature formally adopted a flag in 1896 with a buff background, but this was unpopular because military flags in New York had traditionally been blue, and a law of 2 April 1901 changed the field to blue.

Since then the flag has remained essentially the same, with one change in 2020, when the second motto E pluribus unum was added to the arms. New York has kept its coat-of-arms design, unlike states such as Minnesota or Utah that have recently adopted new flags. For a wider comparison, see the U.S. state flags page.

State flag versus the New York City flag

People searching for the "New York flag" often mean the flag of the city, which looks entirely different. The New York City flag has three vertical bands of blue, white and orange, with the city seal on the white band. Its colors come from the Dutch flag of the colonial era, when the settlement was New Amsterdam. The state flag has no orange, which answers a common question.

The state flag is flown across New York State. Under flag etiquette in the United States, state flags may not be flown above the national flag; the flag of the United States takes the position of honor. Other well-known state designs are listed in the flags of the world section.