Mexico’s state flags

Baja California

The arms on white: a sun inscribed “Work and Social Justice” above a man holding a book and a woman holding a test tube, for culture and science.

Baja California Sur

The arms on white: a white shell on gold and red, ringed by four fish on blue. A state law has made it the official flag.

Sonora

The arms on white; the top panel shows a Yaqui dancer performing the deer dance, between symbols of mining and farming.

Chihuahua

The arms on white, a pointed shield ringed by the motto “Courage, Loyalty, Hospitality”, with the three hills above the city of Chihuahua.

Coahuila

The arms on white: walnut trees, and a red lion against a column marked “Plus Ultra”.

Nuevo León

The arms on white, with the saddle-shaped Cerro de la Silla, a red sun on its summit and an orange tree in front, and five smoking chimneys for industry.

Tamaulipas

The arms on white, with crops, cattle, the Cerro del Bernal peak and a shrimp boat.

Sinaloa

The arms on white: an oval shaped like a pitahaya, the cactus fruit the state is named after, with 1831, the year it became a state.

Durango

The arms on white: two running wolves under an oak tree, based on the arms of Biscay in Spain. Made the official flag in 2014.

Zacatecas

The arms on white: the Cerro de la Bufa topped by a cross, with the Virgin Mary, granted by Philip II of Spain.

San Luis Potosí

The arms on white: Saint Louis, King Louis IX of France, standing on the Cerro de San Pedro, on blue and gold.

Jalisco

Blue and gold halves with the state arms, made official in 2011.

Nayarit

The arms on white; the small central shield shows the eagle of Aztlán, or “heron eagle”, about to devour a serpent.

Colima

The arms on white: a bent human arm, the glyph for Colima from the Aztec Codex Mendoza, under a knight’s helmet.

Michoacán

The arms on white, with Morelos on horseback, and three crowns for the three lordships Michoacán was divided into before the Spanish conquest.

Aguascalientes

The arms on white, ringed by the Latin motto “Good land, good people, clear water, clear sky”.

Guanajuato

The arms inside a gold border: the white stands for liberty and peace, the gold for the state’s mining wealth. The arms show the Holy Faith as a blindfolded woman.

Querétaro

The arms on white, recalling a legend that Saint James and a cross appeared during an eclipse in a battle of the conquest. Made the official flag in 2015.

Hidalgo

The arms on white, designed by the painter Diego Rivera for a mural and made official in 1979.

State of Mexico

The arms on white, with the Nevado de Toluca volcano, the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán, and a cannon for the battle of Monte de las Cruces in 1810.

Mexico City

The capital, a state-level entity since its 2016 reform.

Morelos

The arms on white: a maize plant under a star, ringed by Zapata’s words “The land will return to those who work it with their hands”.

Tlaxcala

Red and white split diagonally, with arms granted by the Spanish king Charles I: a gold castle for Castile, and the initials of Juana, Charles and Philip with crowns between them.

Puebla

The arms on white, topped by the outlines of four volcanoes, with a central shield dated 5 May 1862, the Battle of Puebla.

Veracruz

The arms on white: a red cross reading “Vera”, a tower, and two columns marked “Plus Ultra”.

Guerrero

The arms on white: an Aztec jaguar knight with a club and shield, under a feathered headdress. Made the official flag in 2019.

Oaxaca

The arms on white, with two arms breaking their chains and seven stars, one for each of the regions the state had when the arms were drawn.

Chiapas

The arms as redrawn at the end of 2025 with Maya symbols added: a headdress like King Pakal’s as the crest, the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, a sacred ceiba tree and the Sumidero Canyon.

Tabasco

The arms on white, with four towers for Castile, an arm raising a sword, and an indigenous woman.

Campeche

The arms on white: two castles and two galleons, for a walled port city, granted by Charles III of Spain in 1777.

Yucatán

The flag of the Republic of Yucatán, which broke away from Mexico in the 1840s: five stars on green, with red and white stripes.

Quintana Roo

The arms on white, under a rising sun with one ray for each of the state’s municipalities.