Origin/meaning :
The arms were granted on December 1, 1989.
The official description of the present coat of arms is as follows: On green ground is a jumping deer in gold with a moving sun in gold in the upper left corner. Below, is an agave-plant in gold on a ground of stones or sand in gold. It has a golden border with two Mayan (corbelled) arches and two Spanish colonial belfries placed in top-bottom and left-right positions respectively. The deer and the Mayan arches allude to the pre-Hispanic roots of the Mayan inhabitants of the state and the Spanish belfries to the colonial era. The agave plant represents the most important cash crop in the region that had its boom in the second half of the 19^th century.

The description of old coat of arms that were granted on September 15, 1821 (see below) is as follows: The coat is vertically divided in two halves of equal size. On the right half is a tower in gold on blue ground and on the left half is a lion in gold on a green ground. It has a royal crown placed on top. The tower denotes strength, power, and resistance and the lion stands for majesty and bravery. Both elements are part of the royal Spanish Coat of Arms. The golden color represents royalty, blue means loyalty and justice, and green is hope and liberty. Originally, this coat of arms was given to the town of Mérida by the Spanish King Philip III on August 18th, 1618. This coat of arms was eventually adopted in 1821 by the new independent state of Yucatan and was in use until 1989.