The buckling behavior of laminated composite plates subjected to a uniform temperature field is studied. Transverse shear flexibility is accounted for in the analysis using the thermo-elastic version of the first-order shear deformation theory. The prebuckling behavior of the plate under a uniform temperature field is studied prior to predicting the initial thermal buckling load. Numerical results are presented for thermal buckling problems using a nine-noded isoparametric quadrilateral finite element. The influence of boundary conditions, ply orientation, and plate geometries on the critical buckling temperature is examined.