The United States Mint in 2015 was the busiest it’s been in 14 years, with demand for coins so high it expanded operations and hired more people to fulfill coinage orders from the Federal Reserve. The agency produced more than 17 billion coins for circulation in 2015, marking a sixth straight year of growth and the quickest annual pace since 19.4 billion coins were struck in 2001.
U.S. Mint production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia shipped 17,046,700,000 coins to Fed banks for distribution into the economy last year. That’s 28.4% higher than the nearly 13.3 billion coins minted for commerce in 2014 and 380.5% more than when mintages bottomed out in 2009 to just over 3.5 billion coins.
Quarters led year-over-year gains with almost 3 billion made, advancing 89.3% from 2014. Nickels and dimes followed as each climbed about 32% from the previous year. The U.S. Mint made good revenue with these coins since the cost to produce and distribute them is lower than their face values. Unit costs are 8.1 cents for each nickel, 3.9 cents for each dime and 9 cents for each quarter, according to the latest available Mint annual report (2014).
Here is a breakdown of the annual coin production levels adjusted on a per coin basis from 2014 to 2015:
US Mint Annual Coin Production (2015 vs 2014)
| Year 2014 | Year 2015 | 2015 Unit Gain / Loss | 2015 % Gain / Loss | |
| Cents | 8,146,400,000 | 9,365,300,000 | 1,218,900,000 | 15.0% |
| Nickels | 1,206,240,000 | 1,599,600,000 | 393,360,000 | 32.6% |
| Dimes | 2,302,500,000 | 3,041,010,000 | 738,510,000 | 32.1% |
| Quarters | 1,580,200,000 | 2,990,820,000 | 1,410,620,000 | 89.3% |
| Half Dollars | 4,600,000 | 4,600,000 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Native American $1 | 5,880,000 | 5,040,000 | -840,000 | -14.3% |
| Presidential $1s | 35,140,000 | 40,330,000 | 5,190,000 | 14.8% |
| Total | 13,280,960,000 | 17,046,700,000 | 3,765,740,000 | 28.4% |
When looking at the above table, keep in mind that Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer produced for circulation — Federal Reserve Banks do not order them. The U.S. Mint now strikes them in smaller quantities and they are only available in products for coin collectors.
All U.S. coins for circulation originate from either the Denver Mint or Philadelphia Mint. Last year, the facility in Denver struck over 8.6 billion coins while the one in Philadelphia produced more than 8.4 billion coins.
In unit totals, Lincoln cents easily won among denominations with more than 9.3 billion made, representing 54.9% of the year’s production total. Ironically, it costs the Mint 1.7 cents to strike and distribute each one, so the most made U.S. coin is actually a money-loser.
These next two tables show circulating coin mintages for the year by production facility, denomination and design:
YTD 2015 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 4674M | 846.72M | 1543.5M | 1555.6M | 2.3M | 2.24M | 16.53M | 8640.89M |
| Philadelphia | 4691.3M | 752.88M | 1497.51M | 1435.22M | 2.3M | 2.8M | 23.8M | 8405.81M |
| Total | 9365.3M | 1599.6M | 3041.01M | 2990.82M | 4.6M | 5.04M | 40.33M | 17046.7M |
2015 Circulating Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 4,674,000,000 | 4,691,300,000 | 9,365,300,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 846,720,000 | 752,880,000 | 1,599,600,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 1,543,500,000 | 1,497,510,000 | 3,041,010,000 |
| Homestead National Monument of America Quarter | 248,600,000 | 214,400,000 | 463,000,000 |
| Kisatchie National Forest Quarter | 379,600,000 | 397,200,000 | 776,800,000 |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter | 505,200,000 | 325,616,000 | 830,816,000 |
| Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Quarter | 206,400,000 | 275,000,000 | 481,400,000 |
| Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter | 215,800,000 | 223,000,000 | 438,800,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,300,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 2,240,000 | 2,800,000 | 5,040,000 |
| Harry S. Truman $1 | 3,500,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,400,000 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower $1 | 3,645,998 | 4,900,000 | 8,545,998 |
| John F. Kennedy $1 | 5,180,000 | 6,160,000 | 11,340,000 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson $1 | 4,200,000 | 7,840,000 | 12,040,000 |
| Total | 8,640,885,998 | 8,405,806,000 | 17,046,691,998 |
America the Beautiful Quarter mintages continue to grow as the series matures. Last year they topped 2.99 billion, jumping 89.3% higher than in 2014. Mintages in prior years reached:
- 347 million in 2010;
- 391.2 million in 2011;
- 568 million in 2012;
- 1.455 billion in 2013; and
- 1.58 billion in 2014.
Thirty different quarter designs have been released through 2015. The year brought a change to the quarter sitting with the highest mintage. The leader by design is now the 2015 Kisatchie National Forest quarter for Louisiana at 830.8 million. The 2012 Chaco Culture National Historical Park quarter for New Mexico remains at the bottom with a total mintage of 44 million. (The scarcest ABQ issue by production facility is the Denver Mint-struck 2012-D Acadia National Park quarter at 21.6 million. The ‘P’ and ‘D’ Chaco Culture quarters are next with each at 22 million.)
The Mint has made more than 7.3 billion America the Beautiful Quarters since the series kicked off in 2010. Each honors a different national park or national site in the United States or its territories. Here is a breakdown of production totals by quarter design and coin production facility:
2010 – 2015 America the Beautiful Quarters Mintages
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| 2010 Hot Springs National Park | 34,000,000 | 35,600,000 | 69,600,000 |
| 2010 Yellowstone National Park | 34,800,000 | 33,600,000 | 68,400,000 |
| 2010 Yosemite National Park | 34,800,000 | 35,200,000 | 70,000,000 |
| 2010 Grand Canyon National Park | 35,400,000 | 34,800,000 | 70,200,000 |
| 2010 Mount Hood National Forest | 34,400,000 | 34,400,000 | 68,800,000 |
| 2011 Gettysburg National Military Park | 30,400,000 | 30,800,000 | 61,200,000 |
| 2011 Glacier National Park | 31,200,000 | 30,400,000 | 61,600,000 |
| 2011 Olympic National Park | 30,600,000 | 30,400,000 | 61,000,000 |
| 2011 Vicksburg National Military Park | 33,400,000 | 30,800,000 | 64,200,000 |
| 2011 Chickasaw National Recreation Area | 69,400,000 | 73,800,000 | 143,200,000 |
| 2012 El Yunque Quarter | 25,000,000 | 25,800,000 | 50,800,000 |
| 2012 Chaco Culture Quarter | 22,000,000 | 22,000,000 | 44,000,000 |
| 2012 Acadia Quarter | 21,606,000 | 24,800,000 | 46,406,000 |
| 2012 Hawai’i Quarter | 78,600,000 | 46,200,000 | 124,800,000 |
| 2012 Denali Quarter | 166,600,000 | 135,400,000 | 302,000,000 |
| 2013 White Mountain Quarter | 107,600,000 | 68,800,000 | 176,400,000 |
| 2013 Perry’s Victory Quarter | 131,600,000 | 107,800,000 | 239,400,000 |
| 2013 Great Basin Quarter | 141,400,000 | 122,400,000 | 263,800,000 |
| 2013 Fort McHenry Quarter | 151,400,000 | 120,000,000 | 271,400,000 |
| 2013 Mount Rushmore Quarter | 272,400,000 | 231,800,000 | 504,200,000 |
| 2014 Great Smoky Mountains Quarter | 99,400,000 | 73,200,000 | 172,600,000 |
| 2014 Shenandoah National Park Quarter | 197,800,000 | 112,800,000 | 310,600,000 |
| 2014 Arches National Park Quarter | 251,400,000 | 214,200,000 | 465,600,000 |
| 2014 Great Sand Dunes Quarter | 171,800,000 | 159,600,000 | 331,400,000 |
| 2014 Everglades National Park Quarter | 142,400,000 | 157,601,200 | 300,001,200 |
| 2015 Homestead National Monument of America Quarter | 248,600,000 | 214,400,000 | 463,000,000 |
| 2015 Kisatchie National Forest Quarter | 379,600,000 | 397,200,000 | 776,800,000 |
| 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter | 505,200,000 | 325,616,000 | 830,816,000 |
| 2015 Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Quarter | 206,400,000 | 275,000,000 | 481,400,000 |
| 2015 Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter | 215,800,000 | 223,000,000 | 438,800,000 |
| Total | 3,905,006,000 | 3,427,417,200 | 7,332,423,200 |
Mintages of Presidential $1 Coins reached just over 40.3 million in 2015, up 14.8% from the total of 35.1 million dollars in 2014 and the highest since 44 million were produced in 2012.
Since the inception of the Presidential $1 Coin Program in 2007, over 2.5 billion Presidential dollars have been produced. Annual totals are modest compared to pre-2012 years when the coins were made for circulation. The program ends this year with the dollars honoring Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Here’s a look at their mintages from 2007 to 2015:
2007 – 2015 Presidential $1 Coin Mintages
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| 2007 George Washington $1 | 163,680,000 | 176,680,000 | 340,360,000 |
| 2007 John Adams $1 | 112,140,000 | 112,420,000 | 224,560,000 |
| 2007 Thomas Jefferson $1 | 102,810,000 | 100,800,000 | 203,610,000 |
| 2007 James Madison $1 | 87,780,000 | 84,560,000 | 172,340,000 |
| 2008 James Monroe $1 | 60,230,000 | 64,260,000 | 124,490,000 |
| 2008 John Quincy Adams $1 | 57,720,000 | 57,540,000 | 115,260,000 |
| 2008 Andrew Jackson $1 | 61,070,000 | 61,180,000 | 122,250,000 |
| 2008 Martin Van Buren $1 | 50,960,000 | 51,520,000 | 102,480,000 |
| 2009 William H. Harrison $1 | 55,160,000 | 43,260,000 | 98,420,000 |
| 2009 John Tyler $1 | 43,540,000 | 43,540,000 | 87,080,000 |
| 2009 James K. Polk $1 | 41,720,000 | 46,620,000 | 88,340,000 |
| 2009 Zachary Taylor $1 | 36,680,000 | 41,580,000 | 78,260,000 |
| 2010 Millard Fillmore $1 | 36,960,000 | 37,520,000 | 74,480,000 |
| 2010 Franklin Pierce $1 | 38,360,000 | 38,220,000 | 76,580,000 |
| 2010 James Buchanan $1 | 36,540,000 | 36,820,000 | 73,360,000 |
| 2010 Abraham Lincoln $1 | 48,020,000 | 49,000,000 | 97,020,000 |
| 2011 Andrew Johnson $1 | 37,100,000 | 35,560,000 | 72,660,000 |
| 2011 Ulysses S. Grant $1 | 37,940,000 | 38,080,000 | 76,020,000 |
| 2011 Rutherford B. Hayes $1 | 36,820,000 | 37,660,000 | 74,480,000 |
| 2011 James Garfield $1 | 37,100,000 | 37,100,000 | 74,200,000 |
| 2012 Arthur Presidential $1 | 4,060,000 | 6,020,000 | 10,080,000 |
| 2012 Cleveland (1st Term) Presidential $1 | 4,060,000 | 5,460,000 | 9,520,000 |
| 2012 Harrison Presidential $1 | 4,200,000 | 5,640,001 | 9,840,001 |
| 2012 Cleveland (2nd Term) Presidential $1 | 3,920,000 | 10,680,000 | 14,600,000 |
| 2013 William McKinley $1 | 3,365,100 | 4,760,000 | 8,125,100 |
| 2013 Theodore Roosevelt $1 | 3,920,000 | 5,310,700 | 9,230,700 |
| 2013 William Howard Taft $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,760,000 | 8,120,000 |
| 2013 Woodrow Wilson $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,620,000 | 7,980,000 |
| 2014 Warren G. Harding $1 | 3,780,000 | 6,160,000 | 9,940,000 |
| 2014 Calvin Coolidge $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| 2014 Herbert Hoover $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| 2014 Franklin D. Roosevelt $1 | 3,920,000 | 4,760,000 | 8,680,000 |
| Harry S. Truman $1 | 3,500,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,400,000 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower $1 | 3,645,998 | 4,900,000 | 8,545,998 |
| John F. Kennedy $1 | 5,180,000 | 6,160,000 | 11,340,000 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson $1 | 4,200,000 | 7,840,000 | 12,040,000 |
| Total | 1,244,361,098 | 1,284,820,700 | 2,529,181,798 |
December is normally a slow coin production month as the U.S. Mint readies its tooling for the next year’s coins. Some Decembers have come in at or near flat. Last month was actually solid historically at 707.79 million coins. That said, it dropped 43.2% from November and fell 19.5% from December 2014. Here’s how the month ranks against others in the past year:
2014 – 2015 December Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| December 2015 | 707.79 M | 13 |
| November 2015 | 1,245.73 M | 10 |
| October 2015 | 1,757.64 M | 1 |
| September 2015 | 1,476.37 M | 7 |
| August 2015 | 1,142.46 M | 11 |
| July 2015 | 1,665.76 M | 4 |
| June 2015 | 1,673.95 M | 3 |
| May 2015 | 1,459.86 M | 6 |
| April 2015 | 1,696.56 M | 2 |
| March 2015 | 1,403.44 M | 8 |
| February 2015 | 1,277.96 M | 9 |
| January 2015 | 1,539.15 M | 5 |
| December 2014 | 878.84 M | 12 |
There were two corrections made in December with total trimmings of Philadelphia Mint quarters and Denver Mint Presidential $1 Coins.
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in December 2015
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 249,200,000 | 227,200,000 | 476,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 44,640,000 | 39,360,000 | 84,000,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 78,500,000 | 69,490,000 | 147,990,000 |
| 2015 ATB Quarters | 0 | -3,400,000 | -3,400,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | -140,000 | 2,940,000 | 2,800,000 |
| Total | 372,200,000 | 335,590,000 | 707,790,000 |
Coin production figures in this coin news article are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint webpage at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=ProductionFigures.
Thanks Mike for the nice review of coin production and costs. According to my math the mint lost $65M minting the cent and $48M minting the nickel. They made $185M on the dime and $480M on the quarter so they still ended up way ahead. I still can’t understand why we just don’t drop the cent entirely like Canada did. The nickel makes sense because of the retooling cost for vending machines, but no one would miss the cent.
We’re stuck with nickels for another reason: the quarter is an odd multiple of 5, so change couldn’t effectively be made with only two denominations that are in a fractional ratio (2.5:1). Countries that have successfully eliminated their 5c coins all have pure decimal systems using 20c pieces instead of 25c coins. Unfortunately we blew that opportunity back in the 1870s. Between the quarter having been the workhorse coin for over a century, and this country’s resistance to anything that affects cherished traditions [/sarc], I doubt it would be possible to replace a coin that still lets us make change… Read more »
They could cease production of the nickel, but it would also entail ceasing production on the quarter-dollar in favor of the half dollar which, for some reason, the public will not allow.
An alternative would be to eliminate the cent, nickel, AND dime to reflect inflation’s impact on the dollar but that’s also not going to happen.
Enjoy the status quo! 🙂
When Britain “went decimal” they started with 10p and 50p coins but didn’t have an intermediate denomination. Half-pounds circulated widely but people were so fed up with using handfuls of 10p coins that the Royal Mint had to create a 20p coin to simplify change-making. I was in London on the day the new coins entered circulation and you could almost feel the relief among shopkeepers. But yeah, any rationalization of our coinage system is probably a vain hope. Except for their designs, our current coins would be quite familiar to someone from 150 years ago. (Plus we’re still measuring… Read more »
What about mintage numbers for the circulation-quality San Francisco quarters? That’d be nice to know for 2015 and for the otherwise comprehensive historic tally above.