The United States Mint was busy last year. The agency struck more than 13.2 billion coins for circulation in 2014, marking a fifth straight year of growth and the quickest annual pace since 14.4 billion coins were produced in 2007.
Combined, U.S. Mint production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia made 13,283,760,000 coins for the Federal Reserve to distribute to commercial banks and other financial institutions around the nation. That’s 11.6% higher than the 11.9 billion coins minted for commerce in 2013 and 274.4% more than in 2009 when mintages bottomed to just 3,548,000,000 coins.
Pennies led gains last year, advancing 15.2% from 2013. More than 8.1 billion were minted, representing 61.3% of the year’s production total. Ironically, it costs 1.7 cents to strike and distribute each one, so the most made coin is a money-loser for the government.
Two denominations retreated. Down the most was nickel production, off 1.4% from a year earlier. Each costs 8.1 cents to make and distribute. The Mint did earn good revenue on striking 9% more dimes and 8.6% more quarters since their respective costs are 3.9 cents and 9 cents.
Here is a breakdown of the annual coin production levels adjusted on a per coin basis from 2013 to 2014:
US Mint Annual Coin Production (2014 vs 2013)
| Year 2013 | Year 2014 | 2014 Unit Gain / Loss | 2014 % Gain / Loss | |
| Cents | 7,070,000,000 | 8,146,400,000 | 1,076,400,000 | 15.2% |
| Nickels | 1,223,040,000 | 1,206,240,000 | -16,800,000 | -1.4% |
| Dimes | 2,112,000,000 | 2,302,500,000 | 190,500,000 | 9.0% |
| Quarters | 1,455,200,000 | 1,580,200,000 | 125,000,000 | 8.6% |
| Half Dollars | 9,600,000 | 4,600,000 | -5,000,000 | -52.1% |
| Native American $1 | 3,640,000 | 8,680,000 | 5,040,000 | 138.5% |
| Presidential $1s | 33,460,000 | 35,140,000 | 1,680,000 | 5.0% |
| Annual Production | 11,906,940,000 | 13,283,760,000 | 1,376,820,000 | 11.6% |
When looking at these tables, bear in mind that Kennedy half-dollars, Native American $1 Coins and Presidential $1 Coins are no longer produced for commerce — Federal Reserve Banks do not order them. The U.S. Mint now strikes these coins in smaller quantities and they are only available in products for coin collectors.
Coins for circulation originate from either the Denver Mint or Philadelphia Mint. Last year, the two facilities were close in total output. The plant in Denver produced over 6.7 billion coins while the one in Philadelphia struck more than 6.5 billion coins. Here is a table with 2014 circulating coin mintages by both design and production facility:
2014 Circulating Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 4,155,600,000 | 3,990,800,000 | 8,146,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 570,720,000 | 635,520,000 | 1,206,240,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 1,177,000,000 | 1,125,500,000 | 2,302,500,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains Quarter | 99,400,000 | 73,200,000 | 172,600,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park Quarter | 197,800,000 | 112,800,000 | 310,600,000 |
| Arches National Park Quarter | 251,400,000 | 214,200,000 | 465,600,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes Quarter | 171,800,000 | 159,600,000 | 331,400,000 |
| Everglades National Park Quarter | 142,400,000 | 157,601,200 | 300,001,200 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,100,000 | 2,500,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 5,600,000 | 3,080,000 | 8,680,000 |
| Warren G. Harding $1 | 3,780,000 | 6,160,000 | 9,940,000 |
| Calvin Coolidge $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Herbert Hoover $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt $1 | 3,920,000 | 4,760,000 | 8,680,000 |
| Total | 6,789,050,000 | 6,494,681,200 | 13,283,761,200 |
And this next table lists 2014 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:
2014 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 4155.6M | 570.72M | 1177M | 862.8M | 2.1M | 5.6M | 15.26M | 6789.08M |
| Philadelphia | 3990.8M | 635.52M | 1125.5M | 717.4M | 2.5M | 3.08M | 19.88M | 6494.68M |
| Total | 8146.4M | 1206.24M | 2302.5M | 1580.2M | 4.6M | 8.68M | 35.14M | 13283.76M |
Annual America the Beautiful Quarter mintages continue to grow as the series matures. Last year they topped 1.58 billion. Mintages in prior years reached:
- 347 million in 2010;
- 391.2 million in 2011;
- 568 million in 2012; and
- 1.455 billion in 2013
Twenty-five different designs have been released through 2014. Last year brought no change to the quarter sitting at the mintage high or low. The 2013 Mount Rushmore quarter remains the mintage leader by design with 504.2 million produced and the 2012 Chaco Culture quarter remains at the bottom with 44 million.
Since the start of the America the Beautiful Quarters series, the Mint has made more than 4.3 billion of them with each honoring a specific 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 – 2014 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 |
| Total | 2,349,406,000 | 1,992,201,200 | 4,341,607,200 |
Since the inception of the Presidential $1 Coin Program in 2007, nearly 2.5 billion Presidential dollars have been produced. Annual increases will only inch higher as compared to earlier years when the coins had been made for circulation. Here’s a look at their mintages:
2007 – 2014 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 |
| Total | 1,227,835,100 | 1,261,020,700 | 2,488,855,800 |
December is typically an extremely 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 very strong historically at 878.4 million coins, jumping 207.3% from December 2013. Still, it was the slowest month of 2014 as the following table shows:
2013 – 2014 December Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| December 2014 | 878.84M | 12 |
| November 2014 | 958.78 M | 9 |
| October 2014 | 1,168.78 M | 5 |
| September 2014 | 1,004.24 M | 8 |
| August 2014 | 913.38 M | 11 |
| July 2014 | 1,331.34 M | 2 |
| June 2014 | 1,279.82 M | 4 |
| May 2014 | 1,326.80 M | 3 |
| April 2014 | 1,007.96 M | 7 |
| March 2014 | 1,025.40 M | 6 |
| February 2014 | 939.04 M | 10 |
| January 2014 | 1,449.38 M | 1 |
| December 2013 | 285.96 M | 13 |
Production in December was limited to three denominations, the cent, nickel and dime. This last table show’s how their mintages break down:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in December 2014
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 323,200,000 | 313,200,000 | 636,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 0 | 43,440,000 | 43,440,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 96,500,000 | 102,500,000 | 199,000,000 |
| 2013 ATB Quarters | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 419,700,000 | 459,140,000 | 878,840,000 |
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.
They made 8 billion pennies? Where did they all go? They’re coins, they don’t wear out like dollar bills, they should last for years – do we have that many hoarders? And half dollars – during the 50th year anniversary of the coin where they had so many different varieties of finishes and sentimental reasons for buying they ended up selling 5 million fewer. Native American $1 coins went up by 5 million. Why did that happen? Why the sudden interest in Native American $1 coins or the 2014 version anyway? Has the mint done any kind of analysis to… Read more »
Don’t get your undies in a bind, Jim
and slowly the copper penny disappears ,,,,from our change,
yea. redskin fans are picking them up to use in game toss !!!
With so much pennies made, how come I can’t get new rolls from a bank. All I want is a roll or two! They never have them. Anyone has a suggestion on where I can get them?
@jim : The thing with pennies is that they’re not worth the trouble of using. Their attrition rate is nearly 100% meaning many cents just get used once (when given out in change) and sit around for weeks or months at a time before getting used again or turned into a CoinSTAR. That’s also why you’ll frequently come across cents made in the 1970s that still have nearly all their luster intact even though from what we’ve been told, a 40+ year old coin should be worn nearly slick. This is true for all our circulating coins and it’s even… Read more »
Again the orphan San Francisco ATB quarters do not rate a column in the circulation quality ATB production figures. It is as if they do not exist. Is the Mint ashamed of them? Have they all been abducted by aliens and now sit on some other planet?
And yet Congress still won’t take notice of the high volume that’s required every year and stop the waste of minting coins that cost more than their face value. It’s way past time to make a change like Canada and others have done in the past.
Jim, my 2¢ is that Congress is so spineless, so beholden to nay-sayers, so much in the grip of lobbyists (can we say the zinc industry and Crane Paper?), and so concerned with posturing (HOW many votes to repeal the ACA?) that almost nothing sensible will make it into law.
And I’m not just referring to coin legislation, btw 🙁