United States Mint production facilities in Philadelphia and Denver picked up their pace in January.
Over 1.6 billion in cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollars came from U.S. Mint coining presses last month, marking a 109.9% increase from December but a 10.5% decline from January 2017.
Here’s how the month compares against others in the past year:
January 2017 to January 2018 Circulating Coin Production
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| January 2018 | 1,601.54 M | 2 |
| December 2017 | 762.86 M | 13 |
| November 2017 | 1,346.26 M | 5 |
| October 2017 | 1,423.54 M | 4 |
| September 2017 | 1,316.22 M | 6 |
| August 2017 | 1,167.48 M | 9 |
| July 2017 | 1,254.74 M | 7 |
| June 2017 | 1,252.88 M | 8 |
| May 2017 | 1,156.34 M | 10 |
| April 2017 | 959.54 M | 12 |
| March 2017 | 1,445.8 M | 3 |
| February 2017 | 983.40 M | 11 |
| January 2017 | 1,790.30 M | 1 |
The Federal Reserve always orders more 1-cent coins than any other denomination even as it costs the U.S. Mint 1.82 cents to make and distribute each one. The bureau struck more than 1 billion Lincoln cents in January, representing 62.7% of the circulating-quality coins produced for the month.
Year-Over-Year
Comparing month-over-month changes offers little value in this round of data since December is traditionally a very weak month for production. In year-over-year comparisons for coins used daily by Americans, production totals declined by:
- 6.6% for Lincoln cents,
- 14.4% for Jefferson nickels,
- 21.7% for Roosevelt dimes, and
- 11% for America the Beautiful quarter dollars.
Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but they are still made in circulating-quality for coin collectors. In January, the U.S. Mint tends to strike both coins to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. Higher-than-expected demand can result in more being made, and that has happened in the past.
Reported mintages for the 2018 Kennedy half-dollars are 2.2 million from Denver and 1.8 million from Philadelphia for a combined 4 million coins. Last year’s release ended with splits of 2.9 million from Denver and 1.8 million from Philadelphia for a combined 4.7 million coins
To date, the U.S. Mint has released two 2018 coins with one-year-only designs. They include the:
- 2018 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore quarter for Michigan, released on Feb 5.
- 2018 Native American $1 Coin, released on Feb. 15.
Finalized mintages for Pictured Rocks quarter should be available by March or April.
Reported mintages for the 2018 Native American dollars are 2.1 million from Denver and 1.4 million from Philadelphia for a combined 3.5 million coins. Last year’s release ended with splits of 1.54 million from Denver and 1.82 million from Philadelphia for 3.36 million coins.
Here’s a summary of all circulating-quality coins produced last month:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in January 2018
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 476,400,000 | 528,400,000 | 1,004,800,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 78,000,000 | 73,440,000 | 151,440,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 116,500,000 | 136,500,000 | 253,000,000 |
| ATB Quarters | 95,200,000 | 89,600,000 | 184,800,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,200,000 | 1,800,000 | 4,000,000 |
| Native American $1s | 2,100,000 | 1,400,000 | 3,500,000 |
| Total | 770,400,000 | 831,140,000 | 1,601,540,000 |
In January, the Philadelphia Mint struck 770.4 million coins and the Denver Mint made 831.14 million coins. Their about 1.6 billion total is the most since the nearly 1.807 billion coins came from coining presses in January 2017.
If the current production pace stretched through to the end of this year, 2018 annual mintages would reach over 19.2 billion coins. Last year, the U.S. Mint produced over 14.8 billion coins for circulation. It registered as the third quickest for a year since 2001, after the more than 16 billion coins were made in 2017 and the over 17 billion coins were made in 2015.
