U.S. Mint Produces Over 1 Billion Coins for Circulation in October

U.S. coin production held steady in October, United States Mint figures show, registering a fifth straight month atop the one billion level and logging the fifth quickest monthly pace of 2020.

In headline comparisons, the U.S. Mint manufactured just over 1.4 billion coins for circulation, edging 1.3% lower than the amount struck in September and 21.6% higher than the number minted in October 2019.

Here’s how the month compares against others in the past year:

October 2019 to October 2020 Circulating Coin Production

The Federal Reserve orders more 1-cent coins than any other denomination despite data that shows it costs the U.S. Mint 1.99 cents to make and distribute each one. The Mint produced 690.4 million Lincoln cents last month, representing 49.1% of the circulating-quality coins produced in October.

Month-Over-Month

In month-over month comparisons for coins used daily by Americans, production totals in October saw:

• 5.9% fewer Lincoln cents,
• 9.2% more Jefferson nickels,
• 16.5% more Roosevelt dimes, and
• 9.3% fewer 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. Usually in January, the U.S. Mint tends to strike both coins to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. That wasn’t the case for halves — more were produced in February and then again in July.

In February, mintages of Philadelphia Mint-struck Kennedy half-dollars rose by 1.8 million after none were reported out of the plant in January. Then in July, the Philadelphia Mint made another half million for a new total of 2.3 million. Those added to the 1.8 million produced in January by the Denver plant combine to 4.1 million halves in 2020. For reference, last year’s half-dollar ended with equal splits of 1.7 million for Denver and Philadelphia for a combined 3.4 million.

Published mintages of the Native American dollar remained unchanged — 1.26 million from Denver and 1.4 million from Philadelphia for a combined 2.66 million coins. Last year’s issue had splits of 1.54 million for Denver and 1.4 million for Philadelphia for a combined 2.94 million coins.

Here’s a summary of all circulating-quality coins produced last month:

US Mint Circulating Coin Production in October 2020

U.S. Mint plants in Denver and Philadelphia manufacture all of America’s coins for commerce. In October, the Denver Mint struck 716.08 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint made 688.61 million coins for the combined 1,404,690,000 coins.

YTD Totals

Year-to-date, the Denver Mint produced 6,556,500,000 coins and the Philadelphia Mint struck 6,149,280,000 coins for 12,705,780,000 coins in total — 19.4% more than the 10,642,974,400 coins minted through the first ten months of 2019.

This next table lists 2020 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:

YTD 2020 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination

The 2020 monthly average of roughly 1.27 billion coins tracks over 12 months to more than 15.2 billion coins. The Mint made over 11.9 billion coins for circulation in 2019.

Mintages by Unique Design

The U.S. Mint through October released five annually issued coins with one-year-only designs. They included:

• the 2020 National Park of American Samoa quarter,
• the 2020 Native American dollars,
• the 2020 Weir Farm National Historic Site quarter for Connecticut,
• the 2020 Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve quarter for U.S. Virgin Islands, and
• the 2020 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park quarter for Vermont.

The following table offers a breakdown of this year’s mintages by coin design:

2020 Circulating Coin Production by Design

In subtracting the Mint’s totals by coin design from their overall production figures by denomination, there is one difference — mintages of quarters are higher by 566.6 million. These are likely a portion of Vermont’s Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park quarters.