U.S. coin production rebounded in January with the United States Mint striking over a billion coins for the eleventh time in 12 months after fewer than 954 million were made in December.
Minting facilities in Philadelphia and Denver are tasked with making all U.S. coins for commerce. The pair last month struck more than 1.2 billion coins for circulation — spread across cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollars, representing increases of 31.1% from December and 35.9% from January 2021.
Here’s how last month compares against others in the past year:
January 2021 to January 2022 Circulating Coin Production
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| January 2022 | 1,249.84 M | 5 |
| December 2021 | 953.37 M | 12 |
| November 2021 | 1,104.7 M | 11 |
| October 2021 | 1,213.86 M | 6 |
| September 2021 | 1,169.28 M | 8 |
| August 2021 | 1,187.32 M | 7 |
| July 2021 | 1,505.24 M | 1 |
| June 2021 | 1,348.60 M | 3 |
| May 2021 | 1,473.06 M | 2 |
| April 2021 | 1,320.28 M | 4 |
| March 2021 | 1,134.84 M | 10 |
| February 2021 | 1,163.40 M | 9 |
| January 2021 | 919.52 M | 13 |
The U.S. Mint’s main mission is to manufacture coins, based on the nation’s demand, and transport them to Reserve Banks and their coin terminals for distribution into circulation.
The Federal Reserve orders more 1-cent coins from the U.S. Mint than any other denomination even as data shows that it costs 2.1 cents to make and distribute each one. The Mint struck 748 million Lincoln cents last month, representing 59.8% of the circulating-quality coins produced last month.
Month-Over-Month
In month-over month comparisons for coins used daily by Americans, production totals in January increased:
- 23.9% for Lincoln cents,
- 69.1% for Jefferson nickels,
- 42.5% for Roosevelt dimes, and
- 28.4% for quarter.
Native American $1 coins are no longer ordered by the Federal Reserve, but they are still made in circulating quality for coin collectors. The same is true, or was until last year, for Kennedy half-dollars. Traditionally in January, the U.S. Mint produces both denominations to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. That turned true in 2021 for Native American dollars, but not for halves which saw their mintage increase in February, March, April, May and August.
Published mintages of 2022 Native American dollars show equal splits of 980,000 from Denver and 980,000 from Philadelphia for a combined 1.96 million coins. In contrast, the 2021 dollar logged splits of 1.26 million for Denver and 1.26 million for Philadelphia for 2.52 million coins.
Mintages for the 2022 Kennedy half-dollar currently stand at 1.6 million from Denver and 1.6 million from Philadelphia for a total of 3.2 million. Last year’s half-dollar ended with a mix of 7.7 million from Denver and 5.4 million from Philadelphia for a combined 13.1 million. (Mint 2021 fiscal year data shows 12 million halves shipped for distribution into circulation.)
The U.S. Mint started selling rolls, bags and boxes of 2022 Native American dollars on Feb. 9. Rolls and bags of 2022 Kennedy halves are scheduled for release sometime this spring.
This next table shows 2022 circulating coin mintages by production facility, denomination, and design.
U.S. Mint Circulating Coin Production in January 2022
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Cent | 406,400,000 | 341,600,000 | 748,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickel | 61,920,000 | 53,760,000 | 115,680,000 |
| Roosevelt Dime | 105,500,000 | 96,500,000 | 202,000,000 |
| Quarters | 95,200,000 | 83,800,000 | 179,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half-Dollar | 1,600,000 | 1,600,000 | 3,200,000 |
| Native American $1 Coin | 980,000 | 980,000 | 1,960,000 |
| Total | 671,600,000 | 578,240,000 | 1,249,840,000 |
In addition to the Native American dollar, the U.S. Mint so far has released one other coin with a one-year-only design and that is the first issue from their four-year program of American Women Quarters™. 2022 Maya Angelou quarters started circulating in January. (The Mint started selling collectible Maya Angelou quarters in rolls and bags on Feb. 7.) The circulating quarter figures above show just a portion of those minted to date. Final mintages for the quarter should be available by March.
In overall production totals for January, the Denver Mint made 671.6 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint made 578.24 million coins for the combined 1,249,840,000. If the current production pace stretched through to December, the annual mintage for 2022 would near 15 billion coins. The U.S. Mint manufactured nearly 14.5 billion coins for circulation in 2021.
