The U.S. government printed more money in May than in April, making it the second highest production month of 2010 behind leading March, according to figures from the agency responsible for manufacturing U.S. currency. The value of the banknotes produced in May, however, was the most of any month this year.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) on Thursday released the latest production numbers for May which show it made $1s, $5s, $20s and $100s — the same denominations that were printed between February and April. $10s and $50s have not been printed since since June 2009.
Combined, the BEP produced 551,680,000 banknotes that had a total value of $24,265,600,000. By comparison, April figures were for 519.136 million notes that were worth more than $21.735 billion. March figures were 605.952 million notes for over $22.138 billion. February figures came in at 504.476 million notes for just over $14.098 billion. And January registered 487 million notes worth slightly more than $14.1 billion.
The biggest difference between the two prior months was the greater amount of $20s and $100s, with more than 18.5 million and 21.6 million produced, respectively, in May than in April. Fewer $1s were produced last month than the prior one to the tune of 7.68 million. The number of $5s was exactly the same.
Notes by Denomination, Volume and Value
May 2010
| Denomination | Total Printed | Total Value |
| $1.00 | 89,600,000 | 89,600,000 |
| $5.00 | 96,640,000 | 483,200,000 |
| $10.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $20.00 | 160,640,000 | 3,212,800,000 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 204,800,000 | 20,480,000,000 |
| May Totals | 551,680,000 | 24,265,600,000 |
April 2010
| Denomination | Total Printed | Total Value |
| $1.00 | 97,280,000 | 97,280,000 |
| $5.00 | 96,640,000 | 483,200,000 |
| $10.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $20.00 | 142,080,000 | 2,841,600,000 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 183,136,000 | 18,313,600,000 |
| April Totals | 519,136,000 | 21,735,680,000 |
March 2010
| Denomination | Total Printed | Total Value |
| $1.00 | 102,400,000 | 102,400,000 |
| $5.00 | 96,640,000 | 483,200,000 |
| $10.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $20.00 | 239,232,000 | 4,784,640,000 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 167,680,000 | 16,768,000,000 |
| March Totals | 605,952,000 | 22,138,240,000 |
Spread across the 31 days last month, the BEP averaged over 17.79 million notes per day with a total daily value of about $782.7 million.
The agency also produced a number of $5 and $20 star notes. Star notes are replacements for misprinted notes or certain serial numbers, like 000 000 000. As they are rarer, money collectors generally find them more desirable.
BEP Note Production in May 2010
Facility at Washington, DC
Facility at Fort Worth, TX
