U.S. Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver struck fewer coins in April than the previous month and the same time last year, circulating coin production figures published Thursday by the bureau show.
In April 2014, circulation production totaled 1,007,960,000 coins for a 1.7% decrease from March and a 9.8% decline from April 2013. The month ranks 9th busiest for the United States Mint through the last 12 months.
2013 – 2014 April Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| April 2014 | 1,007.96 M | 9 |
| March 2014 | 1,025.40 M | 8 |
| February 2014 | 939.04 M | 11 |
| January 2014 | 1,449.38 M | 1 |
| December 2013 | 285.96 M | 13 |
| November 2013 | 991.14 M | 10 |
| October 2013 | 1,220.38 M | 3 |
| September 2013 | 1,099.34 M | 5 |
| August 2013 | 724.91 M | 12 |
| July 2013 | 1,225.96 M | 2 |
| June 2013 | 1,070.12 M | 7 |
| May 2013 | 1,084.36 M | 6 |
| April 2013 | 1,117.23 M | 4 |
As an always provided backdrop in our monthly coin production reports, the United States Mint does not decide how many coins to produce for circulation. It’s the Federal Reserve that orders coins from the Mint based on usage trends and coinage requests from financial institutions around the country.
Lincoln cents are always the most ordered denomination for trade and commerce even as it costs the U.S. Mint 1.83 cents to make and distribute each one. The Mint in April struck 587.2 million pennies, which is 58.3% of all the circulating coins produced for the month.
For all the coins used every day by Americans and in month-over-month comparisons, April saw:
- 3.9% fewer Lincoln cents,
- 10.6% more Jefferson nickels,
- 0.9% fewer Roosevelt dimes, and
- 3.5% more America the Beautiful Quarters
Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy halves are not ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the U.S. Mint continues to make them in circulating-quality for coin collectors. In January, the U.S. Mint manufactured 2014 Native American $1 Coins and 2014 Kennedy halves to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. It continues to produce Presidential dollars to support the four different 2014 releases.
Here is a breakdown for all the circulating-quality coins made by the U.S. Mint in April:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in April 2014
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 288,000,000 | 299,200,000 | 587,200,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 39,360,000 | 63,120,000 | 102,480,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 82,000,000 | 92,500,000 | 174,500,000 |
| 2013 ATB Quarters | 62,400,000 | 79,000,000 | 141,400,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 2,380,000 | 0 | 2,380,000 |
| Total | 474,140,000 | 533,820,000 | 1,007,960,000 |
U.S. Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver make all the circulating coinage for commerce. In April, the Denver Mint struck 474.14 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint struck 533.82 million coins.
For the January through April period, the Denver Mint produced 2,280,240,000 coins and the Philadelphia Mint produced 2,141,540,000 coins. That lifts the year-to-date total for both plants to 4,421,780,000 coins for a 5.2% increase over the 4,204,770,000 coins minted through the first four months of 2013.
This next table offers 2014 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:
YTD 2014 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 1326M | 193.92M | 370M | 368.2M | 2.1M | 5.6M | 14.42M | 2280.24M |
| Philadelphia | 1267.6M | 202.08M | 380M | 266.4M | 2.5M | 3.08M | 19.88M | 2141.54M |
| Total | 2593.6M | 396M | 750M | 634.6M | 4.6M | 8.68M | 34.3M | 4421.78M |
The current monthly average of just over 1.1 billion coins places this year on pace for an annual coin production total of more than 13.2 billion coins. That would be the highest total since 2007. Last year, the U.S. Mint produced a tad over 11.9 billion coins in circulating quality.
Aside from pennies, nickels and dimes, March figures did not fill any new gaps for mintages by coin design.
2014 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Coin Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 1,326,000,000 | 1,267,600,000 | 2,593,600,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 193,920,000 | 202,080,000 | 396,000,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 370,000,000 | 380,000,000 | 750,000,000 |
| 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 | – | – | – |
| Great Sand Dunes Quarter | – | – | – |
| Everglades National Park Quarter | – | – | – |
| 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 | – | – | – |
| Total | 2,206,160,000 | 2,056,380,000 | 4,262,540,000 |
In comparing the totals by coin design from the overall production figures by denomination, two differences are found:
-
Mintages of America the Beautiful Quarters are higher by 151.4 million. These are a portion of the Arches National Park Quarters which enter circulation beginning on June 9, 2014.
-
Mintages of Presidential $1 Coins are higher by 7.84 million. This amount is a portion of the Franklin D. Roosevelt dollars which launch in August.
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=coin_production.
Has anyone given thought as to how many U.S. coins are floating around in circulation right now? All things being constant, lets say the two main mints create 1B coins a month = 12 B a year X 30 years (Avg. life of a coin in circulation) = 360 Billion coins (most if it in Pennys). We only have 300 Million people living in this country, so why are we pumping so much coinage and currency into our hands? The value of the dollar keeps going down, in part because we have so much of it floating around out there.… Read more »
The number of coins in circulation is very unlikely to result in inflation. Coins are needed mostly for making change, so IMO increased demand for coins is a good thing: Even though most purchases are electronic, an increase in coin usage would still correlate with an increase in economic activity. Now if you ask me if the Mint and Treasury should still be pumping out huge numbers of cents and paper dollars, that’s an argument I’m prepared to make. It’s ridiculous for half of the BEP’s production to be $1 bills and maybe 2/3 of the Mint’s output to be… Read more »