The US government printed less money for circulation in September than in any month since February, data from the agency responsible for producing U.S. currency shows, and the combined value of the notes was the lowest in almost a year.
487.04 million in $1s, $5s, $10s, $20s and $100s were made last month for a combined value of over $4.8 billion, according to monthly production figures published by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) on Monday, Oct 20. The monthly amount was the lowest since the government ordered 400.96 million notes in February and the combined value the weakest since the October 2013 total of $4,297,600,000.
In month-over-month comparisons, September saw 15.4% fewer notes than in August and their combined value was 42.9% lower. By denomination, there were:
- 2.9% fewer $1s;
- 16.7% more $5s;
- 45.8% fewer $20s;
- 43.6% fewer $100s
In other notables:
- No $50s were produced for the first time since March.
- The amount of $10s in September matched the previous month.
- In June, $2s appeared for the first time since November. Presses have been silent for them since.
Here are images of the BEP report showing the type of banknotes manufactured during the month:
September 2014 BEP Banknote Production
Facility at Washington, DC
Facility at Fort Worth, TX
In September, the BEP printed 640,000 $100 star notes. These are indicated by the "*" designator in the production chart directly above. Star notes are replacements for misprinted notes or certain serial numbers, like 000 000 000. Money collectors find them more desirable since they are rarer, making them difficult to find.
The following table lists the type, the amount and the total value of banknotes printed by the BEP for the month:
Banknotes by Denomination: Total Printed and Values
September 2014
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 217,600,000 | 217,600,000 |
| $2.00 | – | – |
| $5.00 | 134,400,000 | 672,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 32,000,000 | 320,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 83,200,000 | 1,664,000,000 |
| $50.00 | – | – |
| $100.00 | 19,840,000 | 1,984,000,000 |
| Totals | 487,040,000 | 4,857,600,000 |
As a perspective, the BEP in Fiscal Year 2013 manufactured about 26 million banknotes a day with a face value of about $1.3 billion. Approximately 6.6 billion notes went out for the year at an average cost of 10 cents per banknote. The BEP notes that more than 90% of paper notes printed each year are to replace those already in, or taken out of circulation.
For comparison, four previous monthly money production tables follow.
August 2014
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 224,000,000 | 224,000,000 |
| $2.00 | – | – |
| $5.00 | 115,200,000 | 576,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 32,000,000 | 320,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 153,600,000 | 3,072,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 16,000,000 | 800,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 35,200,000 | 3,520,000,000 |
| Totals | 576,000,000 | 8,512,000,000 |
July 2014
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 163,200,000 | 163,200,000 |
| $2.00 | – | – |
| $5.00 | 76,800,000 | 384,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 38,400,000 | 384,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 154,240,000 | 3,084,800,000 |
| $50.00 | 64,640,000 | 3,232,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 38,400,000 | 3,840,000,000 |
| Totals | 535,680,000 | 11,088,000,000 |
June 2014
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 134,400,000 | 134,400,000 |
| $2.00 | 12,800,000 | 25,600,000 |
| $5.00 | 80,000,000 | 400,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 38,400,000 | 384,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 153,600,000 | 3,072,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 64,000,000 | 3,200,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 44,800,000 | 4,480,000,000 |
| Totals | 528,000,000 | 11,696,000,000 |
May 2014
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 204,800,000 | 204,800,000 |
| $2.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $5.00 | 70,720,000 | 353,600,000 |
| $10.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $20.00 | 236,800,000 | 4,736,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 60,800,000 | 3,040,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 44,800,000 | 4,480,000,000 |
| Totals | 617,920,000 | 12,814,400,000 |
