United States Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver struck slightly fewer coins in July than the previous month but sharply more than a year earlier, circulating coin production figures published by the agency reveal.
U.S. Mint coining presses last month hammered out more than 1.6 billion in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars. The tally is 0.5% less than the prior month but 25.1% more than the same time a year ago. Here’s how the month compares against others in the past year:
2014 – 2015 July Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| July | 1,665.76 M | 3 |
| June 2015 | 1,673.95 M | 2 |
| May 2015 | 1,459.86 M | 5 |
| April 2015 | 1,696.56 M | 1 |
| March 2015 | 1,403.44 M | 6 |
| February 2015 | 1,277.96 M | 8 |
| January 2015 | 1,539.15 M | 4 |
| December 2014 | 878.84 M | 13 |
| November 2014 | 958.78 M | 11 |
| October 2014 | 1,168.78 M | 9 |
| September 2014 | 1,004.24 M | 10 |
| August 2014 | 913.38 M | 12 |
| July 2014 | 1,331.34 M | 7 |
Pennies cost more to make and distribute (1.7 cents) than they’re worth, yet the Federal Reserve always orders more of them from the Mint than any other denomination. In July, the Mint struck 882.8 million Lincoln cents, representing 53% of the circulating-quality coins produced for the month.
In the latest month-over-month production comparisons for coins used every day by Americans, July saw:
- 3.4% few Lincoln cents,
- 7% fewer Jefferson nickels,
- 3.8% fewer Roosevelt dimes, and
- 17% more America the Beautiful Quarters.
Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the United States Mint continues to make them in circulating-quality for coin collectors.
In January, the U.S. Mint produced 2015 Kennedy halves to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. That is typically how it works for Native American $1 Coins as well but in March their number grew slightly. In July, the Mint continued to strike Presidential $1 Coins in modest amounts to support two of this year’s four different designs. Here’s a summary of all the circulating-quality coins produced last month:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in July 2015
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 441,200,000 | 441,600,000 | 882,800,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 84,000,000 | 69,840,000 | 153,840,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 161,500,000 | 151,500,000 | 313,000,000 |
| 2015 ATB Quarters | 202,600,000 | 112,400,000 | 315,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 1,120,000 | 0 | 1,120,000 |
| Total | 890,420,000 | 775,340,000 | 1,665,760,000 |
U.S. Mint production facilities are located in Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco and West Point. That said, only the Denver Mint and Philadelphia Mint manufacture America’s coins for commerce. Last month, the Denver Mint produced 890.42 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint made 775.34 million coins.
For the January through July period, the Denver Mint struck over 5.5 billion coins and the Philadelphia Mint made more than 5.1 billion for a combined 10,716,710,000. That’s a 28.2% increase over the 8,359,740,000 coins minted through the same months in 2014. This next table lists year-to-date coin totals by denomination:
YTD 2015 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 2958M | 545.28M | 993M | 1062M | 2.3M | 2.24M | 15.97M | 5578.79M |
| Philadelphia | 2852M | 447.36M | 931M | 881.6M | 2.3M | 2.8M | 20.86M | 5137.92M |
| Total | 5810M | 992.64M | 1924M | 1943.6M | 4.6M | 5.04M | 36.83M | 10716.71M |
If the current monthly average of 1.5 billion coins is maintained through December, this year’s annual production total will reach nearly 18.4 billion coins. Such a level has not been hit since 2001 when the United States Mint pressed over 19.4 billion coins.
Last year, the U.S. Mint produced just over 13.28 billion circulating coins, the most since the 14.4 billion coins in 2007. Because of this year’s quickened pace, the agency is expanding operations and hiring more personnel.
Coin Design Mintages
Outside of additional JFK dollars (+840,000) and LBJ dollars (+280,000) — all logged as Denver Mint production increases, mintage levels remained unchanged in July for 2015-dated coins featuring one-year-only designs. The following table offers a breakdown of this year’s mintages by coin design:
2015 Circulating Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 2,958,000,000 | 2,852,000,000 | 5,810,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 545,280,000 | 447,360,000 | 992,640,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 993,000,000 | 931,000,000 | 1,924,000,000 |
| Homestead National Monument of America Quarter | 248,600,000 | 214,400,000 | 463,000,000 |
| Kisatchie National Forest Quarter | 379,600,000 | 397,200,000 | 776,800,000 |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter | – | – | – |
| Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Quarter | – | – | – |
| Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter | – | – | – |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,300,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 2,240,000 | 2,800,000 | 5,040,000 |
| Harry S. Truman $1 | 3,500,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,400,000 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower $1 | 3,646,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,546,000 |
| John F. Kennedy $1 | 5,180,000 | 6,160,000 | 11,340,000 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson $1 | 3,640,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,540,000 |
| Total | 5,144,986,000 | 4,867,920,000 | 10,012,906,000 |
Like in the prior two months, there is one difference when subtracting totals by coin design from those by denomination. Mintages of America the Beautiful Quarters are higher by 703.8 million. These are Blue Ridge Parkway quarters for North Carolina. The United States Mint started selling bags and rolls of the coins on June 29. The Mint should soon be moving onto making Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge quarters since they launch into circulation next month.
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=ProductionFigures.
This is a good sign for the economy. Historically looking at coin production gives an indication of economic activity. If production starts falling it is a good sign of trouble brewing. Production dropped throughout 2008 giving a lead warning of trouble that year. While this isn’t a sure thing, its nice to see the numbers going up instead of down.
David: Can we be the only two people who ever noticed this connection? I’ve observed it for years, as well as a relationship between economic well-being and how often older-date bills turn up in circulation, but I’ve never seen the idea mentioned in general economic articles.
It would be interesting to see how those numbers might change if the US ever decides to join the rest of the industrialized world by eliminating the penny and using $1 and $2 coins…..
But is the idea sound overall? Production of coins practically halted for three years in 1931-1933. Afterward production rebounded sharply but economists say the Great Depression did not end until the U.S.’s entry into World War II (when coin production really shot up). I agree that the initial drop in 2008 was a harbinger and the huge production drop in 2009 demonstrated a problem fully manifested, but I’m not so sure the higher production of the following years necessarily means things have gotten better otherwise one could claim, based on coin mintages that the Great Depression ended in 1934. But… Read more »
How much would it cost today to make Pennies out of copper again? Didn’t they wear better than the stuff we have today? What are the copper ones worth now compared to the new ones with their metal content? I have a problem with vision as a disabled American Veteran, but I sure can tell right away the difference between the two when I pick them up. It’s the same with the other coins how I can tellthe difference between the older 90% silver coins and the stuff we make today. That’s really easy. The old ones have got to… Read more »
Those are all valid questions. Add payment method to the list (cash, credit, debit, smart phone) and you get another variable that’s hard to account for. Even though a penny is not worth anything, I think it still measures the amount of cash transactions in the economy, especially since a lot of people just throw what they get in a jar and then forget about it. I don’t think the production figures can be used to time the economy, but I do think in the short run they give another signal to look at. If the numbers start falling rapidly… Read more »
In response to R. L. Anderson: First let me thank you for your service.to our country! As both a collector and someone with a family member who has impaired vision I understand your questions. Unfortunately modern economics mean it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see circulating silver and copper (well, bronze) coins again. Even lowly copper has become too expensive for low-denomination coinage. Those countries that still mint copper-colored coins have switched to cheaper substrates with copper plating. In the case of our cents zinc itself is too expensive as well but the zinc lobby, Congress, and inertia are preventing either… Read more »