How Much Did It Cost to Make a Penny?

Updated on July 5, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 8 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

The last official cost to make and distribute a U.S. penny was 3.69 cents per coin, according to the U.S. Mint’s most recent penny estimate. That means the government spent almost 3.7 times the coin’s 1-cent face value before circulating penny production stopped.

The penny still has a 1-cent legal value, but the cost question changed after the Treasury suspended regular production of new circulating pennies. The old answer was “more than one cent.” The current answer is more precise: it cost 3.69 cents near the end of production, and the regular buyer-facing cost to make new circulating pennies is now $0 because the Mint is no longer producing them for circulation.

The U.S. penny is officially the one-cent coin. Its production cost came from metal, fabrication, distribution, selling, administration, and the fixed costs of running a national coin system.

Article Highlights

• The final official penny production cost was 3.69 cents per coin.
• A penny’s face value is only 1 cent, so each new circulating penny was made at a loss.
• Regular circulating penny production stopped in 2025, while existing pennies remain legal tender.
• The modern penny is 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.
• The nickel also cost more than face value, with a fiscal 2024 unit cost of 13.78 cents.
• The real taxpayer issue was not one penny, but billions of pennies produced at a loss.

How Much Did It Cost to Make a Penny?

The U.S. Mint says the cost of producing each penny rose from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents over the last decade. The Treasury’s penny cessation guidance says pennies remain legal tender and businesses should keep accepting and giving penny change while coins remain available in circulation.

What This Was

The cost to make a penny is not only the raw metal cost. It includes the cost to buy coin blanks, strike the coin, move coins through the Federal Reserve system, package them, administer the program, and cover the Mint’s manufacturing overhead.

That is why a penny can cost more than the zinc and copper inside it. A national coin program has labor, facilities, dies, equipment, shipping, counting, and banking-system costs. When total production falls, some fixed costs are spread over fewer coins, which can make each coin look more expensive.

The Penny Cost More Than Its Value

The modern penny is mostly zinc with a thin copper coating. The U.S. Mint’s coin specifications list the one-cent coin as 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, with a weight of 2.50 grams.

Metal prices matter, but they are not the only reason the penny became uneconomical. Labor, energy, blank supply, transportation, and administration also count. A 1-cent coin leaves almost no room for production cost inflation. Once the all-in unit cost rises above 1 cent, every new circulating penny creates negative seigniorage.

At 3.69 cents per penny, the loss before face value is about 2.69 cents per coin. If 1 billion pennies are produced at that cost, the loss is about $26.9 million (at $30 per hour, earning that amount would take about 431 years of full-time work, before taxes) before considering any offset from coinage accounting.

What Changed

The Treasury says the penny remains legal tender, meaning existing pennies still keep their payment status. The change is that regular production of new circulating pennies has been suspended because the Secretary of the Treasury determined the one-cent coin was no longer needed for U.S. needs.

The U.S. Mint held a ceremonial strike for the final circulating one-cent coin in November 2025 and said circulating production had ceased, while pennies for collectible products can still be made. That distinction matters because a collector penny is not the same as a normal penny sent into everyday circulation.

For shoppers, the practical result is simple. Pennies in jars, registers, banks, and cash drawers can still be used. The Mint is not adding new circulating pennies in the old way.

Penny Cost vs With Other Coins

The penny was not the only coin with a face-value problem. The nickel also cost more than it was worth. Coin World’s report on the U.S. Mint’s fiscal 2024 numbers said the nickel cost 13.78 cents to make and distribute, while the dime cost 5.76 cents, the quarter cost 14.68 cents, and the half dollar cost 33.97 cents.

This creates a do-not-compare trap. A penny costing 3.69 cents looks wasteful because it is worth only 1 cent. A quarter costing 14.68 cents still produces positive seigniorage because it has a face value of 25 cents. The unit cost alone does not tell the whole story. The face value matters.

Federal Reserve notes are made under a different system than coins. The Federal Reserve orders currency from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and pays production costs. The Federal Reserve says its 2025 currency operating budget is $1.04 billion, with variable printing costs listed by denomination.

A paper dollar can cost only a few cents to print while still carrying a $1 face value. That is the opposite of the penny problem. A 3.69-cent penny carried a 1-cent value, while a 4.1-cent dollar bill carries a $1 value under the Federal Reserve’s 2025 production-cost table.

Billions of Low-Value Coins

The penny problem was not that one coin cost a few cents. The problem was scale. The Richmond Fed wrote that the Treasury incurred a $85.3 million seigniorage loss on penny production in 2024.

That loss means the policy debate was not only symbolic. If the per-coin loss is 2.69 cents and billions of coins are produced, the yearly loss becomes a national budget line. A single penny is tiny. Billions of money-losing pennies are not.

Can Pennies Be Melted for Metal?

No one should treat old pennies like a legal scrap-metal play. Federal rules prohibit melting, treating, or exporting one-cent and five-cent coins for their metal value. The Federal Register rule explains that the ban was created because the metal values of these coins had exceeded their face values, raising the risk of melting and speculation.

That rule matters for old copper pennies too. Even if the metal inside some older cents looks more valuable than the face value, that does not make ordinary melting legal. Coin collectors may value some dates and errors, but that is a collecting market, not a melt-value loophole.

Mini Cases

One penny: A single penny had a face value of 1 cent and a final production cost of 3.69 cents. The production loss was about 2.69 cents.

One roll of pennies: A standard roll contains 50 pennies with a face value of 50 cents. At 3.69 cents each, the production cost was about $1.85, creating a loss of about $1.35 per roll.

One billion pennies: At 3.69 cents per coin, 1 billion pennies cost about $36.9 million (about 591 years of full-time work at $30 per hour) to make and distribute. Their face value was only $10 million, leaving a gap of about $26.9 million.

A jar with 1,000 pennies has a face value of $10. At the final official production cost of 3.69 cents each, making those 1,000 pennies would have cost about $36.90.

The difference between $36.90 in production cost and $10 in face value is $26.90. That is the penny debate in one small example: a coin can be legal money and still cost more to produce than it is worth in transactions.

When Penny Production Made Sense

Made sense if:

• Cash transactions needed exact 1-cent change.
• Retailers and banks had enough penny supply moving through circulation.
• The Mint could produce the coin close to its face value.
• Public resistance to rounding made the penny politically easier to keep.

Did not make sense if:

• Each penny cost more than 3 times its face value.
• Most transactions moved to cards, apps, and digital payments.
• Businesses could round cash totals when penny change was unavailable.
• The annual seigniorage loss became larger than the practical benefit of the coin.

What We Checked

• Checked the U.S. Mint penny FAQ for the final cost signal of 3.69 cents per penny.
• Confirmed Treasury guidance that the penny remains legal tender through the penny production cessation FAQ.
• Verified the final circulating penny event through the U.S. Mint’s final production strike release.
• Cross-referenced the penny’s composition through the U.S. Mint’s circulating coin specifications.
• Confirmed the broader cash-rounding issue through the St. Louis Fed’s penny phaseout explanation.

Related Money and Coin Costs

The penny debate overlaps with other small-money costs. Coin collectors may compare regular cents with collectible coins, which makes coin grading costs relevant when a penny has numismatic value. Businesses that handle large cash volume may also compare coin handling with postage meter costs or other office systems that turn small transactions into repeat expenses. For consumers comparing metal value with collectible value, gold bar prices show why bullion is a different market from circulating money.

Answers to Common Questions

How much did it cost to make a penny before production stopped?

The final official estimate was 3.69 cents to make and distribute one penny.

Are pennies still legal tender?

Yes. Existing pennies remain legal tender even though regular circulating production has stopped.

Why did the penny cost more than one cent?

The cost included metal, manufacturing, distribution, administration, labor, and fixed Mint operations.

Is it legal to melt pennies for their metal?

No. Federal rules prohibit melting or treating one-cent and five-cent coins for metal value without proper authorization.

Will stores round prices without pennies?

Cash totals may be rounded when penny change is unavailable. Non-cash transactions can still be charged to the exact cent.