The 2021 final report of circulating coin production by the United States Mint is now available. The report shows that the Mint produced 953 million coins in December and for the year, nearly 14.5 billion coins for circulation. This is down slightly from the 14.7 billion coins produced by the Mint in 2020. It is also a decline in production from the November 2021 report. In December, all denominations saw a decline in production, not uncommon in the last month of the year as the Mint begins preparation for production in the following year.
In December, the Mint produced 603.8 million Lincoln Cents for circulation. That is down from the 666 million in November. Breaking down the production in December, 315.6 million of the coins were pressed in Denver with the remaining 288.25 million in Philadelphia. For 2021, the Mint produced 7.909 billion Cents for the public. This is roughly 400 million more Cents than were produced in 2020.
The Jefferson Nickel also saw a drop in production in December. In the month, 68.4 million of the coins were produced, 27.12 million in Denver and the remaining 41.28 million in Philadelphia. The production figure is down from the 111.6 million Nickels that the Mint produced in November. For the year, 1.571 billion Jefferson Nickels were produced for circulation. This is down by 100 million from the previous year. Turning to the Roosevelt Dime, it too saw drop in December production when compared to November with just 141.75 million produced in the month. Breaking down the production, 69.5 million of the ten cent pieces were minted in Denver with the remaining 72.25 million minted in Philadelphia. For the year, the Mint produced 2.830 billion Dimes for circulation, up from the 2.77 billion the Mint produced last year.
The Washington Quarter saw a production total of 139.4 million in December, putting its total production for the year at 2.168 billion coins. Last month, 72.2 million of the coins were produced in Denver and 67.2 million in Philadelphia. The Quarter saw the largest year-over-year drop in production, with over a 600 million coin production drop when compared to 2020.
In December, the Mint reported no production of the Kennedy half dollar, Native American Dollar or the Presidential Dollar coins. For the year, there were 13.1 million half dollars produced as they reentered circulation for the first time in 2021 in twenty years. For the Native American dollar, 2.52 million were produced and virtually all of them are held in Federal Reserve banks across the country.
All-in, the United States Mint produced 14,493,500,000 coins for circulation in 2021.
| Mint | Cent | Increase | Nickel | Increase | Dime | Increase | Quarter | Increase | Half Dollar | Increase | Native American Dollar | Increase | Presidential Dollar | Increase | Total: | |
| Denver | 3,982,800,000 | 315,600,000 | 798,000,000 | 27,120,000 | 1,481,000,000 | 69,500,000 | 1,169,400,000 | 72,200,000 | 7,700,000 | 0 | 1,260,000 | 0 | 0 | 7,440,160,000 | 484,420,000 | |
| Philadelphia | 3,925,850,000 | 288,250,000 | 772,780,000 | 41,280,000 | 1,349,250,000 | 72,250,000 | 998,800,000 | 67,200,000 | 5,400,000 | 0 | 1,260,000 | 0 | 0 | 7,053,340,000 | 468,980,000 | |
| Total | 7,908,650,000 | 603,850,000 | 1,570,780,000 | 68,400,000 | 2,830,250,000 | 141,750,000 | 2,168,200,000 | 139,400,000 | 13,100,000 | 0 | 2,520,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14,493,500,000 | 953,400,000 |
The United States Mint production report is updated monthly and is available to the public at this link on the Mint’s site.