The United States Mint has released its Circulating Coin Production Report for May 2024. The report shows that the United States Mint produced just 396.08 million coins in May. While the production total is up slightly from the April report, it continues a trend of significantly lower production by the Mint compared to the last several years.
The Lincoln Cent saw nearly identical mintage figures in May 2024 as it did in April. According to the Mint’s report, 211.6 million Cents were minted in the month, up slightly from the 211.2 million minted in April. Equally, production across the Mint facilities was nearly identical. According to the report, the Denver mint produced 106 million of the 211.6 million Cents made in May, with the remaining 105.6 million minted in Philadelphia. Considering the May production totals, the Mint has now minted 1.4432 billion Lincoln Cents for circulation this year. When compared to production through May 2023, the total production is down 38% in 2024.
After two consecutive months of no production, the Jefferson Nickel and the Roosevelt Dime saw small production totals in May. For the Jefferson Nickel, the Mint reported 5.28 million five-cent pieces were produced in the month, all in Philadelphia. The Roosevelt Dime had reported production of 17 million Dimes, again, all in Philadelphia. Like the Cent, Nickel and Dime are at far lower production levels than last year’s. By May of last year, 760.32 million Nickels had been produced, compared to just 66.48 million through this year. Likewise, the Dime’s production decreased from 1.6415 billion last year to 215.5 million in 2024.
Turning to the Washington Quarter, the Mint reported that 159 million Quarters were minted in May 2024. Production was nearly equal across the Denver and Philadelphia Mints, with production totals of 79.8 million and 79.2 million, respectively. The Mint’s circulation production report does not break down the type of Quarters it produced, as there will be five different designs as part of the American Womens Quarter Program this year. The Mint has now minted 767 million Quarters for circulation for the year. That is down from the 1.373 billion the Mint had minted this time last year.
The last coin with reported sales production in May 2024 was the Kennedy Half Dollar. 3.2 million of the Half Dollar coins were minted in the Denver Mint last month. There were no Native American or Presidential Dollars minted in May.
In 2024, the United States Mint has now minted 2,497,820,000 coins for circulation. While production has been low so far in 2024, the United States has little chance of running out of available coinage. Currently, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, has an estimated reserve of $47.2 billion coins available for circulation.
The United States Mint production report is updated monthly and is available to the public at this link on the Mint’s site.