Coin production costs vary thanks to different raw metals used, complexity of their designs, labor needed and more.

Everything is making less cents. The US Mint has placed its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing the coin when those run out by early next year — marking the beginning of the end for one of the oldest continually printed money pieces in America,

Per the latest U.S. Mint report, it costs less than six cents to make a dime ($0.0576). To make a quarter, it costs about 15 cents ($0.1468), and nearly 34 cents for a half-dollar ($0.3397).

The cost of producing a single penny has already skyrocketed to about 4 cents, while consumers have mostly shifted to digital payments and cards.

“You can go to your own bank or credit union and not pay any fee,” said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. Both NerdWallet and Bankrate offer tip sheets on exchanging coins for cash. Most banks will take an account holder's coins for free, Bankrate reports, but not all, and you may need to roll the coins yourself.

Treasury Department will take pennies out of circulation next year. Costly nickels, however, could cancel out savings.

The U.S. Mint took top honors in "Best Circulating Coin" at the 2025 Mint Directors Conference for the work on the Jovita Idár issue in the American Women quarter dollar series.

There is currently no official plan to recall pennies, and financial institutions are expected to continue accepting them. While pennies will remain legal tender, they will gradually disappear from circulation, which is expected to impact product pricing.