money · 6 min read
What Finally Killed the Penny After 232 Years?
Each new penny cost the Mint nearly 4 cents to make, and few people still spent them. That math ended the cent's 232-year run.
By WarmLark Editors · Updated October 2026
The penny died on cost. In fiscal 2024 each new one cost the U.S. Mint 3.69 cents to make and ship, and the country already held far more of them than anyone spent. On February 9, 2025, President Trump said he had told the Treasury secretary to stop making new pennies, and the last ones for circulation came off a press in Philadelphia on November 12, 2025.
The coins in your car’s cup holder still work.
A penny is legal tender and worth one cent. A store that runs out of pennies can round your cash total to the nearest nickel. A few states now have laws that say how it must do that.
What one penny cost to make
Every year the Mint’s annual report lists a unit cost for each coin, covering the metal, the minting and the trip out to the banks. In fiscal 2015 a penny cost 1.43 cents. It rose to 1.50 and then 1.82 cents before passing 2 cents in fiscal 2018 at 2.06.
It eased to 1.99 cents in 2019 and 1.76 in 2020, then climbed four years running, to 2.10, 2.72, 3.07 and finally 3.69 cents. CoinNews, summing up the Mint’s 2022 report, put most of that year’s jump down to fewer shipments and higher prices for copper, zinc and nickel.
In fiscal 2024 the Mint shipped 3.17 billion pennies and lost $85.3 million on them. It was the 19th year in a row that a penny cost more than it was worth.
Losing more than 2.5 cents on each coin, for a coin that mostly sits in jars and sofa cushions, is hard to defend.
From pure copper to zinc
The first cents left the new Philadelphia Mint in March 1793, a batch of 11,178 pure copper coins about 27 millimeters across. Today’s cent is 19.05 millimeters wide and weighs 2.5 grams. The metal changed several times in between, and most of those changes came down to the price or the supply of copper.
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1793 | First cents struck in Philadelphia, pure copper |
| 1857 | Coinage Act ends the half cent and the large cent; a small cent replaces them |
| 1943 | Cents struck in zinc-coated steel, saving copper for the war |
| 1982 | Cent becomes copper-plated zinc, 97.5% zinc, down from 3.11 to 2.5 grams |
| 2025 | Last cents for circulation struck in Philadelphia on November 12 |
A 1943 steel cent sticks to a magnet, which is the Mint’s own test for telling it from a copper one.
The 1982 switch is the one that bought the penny its last four decades. The cent had been 95 percent copper, and by the early 1980s the copper inside it had started to be worth more than a cent. The Mint swapped in a zinc core with a thin copper coat. As late as 2005, CoinNews reports, a cent cost the Mint 0.97 cents to make.
The half cent went first
Congress has dropped a coin for being too small before.
The Coinage Act of February 21, 1857 ended the half cent, which the Mint had struck since 1793, in a single short line that simply barred any more from being made.
It remains the smallest coin the U.S. has ever made. The same law also retired the big copper cent and brought in a smaller one, much closer to the coin you know.
How the order came down
The end came quickly once the White House weighed in.
After the February 2025 order, the Treasury said on May 22 that the Mint had placed its last order for penny blanks and expected to save $56 million a year on materials.
Treasury also put the number of pennies already in circulation at about 300 billion, “far exceeding the amount needed for commerce.” On November 12, 2025, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach ran the press for the final circulating cents in Philadelphia.
Congress has since moved to make the stop permanent with the Common Cents Act, which ends penny production in law and lets businesses round cash sales to the nearest nickel when they can’t make exact change. Congress passed it in late September 2026, and it still needed the president’s signature in early October.
How stores round your change
Until a federal rule takes effect, the store you shop at sets its own policy, and some states have stepped in. Arizona’s House Bill 2938, signed in March 2026, requires a store that takes your cash but has no pennies to round the final total to the nearest five cents and to post a sign saying so. Vermont’s Act 128 of 2026 lets stores round but doesn’t force them to.
The rule is the same in Arizona, Vermont and the federal bill. A total ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 rounds down. One ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 rounds up. So if your cash total is $7.42, you pay $7.40, and if it’s $7.43, you pay $7.45.
Cards still pay the exact cent
Rounding touches cash only. If you pay by card, check or any other non-cash method, you’re charged to the exact cent.
The round happens once, on the final total after tax. In Arizona, Indiana and Tennessee the sales tax is worked out on the amount before rounding, so the state collects the same tax whichever way your total moves. Indiana’s law adds a small break for you as a taxpayer. When you pay state or local taxes in cash, the total always rounds down to the nearest nickel.
If you’d prefer not to be rounded at all, pay with exact change, pennies included. Three of them on top of $7.40 settle a $7.43 total to the cent, and there’s nothing left for the register to round.
What to do with the jar
Since November 12, 2025, the Mint hasn’t made a single penny for circulation, so the coins you already have are part of the whole supply. Before your next trip to the bank, ask your bank or credit union whether it accepts loose coins or wants you to roll them, then take your jar in and deposit it.