Unit Cost of Coins from the US Mint

Cost of coinage

Wanted to recreate some of the data from a recent Times article on the cost of the penny. Smaller coins are produced at a net loss, and have been produced this way for years. However, as the article explores, it gets complicated when deciding how to remedy the situation.

Method

Reviewed the annual reports of the US mint and got the total cost per unit of different denominations over time. Made with Observable Plot.

Source: cookwcode/data: usp-v1

2025-03-05