The U.S. government made more than 3 billion pennies in 2024. That’s about 100 pennies each second!

Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg via Getty Images (factory); Shutterstock.com (all other images)

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The End of the Penny

February 2, 2026
By Brian Fitzgerald

The U.S. government began making pennies more than 230 years ago when George Washington was president. In November, it made the last ones.

Why put an end to pennies? The cost had a lot to do with it. Pennies are made from zinc and copper. The price of both metals has gone up in recent years. Each penny had cost nearly four cents to make. The government says it will save about $56 million each year by not making pennies.

Also, the penny isn’t as useful as it once was. In fact, many one-cent coins aren’t being used at all. Some get lost between couch cushions. Others are just sitting in piggy banks.

The U.S. Mint
Watch a video tour of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

A Big Change

Tens of billions of pennies are currently in circulation in the U.S. People can still use the ones they have. But at some point, we’ll run out of pennies. When that happens, stores will round their prices to the nearest nickel. For example, an item that used to cost $4.98 could cost $5.00.

That may mean the U.S. has to make more nickels. And making the five-cent coins is even more expensive than making pennies. Each nickel costs nearly 14 cents to make!

1. What are pennies made of? Why is this detail important to the article?

2. What is the main idea of the article?

3. According to the article, what will stores do once the U.S. begins to run out of pennies?

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