The cost to produce a U.S. penny is about 3.7 cents, which means it costs more to manufacture and distribute each penny than its face value of 1 cent. This latest figure comes from the U.S. Mint’s annual production cost reports. Key points

• Current unit cost: approximately 3.69 to 3.70 cents per penny, depending on the year and rounding in the Mint’s reports [web results indicate 3.69 cents as the commonly cited figure]. This means a penny costs roughly 3.7 times its value to produce [web results].
• Driver of cost: the majority of the cost is tied to the materials, production, and distribution rather than the nominal value of the coin; the metal content (copper, zinc) and handling/logistics contribute significantly to the total [web results].
• Policy consequence: given these costs, there has been ongoing discussion and, in 2025, actions toward ceasing penny production to save taxpayers’ money, with estimates of annual savings in the tens of millions of dollars once production ends [web results].

If you’d like, I can summarize the most recent Mint reports or compare the penny’s production cost to other coins (like the nickel) for a quick side-by- side view.