How much does it cost to make a nickel?
It cost the United States Mint 13.31 cents to make and distribute each nickel in fiscal year 2025, which ended 30 September 2025: more than two and a half times the coin's five-cent face value, and, like the penny, the 20th consecutive fiscal year above face value. The figure is from the unit cost table of the Mint's own 2025 Annual Report and covers the metal and fabrication, allocated overhead, and distribution to Federal Reserve Banks. The Mint shipped 615 million nickels that year and lost $50.9 million on them. Unlike the penny, the nickel is still in production.
13.31 cents
to make and distribute one five-cent nickel, fiscal year 2025
$50.9 million
lost on the nickels shipped in fiscal year 2025 (negative seigniorage)
615 million
nickels shipped to Federal Reserve Banks in fiscal year 2025
13.78 cents
what one nickel cost the year before, fiscal year 2024, from the same table
Cost breakdown
Each table below comes from one source, named underneath it, with the date that source last revised the figures. Everything is a United States figure in USD.
What one nickel cost in fiscal year 2025, from the United States Mint unit cost table
| Component, as the report prints it | Per nickel |
|---|---|
| Cost of goods sold | $0.1097 |
| Selling, general and administrative | $0.0224 |
| Distribution to Federal Reserve Banks | $0.0010 |
| Total unit cost | $0.1331 |
The nickel's unit cost over three fiscal years, from the comparative columns of the same table
| Fiscal year | Total unit cost |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 11.54 cents |
| 2024 | 13.78 cents |
| 2025 | 13.31 cents |
What the nickel cost the public purse in fiscal year 2025, from the shipments and seigniorage table
| Line | Fiscal year 2025 |
|---|---|
| Face value of nickels shipped | $31.0 million |
| Gross cost of making and shipping them | $81.9 million |
| Seigniorage (the loss, in brackets in the report) | ($50.9 million) |
| Seigniorage per $1 issued | ($1.64) |
A bar for each row of the table above, 3 of them, drawn to the same scale so the spread is visible at a glance. The figure beside each bar is the one the table prints.
What changes the price
- Metal prices
- The nickel is 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper, per the United States Mint coin specifications, and the only circulating coin that is solid alloy rather than clad layers. The 2025 Annual Report records average fiscal year 2025 spot prices of $15,441.57 a tonne for nickel and $9,453.50 a tonne for copper, and at 5 grams it is the heaviest coin per cent of face value the Mint makes.
- How many are struck
- The United States Mint shipped 615 million nickels in fiscal year 2025 against 202 million the year before. Spreading fixed costs over three times the volume is most of why the unit cost edged down from 13.78 to 13.31 cents.
- The mix of coins ordered
- The Mint strikes what the Federal Reserve orders, so the nickel's share of the year's production is not the Mint's choice. In fiscal year 2025 nickels were 7.7 percent of coins shipped, per the United States Mint annual report.
Questions
Why does a nickel cost more than five cents to make?
Metal is most of it. The United States Mint fiscal year 2025 figures put the cost of goods sold alone at 10.97 cents per coin, above the five-cent face value before overhead and distribution are added. The coin is solid copper-nickel alloy and weighs 5 grams.
Is the nickel being discontinued like the penny?
No. Penny production ended with the final coins struck on 12 November 2025, per Reuters, but the United States Mint 2025 Annual Report records continued nickel production and no equivalent decision for the five-cent coin.
How much does the Mint lose on nickels a year?
$50.9 million in fiscal year 2025, from the United States Mint seigniorage table: $31.0 million of face value shipped at a gross cost of $81.9 million. The loss was $17.7 million in fiscal 2024, when far fewer nickels were ordered, and $92.6 million in fiscal 2023.
What is a nickel made of?
25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper, per the United States Mint coin specifications page: the only circulating coin that is not a clad sandwich. It weighs 5.00 grams and measures 21.21 millimetres across.
Where these figures come from
Every figure here is for the fiscal year named beside it, because the United States Mint publishes a new unit cost table every year. The fiscal year 2025 figures cover the year ended 30 September 2025 and come from the Mint's 2025 Annual Report, read on 8 October 2026 from the copy attached to the Treasury OIG audit dated 26 February 2026, since usmint.gov refuses a scripted fetch. The per-coin costs are the Mint's own accounting, not a market price, and the composition is from the Mint's coin specifications page, which shows no date.