They stopped making new U.S. pennies for everyday circulation on November 12, 2025, but existing pennies are still legal to use.

Key date and what changed

  • The U.S. Mint’s last batch of pennies for general circulation was struck on November 12, 2025, at the Philadelphia Mint.
  • The government halted production mainly because each penny cost several times more to make than its face value.
  • Pennies already in circulation remain legal money, and the Mint can still produce special collector or commemorative pennies.

What this means for you

  • You can still spend, deposit, and receive pennies; banks and stores can keep using them as long as they’re around.
  • Over time, pennies will slowly become less common because no new ones are entering general circulation.
  • Many cash transactions are starting to round to the nearest 5 cents, similar to what other countries did when dropping low-value coins.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.