U.S. Mint & Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Summary
The Mint plans to ship 2.79 billion coins and BEP plans to print 4.4 billion currency notes in FY2026, run on a combined $4.83 billion and 2,985 federal employees -- $14.12 per U.S. resident, recovered through sales and reimbursement, not taxes.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
Combined, the two bureaus plan to produce 7.19 billion pieces of physical currency in FY2026⧉: the Mint expects to ship 2.79 billion circulating coins⧉, a 57 percent drop from FY2025's 6.5 billion, because the Mint has officially ceased production of the penny⧉. BEP will deliver a 4.4 billion-note Annual Print Order to the Federal Reserve⧉, including the redesigned Catalyst-series $10 bill.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
The Mint's FY2026 budget runs $3.67 billion against 1,335 FTE⧉, funded entirely by coin, bullion and numismatic sales through its Public Enterprise Fund⧉, not appropriations. BEP's FY2026 budget is $1.16 billion against 1,650 FTE⧉, recovered through Federal Reserve reimbursement for every note it prints⧉. Combined: $4.83 billion and 2,985 -- $14.12 per U.S. resident, using the Census Bureau's 341.8 million Vintage 2025 population estimate⧉.
View data as table
| Mint coins, FY2024 | 5,871 | Actual circulating shipments |
|---|---|---|
| BEP notes, FY2024 | 5,800 | Final Annual Print Order |
| Mint coins, FY2025 | 6,470 | Revised estimate |
| BEP notes, FY2025 | 4,600 | Actual order transmitted by the Fed |
| Mint coins, FY2026 (est.) | 2,790 | Penny production ceased |
| BEP notes, FY2026 (est.) | 4,400 | Annual Print Order estimate |
Why is it good for society?
Physical currency lets a transaction clear without either side verifying the other's credit -- the cash economy runs on that trust holding. BEP's security-feature work is measurable: the Federal Reserve puts the counterfeit share of the domestic note stock at roughly 1 in 80,000 genuine notes today, down from an estimated 1 in 10,000 in 2006. The Mint's coinage runs the opposite direction from a tax: seigniorage above what its fund needs transfers straight to the Treasury General Fund⧉ -- except the nickel, which has cost more than its face value to make for 19 straight years⧉.
- Together, the Mint and BEP plan to produce 7.19 billion coins and notes in FY2026 on a combined $4.83 billion and 2,985 federal employees -- $14.12 per U.S. resident -- recovered through sales and reimbursement, not taxes.
- BEP's redesigned notes make counterfeiting rarer (an estimated 1 in 80,000 genuine notes today versus 1 in 10,000 in 2006); the Mint's coinage runs the reverse of a tax, though the nickel alone has cost more to make than its face value for 19 straight years.
Your handles.* Damaged currency: file BEP's Mutilated Currency Redemption request (Form 5283). Coin-design opinions: the public-facing Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee reviews every circulating and commemorative design in open meetings (info@ccac.gov). Order or account questions: U.S. Mint customer service.
Sources(7) ▾
- U.S. Department of the Treasury / United States Mint, United States Mint Congressional Budget Justification, FY 2026 (2025-05-30) — The Mint's own congressional budget justification -- the source for this entry's FY2026 budget/ figures, circulating-coin shipment forecasts, the penny-discontinuation decision, the Public Enterprise Fund financing mechanism, and the nickel's below-cost production history. home.treasury.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of the Treasury / Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Bureau of Engraving and Printing Congressional Budget Justification, FY 2026 (2025-05-30) — BEP's own congressional budget justification -- the source for this entry's FY2026 budget/ figures, the Annual Print Order note-production totals, its founding date and statutory authority, and its revolving-fund financing mechanism. home.treasury.gov · original document
- United States Mint, Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 (1792-04-02) — The Mint's own hosted text of the founding statute -- the source for the Mint's establishment date and original Philadelphia location. usmint.gov · original document
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov), 31 U.S.C. § 5131 -- Organization (United States Mint) (2026-07-16) — The current U.S. Code text listing the Mint's four production facilities -- the source for this entry's identity paragraph. Wayback's save-page-now service returned server errors (HTTP 520) on the single capture attempt made for this entry (a known, disclosed outage); the live text was independently cross-checked against the parallel Cornell LII mirror (law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5131), which matches verbatim. uscode.house.gov
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov), 31 U.S.C. § 321(a)(4) -- General authority of the Secretary (currency engraving and printing) (2026-07-16) — The current U.S. Code text of BEP's statutory production authority. Wayback's save-page-now service returned server errors (HTTP 520) on the single capture attempt made for this entry (a known, disclosed outage); the live text was independently cross-checked against the parallel Cornell LII mirror (law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/321), which matches verbatim. uscode.house.gov
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimate) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate release, giving the U.S. resident population as of July 1, 2025 -- the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI, per better_metrics.md's sourced-denominator discipline. Same sealed capture already used by good-citizen-gao and good-citizen-medpac-macpac for the identical primary document. census.gov · original document
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Estimating the Volume of Counterfeit U.S. Currency in Circulation (International Finance Discussion Papers No. 1404) (2025-02-01) — The Federal Reserve Board's own research estimate of counterfeit U.S. currency in circulation, contrasted against the Treasury's 2006 estimate -- the counterfactual for this entry's 'why is it good for society' mechanism (BEP's security-feature work). Wayback's save-page-now service returned server errors (HTTP 520) on the single capture attempt made for this entry (a known, disclosed outage); the direct federalreserve.gov PDF link is the one-click original-document URL in the interim. federalreserve.gov
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The U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are Treasury's two currency factories. The Mint, created by the Coinage Act of April 2, 1792⧉, today runs mints in Philadelphia, Denver, West Point and San Francisco and strikes the nation's coins. BEP, which began printing currency in 1862⧉ under authority Congress gave the Treasury Secretary in 31 U.S.C. § 321(a)(4), prints every paper note the Federal Reserve puts into circulation.