How Much Does It Cost to Make a Quarter? (Price Guide)

The quarter is the workhorse of U.S. coinage for the Mint's finances. It costs well under its face value to make, and it earns the largest seigniorage of any circulating coin. Seigniorage is the difference between a coin's face value and what it costs to produce, and the quarter's profit helps offset the losses on the nickel and, before production ended, the penny.

The figures below are the Mint's fiscal year 2025 numbers, as reported by CoinShop Finder. Fiscal year 2025 ended on September 30, 2025. The Mint's annual report is the original document, and this page cites it through that summary because the Mint's site can be hard to reach from some networks.

For fiscal year 2025 the Mint reported a unit cost of 14.53¢ per quarter. Unit cost is the full price of producing a coin and delivering it to the Federal Reserve Banks. It is well below the quarter's face value, so the government keeps the difference.

Across all the quarters it sold in fiscal year 2025, the Mint reported seigniorage of $130,500,000. That was the largest contribution of any circulating denomination that year. Profit per coin is the face value minus the unit cost, and the total depends on how many quarters the Federal Reserve orders. The Federal Reserve orders coins based on what banks and businesses need, so the total can rise or fall from year to year even when unit cost stays the same.

The Mint does not itemize the quarter's cost on this page, but a few general factors apply to any circulating coin. Metal is one of them. The quarter is a clad coin with a copper core and outer layers of a copper and nickel alloy, so metal prices can affect its cost. Manufacturing, overhead, and distribution to the Federal Reserve Banks add to the unit cost.

Mint reports from several years show how the unit cost has moved. Each figure is the unit cost reported for that fiscal year.

The table includes the lowest unit cost in the series, which was reported for fiscal year 2016. The quarter's cost in fiscal year 2025 is higher than that low, and it was slightly lower than the fiscal year 2024 figure. A year-to-year dip does not necessarily signal a trend, because metal prices and production levels change.

Putting the denominations side by side shows how the Mint's results balance. The penny and the nickel cost more than they are worth. The dime and the quarter cost less than their face value. The quarter earns the most, and the dime comes next. See the pages on the cost to make a penny, a nickel, and a dime for each coin's figures.

Unit cost measures what it takes to make one coin. It does not tell you what any single coin is worth to a collector, and it does not include special collector products, which the Mint prices separately. If you are looking at a proof or commemorative coin, check the Mint's product pages for its price, and speak with a coin dealer or numismatic professional if you want an appraisal.