MEASURED · 7 OCTOBER 2026

How much is a penny worth? What the metal in every year’s cent is worth

Every penny is worth one cent as money. What it is made of depends on the date: copper from 1909 to 1982, steel for one year in 1943, and zinc with a thin copper skin since late 1982. The United States made its last pennies for circulation in November 2025. Below: what the metal in each one is worth, when copper pennies passed one cent, why you cannot melt them, and the few dates collectors pay for.

The short answer

Metal at the World Bank’s September 2026 averages: copper $14,474 and zinc $4,021 a metric ton. That copper price is the highest monthly average since the series began in 1960; every year of it is in copper price per pound. The steel-penny range is Hero Bullion’s (June 2025); collector values are not otherwise measured here.

Penny value by year

Each penny is worth one cent as money whatever its metal. For the bronze cents the 5% of tin and zinc is left out, because the mix varied; the copper alone is nearly all of the metal value. A worn coin holds slightly less metal than a new one. Collector premiums are not included.

How to tell which penny you have

• The date settles it, except in 1982. Up to 1981 the penny is copper (1943 aside); from 1983 it is zinc.
• The weight settles 1982. A copper cent weighs 3.11 g, a zinc one 2.50 g. A scale reading to 0.1 g is enough. Fifty copper cents weigh 155.5 g, fifty zinc ones 125 g, so a roll can be checked on a kitchen scale.
• A magnet settles 1943. The steel cent sticks to a magnet; a 1943 cent that does not stick is either a plated fake or one of the rare bronze errors, and is worth taking to an authentication service.
• A worn zinc penny shows grey. Where the copper skin is scratched through, the zinc underneath is grey. A copper cent is the same colour all the way through.

When copper pennies became worth more than a cent

The 2.95 g of copper in a copper cent is worth exactly one cent when copper costs $3,385 a metric ton. On the World Bank’s monthly averages, which start in 1960, copper first went above that in December 1988, six years after the Mint had already switched to zinc. It fell back below in 198 later months, the last of them February 2009. In every month since, a copper penny has held more than a cent of copper.

So from 1960 to the switch, the copper in a cent never averaged a full cent in any month. The closest it came was April 1974, at 0.92¢, when copper averaged $3,032 a ton. The copper in a cent is not the whole cost of making one, which also covers the blank, the striking and the shipping. The highest value of all is now: 4.34¢ in September 2026.

The zinc penny is a different story. Since October 1982 its metal has been worth one cent or more in only 6 of 528 months: November and December 2006, March and April 2022, August and September 2026. Its lowest was 0.15¢ in November 1985 and its highest 1.13¢ in April 2022. At 1.07¢ in September 2026, a zinc penny’s metal is worth a little more than its face for the third time in its history.

The metal in a penny since 1982

Amber: the copper and zinc in a 1909-1982 copper cent. Grey: the zinc and copper in a 1983-2025 zinc cent. Monthly averages (World Bank), so single days went further. Log scale, so equal heights are equal percentage moves.

What a penny’s metal was worth, year by year

December averages, except the last row (September 2026 average). Copper penny: 3.11 g at 95% copper and 5% zinc. Zinc penny: 2.50 g at 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.

Why you cannot cash in the copper

A pound of copper pennies is about 145.8 coins: $1.46 as money and $6.33 as metal at September 2026 prices. A $50 box of 5,000 copper cents holds $216.94 of metal. A pound of zinc pennies is about 181.4 coins, $1.81 as money and $1.94 as metal; a box of 5,000 holds $53.53.

None of that metal can be sold as scrap. Treasury regulation 31 CFR 82.1 says no person shall export, melt or treat any one-cent or five-cent coin of the United States. The exceptions in 82.2 are narrow: small amounts carried abroad, coins sent for numismatic purposes, jewelry and novelty use, and coins that turn up incidentally in recycling. Knowingly breaking the rule can cost up to $10,000 and five years in prison, under 31 U.S.C. 5111(d). A jar of copper pennies is worth one cent a coin at the bank and what a collector will pay anywhere else.

The end of the penny

The last penny for circulation was struck at the Philadelphia Mint on 12 November 2025 by the Treasurer of the United States, Brandon Beach, ending a 232-year run, as Coin World reported. The penny is still legal tender, and about 300 billion are in circulation. In its fiscal 2024 report the Mint put the cost of making and distributing a penny at 3.69 cents. In September 2026 Congress passed the Common Cents Act, which directs the government to stop making pennies and lets stores round cash totals to the nearest five cents. After the Senate vote on 28 September it went to the President, the Associated Press reported. The same bill would allow a cheaper nickel with a zinc core.

Measured by US consumer prices, one cent in 1960 bought what 11.3¢ buys in August 2026, and one cent in 1982 what 3.5¢ buys. A penny today buys less than a tenth of what it bought in 1960.

Pennies worth more than their metal

• 1943 bronze and 1944 steel cents. A few 1943 cents were struck on leftover bronze blanks and a few 1944 cents on leftover steel ones. They are rare: the only known Denver 1943 bronze cent sold for $840,000 at Heritage Auctions in January 2021. Fakes are common, so authentication comes first.
• Scarce dates and mint marks. Early wheat cents with low mintages, such as the 1909-S VDB, and any date in top condition. A grading service’s price guide, such as PCGS or NGC, lists them. We did not measure collector values.
• Everything else is a cent. A common penny in ordinary condition is worth its face to a bank. The metal figures above say what it is made of, not what anyone will pay.

The same arithmetic for the nickel is in how much is a nickel worth?, for silver coins in how much is a dime worth?, how much is a silver quarter worth?, how much is a silver dollar worth? and Kennedy half dollar value, for dollar coins in how much is a dollar coin worth?, and for gold coins in how much is a gold coin worth? This page is a measurement, not a forecast or personal advice.

How we measured it

Prices: World Bank Pink Sheet monthly averages for copper and zinc in US dollars a metric ton, to September 2026; BLS CPI-U to August 2026. Metal content: 1909-1942 and 1947-1962 bronze, 3.11 g, 95% copper; 1943 zinc-coated steel, 2.70 g; 1944-1946 and 1962 to September 1982, 3.11 g, 95% copper and 5% zinc; from October 1982, 2.50 g, 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper (composition table in Wikipedia’s article on the US penny). A copper cent therefore holds 2.9545 g of copper, a zinc cent 2.4375 g of zinc and 0.0625 g of copper. Face-value line: one cent divided by the copper in a copper cent gives the copper price at which they are equal; the monthly averages give the months on each side of it.

Common questions