U.S. money production in 2023 will remain fluid for a third straight year, according to a 2023 Federal Reserve order for banknotes submitted earlier this year to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and published Nov. 4. The BEP is the government agency within the Treasury Department responsible for printing U.S. currency.
Similar to the prior two years and unlike those from before then, the print order includes ranges of notes by denomination instead of specific totals. The money production order for FY 2023 contains a range of 4.5 billion to 8.6 billion notes, valued at $166.5 billion to $190.5 billion. The figures come from an order approved and submitted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the issuing authority for U.S. banknotes.
The Federal Reserve order for FY 2022 was from 6.9 to 9.7 billion notes while the one from FY 2021 was from 7.5 to 9.6 billion notes. In the three most recent orders, ranges have been used to "best match available production with demand throughout the year."
Most of the banknotes produced for the latest fiscal year will be $1s and $100s, like in prior years. $20s are usually in this list as well but they barely appear in the newest order. The order also lacks $2 notes for the first time in three years, which is not unusual given their historical production totals.
Traditionally, most banknotes are manufactured to replace those taken out of circulation because their condition no longer meets the criteria for recirculation or because they are of older designs. Tradition resumes for 2023.
"This year’s print order follows pre-pandemic trends in which the primary driver of the order was the need to replace unfit notes destroyed during normal processing," the Feb Board said in its order.
Cost of Making Federal Reserve Notes
The BEP’s cost of making money varies by banknote. For example, government figures for 2022 show production costs per note at:
- 7.5 cents for $1s and $2 (from 6.2 cents in 2021)
- 12.7 cents for $5s (from 10.8 cents in 2021)
- 12.4 cents for $10s (from 10.8 cents in 2021)
- 13.8 cents for $20s (from 11.2 cents in 2021)
- 13.3 cents for $50s (from 11.0 cents in 2021)
- 17.0 cents for $100s (from 14.0 cents in 2021)
The Fed approved a currency operating budget of $1,060 million for calendar year 2022, up $110.8 million, or 11.7%, from 2021 forecasted expenses of $949.2 million. A currency budget for 2023 is yet to be published.
Banknote Orders by Denomination
The following table shows how the Fed’s latest order breaks down by denomination, number of notes and dollar value:
FY 2023 Federal Reserve Note Print Order
| Denomination | Number of Notes (000s of pieces) |
Dollar Value (000s of dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 1,939,200 to 4,358,400 | $1,939,200 to $4,358,400 |
| $2 | 0 to 0 | $0 to $0 |
| $5 | 684,800 to 1,344,000 | $3,424,000 to $6,720,000 |
| $10 | 172,800 to 563,200 | $1,728,000 to $5,632,000 |
| $20 | 0 to 512,000 | 0 to $10,240,000 |
| $50 | 192,000 to 275,200 | $9,600,000 to $13,760,000 |
| $100 | 1,497,600 to 1,497,600 | $149,760,000 to $149,760,000 |
| Total | 4,486,400 to 8,550,400 | $166,451,200 to $190,470,400 |
The BEP operates on a fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30. They agency produces all U.S. banknotes, and the order for 2023 includes currency set aside for numismatic products.
For reference, the next three tables show banknote orders placed for fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022:
FY 2022 Federal Reserve Note Print Order
| Denomination | Number of Notes (000s of pieces) |
Dollar Value (000s of dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 800,000 to 2,297,600 | $800,000 to $2,297,600 |
| $2 | 102,400 to 204,800 | $204,800 to $409,600 |
| $5 | 403,200 to 601,600 | $2,016,000 to $3,008,000 |
| $10 | 256,000 to 601,600 | $2,560,000 to $6,016,000 |
| $20 | 2,361,600 to 2,598,400 | $47,232,000 to $51,968,000 |
| $50 | 752,000 to 851,200 | $37,600,000 to $42,560,000 |
| $100 | 2,201,600 to 2,499,200 | $220,160,000 to $249,920,000 |
| Total | 6,876,800 to 9,654,400 | $310,572,800 to $356,179,200 |
FY 2021 Federal Reserve Note Print Order
| Denomination | Number of Notes (000s of pieces) |
Dollar Value (000s of dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 709,120 to 1,030,400 | $709,120 to $1,030,400 |
| $2 | 38,400 to 51,200 | $76,800 to $102,400 |
| $5 | 419,200 to 467,200 | $2,096,000 to $2,336,000 |
| $10 | 300,800 to 428,800 | $3,008,000 to $4,288,000 |
| $20 | 3,107,200 to 3,968,000 | $62,144,000 to $79,360,000 |
| $50 | 483,200 to 499,200 | $24,160,000 to $24,960,000 |
| $100 | 2,482,176 to 3,196,800 | $248,217,600 to $319,680,000 |
| Total | 7,568,896 to 9,612,800 | $341,237,120 to $430,931,200 |
FY 2020 Federal Reserve Note Print Order
| Denomination | Number of Notes (000s of pieces) |
Dollar Value (000s of dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 1,574,400 | $1,574,400 |
| $2 | 0 | $0 |
| $5 | 736,000 | $3,680,000 |
| $10 | 460,800 | $4,608,000 |
| $20 | 1,241,600 | $24,832,000 |
| $50 | 76,800 | $3,840,000 |
| $100 | 1,078,400 | $107,840,000 |
| Total | 5,168,000 | $146,374,400 |
Lastly, this Fed chart shows orders from FY 2010 to FY 2023:
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces banknotes at facilities in Fort Worth, TX and Washington, D.C. According to Fed data, currency in circulation topped $2.293 trillion through the week ended Nov. 23, 2022.
Sorry that this comment happens to be concerning an entirely different topic, but I would be very interested to know if anyone has had any luck lately getting on the Subscription list for the 2023-S Proof American Silver Eagle. I have been trying to crack into that apparently exclusive club every single day since the list first “closed” and I never succeed.
Nope, still Remind Me.
This, Antonio, is looking more and more like a you snooze you lose once and done.
Lo and behold, the 2023-S Subscriptions are back. Good news indeed!
December 8th, ALL ASE subscriptions are open!!
will there be a new series or are they gonna continue printing series 2017A?
Maybe next year we’ll start to see the 2021 series. My experience is the BEP tends to be slow issuing new series.
Antonio,
That’s funny. You managed to get your comment in while I was amending mine.
Sorry, LEE, I certainly wish I could be of help to you here, but I am exceedingly less conversant in paper currency territory than I am in the metal coin realm. Hopefully someone else will see their way to stepping to the fore in order to provide the answer.
per the fed:
>. For FY 2023, these priorities include producing a new banknote series with the signatures of the new Treasurer and Secretary
so, presumably that means anytime now (as we are already in FY 2023 since oct 1)
given that this is going to be the first time both signatures on currency will be from women, it’ll probably get a big announcement when it does finally come out. and since ‘international women’s day’ is march 8 next year, I’d bet it will be around that time – but that’s just a guess.
Thanks for the timely update, c_q. With the first-time double women’s signatures the first of such notes may well be worth picking up for possible future reference.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hailed the work done by women in her department as she unveiled the first US banknotes bearing the signature of a female secretary.
The new $1 and $5 bills being printed in Ft. Worth are also the first carrying the signature of a Native American woman — US Treasurer Lynn Malerba. The banknotes will be delivered to the Federal Reserve in December and enter into circulation in January 2023, a Treasury spokesperson said.
That’s some interesting and exciting news, Antonio; thanks for providing that info! Hopefully the Bureau of Printing and Engraving will come up with some special releases of its own in regard to that; they would be prime collectables!