2018 Penny (Lincoln Cent): Mintage & What to Check

In 2018 the U.S. Mint struck about 7.81 billion Lincoln cents for circulation: Philadelphia 4.07 billion, Denver 3.74 billion, San Francisco 849,355, San Francisco 199,116. That is 10% fewer than 2017. Among the 117 years from 1909 to 2025, 2018 ranks number 35 by total mintage (1 = most coins made), so it is a mid-range date for availability. The scarcest 2018 issue by mintage is San Francisco (199,116); the most common is Philadelphia (4,066,800,000). Within the 2010s, 2018 ranks 5 of 10 years for mintage; the decade's high was 2016 (9.12 billion) and its low was 2010 (4.37 billion). Mint by mint: Philadelphia fell 7% from 2017; Denver fell 13% from 2017; San Francisco rose 304% from 2017; San Francisco fell 5% from 2017.

The mint mark, if any, sits under the date on the front of the coin. A 2018 cent with no mint mark was struck at Philadelphia and is the normal, common form for that mint. The letters you can find on 2018 circulation cents are D (Denver) and S (San Francisco).

• Cents from 1983 onward are copper-plated zinc (about 2.5 g). The plating is thin, so these coins corrode easily: bubbles, pitting or grey spots on a bright coin are damage, not a variety.
• From 2010 the reverse shows the Union Shield. Circulation coins are copper-plated zinc; the only way to get a different alloy is a collector set, so a 2010-or-later cent that weighs about 3.1 g is worth a second look but is almost always a plated or altered piece.
• For any 2018 cent, check three things before anything else: that the date and mint mark are fully readable, that the surfaces have not been cleaned (unnatural brightness, fine parallel scratches), and whether any doubling on the lettering is true die doubling (rounded, separated) rather than flat machine doubling.

What a 2018 cent is worth depends on three things in this order: the variety (a recognised doubled die or transitional error is worth far more than a normal coin), the mint (San Francisco is the lowest-mintage 2018 issue), and the grade (an uncirculated coin with original red colour is a different market from a worn brown one). A normal, circulated 2018 cent from the most common mint is a very common coin; published price guides from grading services list values by grade and variety, and they change over time. This page does not give prices. To get a reference range for the exact coin in your hand, photograph both sides in even light and let the app read the date, mint mark and visible varieties first.