Nickel at a crossroads: could the five-cent coin follow the penny out of circulation?

The penny’s retirement has coin experts wondering if the nickel could be the next to go, since minting nickels costs far more than their face value (about 13.78 cents per coin in 2024 versus a 5-cent value, with roughly $85 million lost on nickels and $18 million on pennies that year). The U.S. Treasury has no formal plan to eliminate the nickel, and Americans still actively use nickels, but inflation and rising production costs keep the debate alive. Some lawmakers have floated rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents as a potential workaround, which could shift how retailers handle small-change trades if the nickel disappears. Experts expect the nickel’s demise, if it happens, to be gradual—likely over ten to fifteen years—though it’s not imminent, and the coin could instead stay in circulation longer if policy or consumer behavior changes differently than anticipated.