The Jefferson Nickel has been produced each year from 1938 to present. Coins were struck for circulation at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints and mintages have varied widely. In total, more than 50 billion Jefferson Nickels have been produced.
The lowest mintage circulating coin is the 1950-D Jefferson Nickel, which is generally considered to be the key date issue at only 2,630,030 pieces. The recently issued 2009 Jefferson Nickels have also generated attention since the mintage levels represent an incredible drop from contemporary levels, which are typically in the hundreds of millions.
The highest mintage for the series, at more than 1.7 billion coins, occurred with the 1964-D nickel.
Since the Jefferson Nickel used the same design for almost seven decades, and with the exception of silver war nickels contain no silver content, older date coins show up periodically in circulation. Beginning collectors will often focus on searching bank rolls as an affordable and fun way to start assembling a collection of older coins.
Although no significant rarities exist for the series on the basis of mintage, there are many notable conditional rarities for the series, particularly for those pursuing collections of Full Steps Jefferson Nickels.
Jefferson Nickel Mintages
| 1938 | 19,496,000 |
| 1938-D | 5,376,000 |
| 1938-S | 4,105,000 |
| 1939 | 120,615,000 |
| 1939-D | 3,514,000 |
| 1939-S | 6,630,000 |
| 1940 | 176,485,000 |
| 1940-D | 43,540,000 |
| 1940-S | 39,690,000 |
| 1941 | 203,265,000 |
| 1941-D | 53,432,000 |
| 1941-S | 43,445,000 |
| 1942 | 49,789,000 |
| 1942-D | 13,938,000 |
| 1942-P Silver | 57,873,000 |
| 1942-S Silver | 32,900,000 |
| 1943-P Silver | 271,165,000 |
| 1943-D Silver | 15,294,000 |
| 1943-S Silver | 104,060,000 |
| 1944-P Silver | 119,150,000 |
| 1944-D Silver | 32,309,000 |
| 1944-S Silver | 21,640,000 |
| 1945-P Silver | 119,408,100 |
| 1945-D Silver | 37,158,000 |
| 1945-S Silver | 58,939,000 |
| 1946 | 161,116,000 |
| 1946-D | 45,292,200 |
| 1946-S | 13,560,000 |
| 1947 | 95,000,000 |
| 1947-D | 37,822,000 |
| 1947-S | 24,720,000 |
| 1948 | 89,348,000 |
| 1948-D | 44,734,000 |
| 1948-S | 11,300,000 |
| 1949 | 60,652,000 |
| 1949-D | 36,498,000 |
| 1949-S | 9,716,000 |
| 1950 | 9,796,000 |
| 1950-D | 2,630,030 |
| 1951 | 28,552,000 |
| 1951-D | 20,460,000 |
| 1951-S | 7,776,000 |
| 1952 | 63,988,000 |
| 1952-D | 30,638,000 |
| 1952-S | 20,572,000 |
| 1953 | 46,644,000 |
| 1953-D | 59,878,600 |
| 1953-S | 19,210,900 |
| 1954 | 47,684,050 |
| 1954-D | 117,183,060 |
| 1954-S | 29,384,000 |
| 1955 | 7,888,000 |
| 1955-D | 74,464,100 |
| 1956 | 35,216,000 |
| 1956-D | 67,222,940 |
| 1957 | 38,408,000 |
| 1957-D | 136,828,900 |
| 1958 | 17,088,000 |
| 1958-D | 168,249,120 |
| 1959 | 27,248,000 |
| 1959-D | 160,738,240 |
| 1960 | 55,416,000 |
| 1960-D | 192,582,180 |
| 1961 | 73,640,100 |
| 1961-D | 229,342,760 |
| 1962 | 97,384,000 |
| 1962-D | 280,195,720 |
| 1963 | 178,851,645 |
| 1963-D | 276,829,460 |
| 1964 | 1,028,622,762 |
| 1964-D | 1,787,297,160 |
| 1965 | 136,131,380 |
| 1966 | 156,208,283 |
| 1967 | 107,325,800 |
| 1968-D | 91,227,880 |
| 1968-S | 100,396,004 |
| 1969-D | 202,807,500 |
| 1969-S | 120,075,000 |
| 1970-D | 515,485,380 |
| 1970-S | 238,832,004 |
| 1971 | 106,884,000 |
| 1971-D | 316,144,800 |
| 1972 | 202,036,000 |
| 1972-D | 351,694,600 |
| 1973 | 384,396,000 |
| 1973-D | 361,405,000 |
| 1974 | 601,752,000 |
| 1974-D | 277,373,000 |
| 1975 | 181,772,000 |
| 1975-D | 401,875,300 |
| 1976 | 367,124,000 |
| 1976-D | 563,964,147 |
| 1977 | 585,376,000 |
| 1977-D | 297,313,422 |
| 1978 | 391,308,000 |
| 1978-D | 313,092,780 |
| 1979 | 463,188,000 |
| 1979-D | 325,867,672 |
| 1980-P | 593,004,000 |
| 1980-D | 502,323,448 |
| 1981-P | 657,504,000 |
| 1981-D | 364,801,843 |
| 1982-P | 292,355,000 |
| 1982-D | 373,726,544 |
| 1983-P | 561,615,000 |
| 1983-D | 536,726,276 |
| 1984-P | 746,769,000 |
| 1984-D | 517,675,146 |
| 1985-P | 647,114,962 |
| 1985-D | 459,747,446 |
| 1986-P | 536,883,483 |
| 1986-D | 361,819,140 |
| 1987-P | 371,499,481 |
| 1987-D | 410,590,604 |
| 1988-P | 771,360,000 |
| 1988-D | 663,771,652 |
| 1989-P | 898,812,000 |
| 1989-D | 570,842,474 |
| 1990-P | 661,636,000 |
| 1990-D | 663,938,503 |
| 1991-P | 614,104,000 |
| 1991-D | 436,496,678 |
| 1992-P | 399,552,000 |
| 1992-D | 450,565,113 |
| 1993-P | 412,076,000 |
| 1993-D | 406,084,135 |
| 1994-P | 722,160,000 |
| 1994-D | 715,762,110 |
| 1995-P | 774,156,000 |
| 1995-D | 888,112,000 |
| 1996-P | 829,332,000 |
| 1996-D | 817,736,000 |
| 1997-P | 470,972,000 |
| 1997-D | 466,640,000 |
| 1998-P | 688,292,000 |
| 1998-D | 635,380,000 |
| 1999-P | 1,212,000,000 |
| 1999-D | 1,066,720,000 |
| 2000-P | 846,240,000 |
| 2000-D | 1,509,520,000 |
| 2001-P | 675,704,000 |
| 2001-D | 627,680,000 |
| 2002-P | 539,280,000 |
| 2002-D | 691,200,000 |
| 2003-P | 441,840,000 |
| 2003-D | 383,040,000 |
| 2004-P Peace Medal | 361,440,000 |
| 2004-D Peace Medal | 372,000,000 |
| 2004-P Keelboat | 366,720,000 |
| 2004-D Keelboat | 344,880,000 |
| 2005-P Bison | 448,320,000 |
| 2005-D Bison | 487,680,000 |
| 2005-P Ocean | 394,080,000 |
| 2005-D Ocean | 411,120,000 |
| 2006-P | 693,120,000 |
| 2006-D | 809,280,000 |
| 2007-P | 571,680,000 |
| 2007-D | 626,160,000 |
| 2008-P | 279,840,000 |
| 2008-D | 345,600,000 |
| 2009-P | 39,840,000 |
| 2009-D | 46,800,000 |
| 2010-P | 260,640,000 |
| 2010-D | 229,920,000 |
| 2011-P | 450,000,000 |
| 2011-D | 540,240,000 |
| 2012-P | 464,640,000 |
| 2012-D | 558,960,000 |
| 2013-P | 607,440,000 |
| 2013-D | 615,600,000 |
| 2014-P | 635,520,000 |
| 2014-D | 570,720,000 |
| 2015-P | 752,880,000 |
| 2015-D | 846,720,000 |
| 2016-P | 786,960,000 |
| 2016-D | 759,600,000 |
| 2017-P | 710,160,000 |
| 2017-D | 663,120,000 |
| 2018-P | 629,520,000 |
| 2018-D | 626,880,000 |
| 2019-P | 567,854,400 |
| 2019-D | 527,040,000 |
| 2020-P | 785,500,000 |
| 2020-D | 837,600,000 |
