# Which U.S. currency bill is there the most of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375 "2018-08-10T04:17:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/1 "2018-08-10T04:17:30Z")
Which U.S. currency bill is there the most of? I heard on TV that the U.S. currency bill that there is the most of and is most used is the twenty dollar bill. This defies credibility because mist of the time, when you pay with a twenty you get back at least one–and usually more–one dollar bills. Does anyone know whether the one or the twenty is the bill there is most of? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/2 "2018-08-10T04:21:03Z")
I heard it was the $100 bill as they are stashed all over the world… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/3 "2018-08-10T04:22:11Z")
[It was the $100 in 2017, but it’s usually the $1.](https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currcircvolume.htm) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/4 "2018-08-10T05:06:02Z")
[Printed each year](https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currency_orders.htm) - $1\>$20\>$100\>$5\>$10\>$50\>$2 Most found worldwide - $1/$100, depending. Lots of countries use the US dollar as their official currency. Others have adopted it officially, and more have it alongside other currency(ies). And those bills stick around a long time. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/5 "2018-08-10T06:31:52Z")
It’s a close race for the top three: $1 are most common, then $100, then $20. The $5 bill is in a very distant fourth-place, closely followed by $10 and $50. [By value, the share of $100’s was 75% in 2010, having risen dramatically since the 1970’s.](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/-100-bills-make-up-80-of-all-us-currency-but-why/265518/) ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/6 "2018-08-10T09:25:11Z")
That’s two supplementary questions: How much of what is printed due to high demand, and how much of what is printed due to fast deterioration. It seems the 100 is in demand the most, but the smaller denominations would depreciate fastest. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/7 "2018-08-10T09:27:22Z")
You have to wonder how many are not genuine? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/8 "2018-08-10T11:26:51Z")
I wonder if $50 frequency will increase with inflation. I’m seeing ATMs that will dispense them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/9 "2018-08-10T12:45:28Z")
The ATM I frequent, I have to withdraw $80 at a time instead of $100 like I’d prefer, because if I get $100 it comes in a pair of fifties, which I can’t spend in a lot of places. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/10 "2018-08-10T17:35:31Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You have to wonder how many are not genuine? I read something that suggested a significant number of overseas dollars are counterfeit. The first Jack Reacher book has an in depth discussion of overseas currency. If you go to a third world country where the dollar is used in parallel with the local currency, most people won’t take anything printed before 2003 - the older ones are too easy to counterfeit. > **[Travel Tip: Don’t Leave Home with Old Money](https://www.astridtravel.com/blog/travel-tip-dont-leave-home-with-old-money)** > > Many countries around the world now only accept new or almost new currency bills for exchange. Money is consider to be new if it is clean, unmarked, un-creased, and not torn. > [@](#): > > Many countries around the world now only accept new or almost new currency bills for exchange. Money is consider to be new if it is clean, unmarked, un-creased, and not torn. Additionally, US currency mostly should not be printed earlier than 2006. Some countries will accept pristine US currency as early a 2003 while others insist that a recent US Treasury Secretary’s signature, such as Henry Paulson or Timothy Geithner, be on the bill. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/11 "2018-08-10T18:48:04Z")
Yep, when I worked in the bank, people who were visiting the old country (Philippines most commonly IIRC) would ask for crisp $100 bills from a specific series. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/12 "2018-08-10T18:50:40Z")
there is a story that a decent number of $100s have traces of cocaine on them due to use by drug smugglers. Probably an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/13 "2018-08-10T20:42:28Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > there is a story that a decent number of $100s have traces of cocaine on them due to use by drug smugglers. Probably an urban legend. I think it was _Rolling Stone_ in the 90’s that reported that something like 80% of $100 bills tested in Florida had cocaine residue. During the height of the cocaine epidemic, snorting coke through a tightly rolled $100 bill was a “cool” thing to do… ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/14 "2018-08-11T01:06:55Z")
How are there so many $2 bills in circulation? According to the chart there’s not even twice the number of $10 bills as there are $2 bills, and yet I’ve never come across a $2 “in the wild.” Are they popular in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/15 "2018-08-11T04:11:01Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > there is a story that a decent number of $100s have traces of cocaine on them due to use by drug smugglers. Probably an urban legend. > **[FACT CHECK: Does Most U.S. Currency Bear Traces of Cocaine?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cocaine-on-money/)** > > Does a large percentage of U.S. currency bear traces of cocaine? It doesn’t need to be that every bill has been used itself - the drugs come off the bill when it’s rubbed against surfaces that sort and count it, and this passes drugs on to the bills that come after it. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-currency-bill-is-there-the-most-of/819375/16 "2018-08-11T04:13:04Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > How are there so many $2 bills in circulation? According to the chart there’s not even twice the number of $10 bills as there are $2 bills, and yet I’ve never come across a $2 “in the wild.” Are they popular in other countries? “In circulation” just means they’ve been issued and not redeemed. It includes $2 bills in collections, bank vaults, etc. They’re used so infrequently that they rarely wear out, so they stay in circulation for a long time.