Did You Know...?

• The Secret Service was established in 1865 as a bureau of the U.S. Treasury for the purpose of deterring counterfeiters.
• In 2003, the Secret Service was integrated into the Department of Homeland Security.
• The U.S. Bureau of Engraving (BOE) is responsible for printing U.S. currency at its Washington, DC, and Fort Worth TX, plants.
• The Federal Reserve System places an annual order for new currency from the BOE on or about July 31 of each year.
• The Federal Reserve placed an order of about 7 billion notes from the BOE for fiscal year 2019.
• For fiscal year 2019, the greatest number of bills that the Federal Reserve ordered were $1 bills, at 2,502,400,000.
• For fiscal year 2019, the highest total dollar value a single bill of the Federal Reserve's order was the $100, with the total order valued at $154,880,000,000.
• The Federal Reserve System processes cash at 28 offices throughout the country; Chicago is one of the largest processing facilities in the country.
• The $20 is the most frequently counterfeited denomination within the U.S., while it's the $100 outside of the U.S.
• There is approximately $1.56 trillion of U.S. currency in circulation throughout the world as of January 2018.
• Up to two-thirds of all U.S. currency ends up outside of the United States.
• It costs just over $0.12 to print each $100 bill.
• It would take about 4,000 double folds (forward and back) before a Federal Reserve note would tear.
• U.S. currency is not made of paper; it is 25% linen and 75% cotton.
• The same firm, the Crane Company, has been manufacturing the currency material since 1879.
• The largest note ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was the $100,000 Gold Certificate, Series 1934, for use only by Federal Reserve Banks.
• In 1929, the first major redesign of U.S. currency took place to standardize the size and design.
• The security thread and microprinting were added to the design of U.S. bills in 1990.
• The Money Museum hosted about 69,145 visitors in 2017.
• The money pit in the Money Museum holds $50,000 in change, from pennies to silver dollars, which are 6 inches deep.
• 69,145 people visited the Money Museum in 2017, making it the most visited museum or visitor center in the Federal Reserve.
• 13,110 people visited the Money Museum over one weekend in 2018, a new record, as part of the Open House Chicago event.
• Every day the Chicago Fed and the Detroit Branch shred about $26 million in worn out currency, for a total of nearly $6.5 billion in 2017.
• The Chicago Fed counted about $43.4 billion in currency in 2017.
• Federal Reserve Banks count about 100,000 notes per hour in their cash processing facilities, as of 2017.
• Each year the Money Museum gives away approximately $36.4 million in shredded money as souvenirs.
• The Chicago Fed found about 51 counterfeit bills each day as of 2016.
• The Grand Watermelon is a $1,000 bill from 1890 on display in the Money Museum with a collectible value of over $3 million! 
• Total number of bank holding companies and state member banks supervised in 2017 is 650 with over 1,000 examinations conducted, which is the greatest number in any single Federal Reserve District.
• The total number of depository institutions in Seventh District in 2016 is 1,778. This includes banks, savings and loans institutions, credit unions and others; some of these are not regulated by this bank.

Sources: Federal Reserve Board; Federal Reserve Bank Services; U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing; uscurrency.gov; Federal Reserve Bank Services; Robert Young, 1998, Money (Household History), Minneapolis: Carolhoda Books, Inc.