US Paper Money Table
| Note | Face | Back | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | George Washington | Great Seal of the United States | 1963 series design still in use |
| $2 | Thomas Jefferson | Trumbull: Signing of the Declaration | rarely circulated, still printed |
| $5 | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln Memorial | redesigned 2008-03-13 |
| $10 | Alexander Hamilton | U.S. Treasury Building | redesigned 2006-03-02 |
| $20 | Andrew Jackson | The White House | redesigned 2003-10-09 |
| $50 | Ulysses S. Grant | U.S. Capitol | redesigned 2004-09-28 |
| $100 | Benjamin Franklin | Independence Hall | blue 3-D security ribbon, 2013 |
American paper money comes in exactly seven denominations today - $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 - and the roster has been frozen since 1969, when the government discontinued the $500 and larger notes it had stopped printing in 1945. The faces are equally frozen: the portrait lineup has not changed since 1929, when all notes were standardized to today's size and the cast was set for nearly a century.
Two of the seven faces are the famous exceptions: Alexander Hamilton on the $10 was Treasury Secretary, never president, and Benjamin Franklin on the $100 was a diplomat-scientist-publisher who never held national office. Everyone else is a president - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson and Grant - though not the top five by historical ranking; the currency roster reflects 1929 politics as much as legacy, which is why the $20's Andrew Jackson remains the most contested portrait in the set.
The Notes column records the modern security story: between October 2003 and March 2013 the government rolled out redesigned notes one denomination at a time, adding subtle background colors, watermarks and color-shifting ink - the $20 went first (2003), the $100 last (2013, with the blue 3-D security ribbon). The $2 note never left production but rarely circulates; the $1 and $2 still carry designs from the 1960s because counterfeiting pressure is lowest at the bottom of the ladder.
How to use
- Identify any note by face and back: the portrait column answers 'who is on the bill', the back column gives the scene - from the Great Seal on the $1 to Independence Hall on the $100. The exceptions to memorize are Hamilton ($10) and Franklin ($100), the two non-presidents.
- Read the Notes column for freshness: a redesigned note's date tells you which security generation it belongs to ($20 from 2003 through $100 from 2013); pre-2003 $1s and $2s circulate beside brand-new ones because those designs never changed.
- Answer the rarity questions with circulation economics: the $2 is printed but hoarded, the $50 and $100 rarely surface at retail, and anything above $100 is a collector's item honored at face value by the Federal Reserve but no longer issued.
- Check authenticity by the layer the redesign added: hold the note to light for the portrait watermark, tilt for the color-shifting numeral - the security features section of every redesigned denomination, per the official currency site.
Frequently asked questions
Who is on each US dollar bill?
$1 George Washington, $2 Thomas Jefferson, $5 Abraham Lincoln, $10 Alexander Hamilton, $20 Andrew Jackson, $50 Ulysses S. Grant, $100 Benjamin Franklin. The backs: the Great Seal, the signing of the Declaration (Trumbull's painting), the Lincoln Memorial, the Treasury Building, the White House, the Capitol and Independence Hall.
Why are Hamilton and Franklin on money if they were never president?
The 1929 redesign chose faces for historical weight, not the presidency: Hamilton founded the financial system the currency operates in, and Franklin was the era's most famous American. The choice stuck - when Treasury announced Hamilton might be replaced in 2015, public and scholarly reaction kept him and moved a redesign of the $20's Jackson instead.
Is the $2 bill still printed?
Yes - it never left production, and the Federal Reserve orders new runs when demand appears. It simply rarely circulates: people hoard it as a curiosity, so a note printed by the hundreds of millions feels rare. Its back carries Trumbull's 'Declaration of Independence' signing scene, itself the source of a persistent myth that it shows the signing on July 4.
What is the largest US bill ever printed?
The $100,000 gold certificate (carrying Woodrow Wilson) was the largest ever, used only for transfers between Federal Reserve banks in 1934-35 and never circulated publicly. The largest note ordinary people could hold was the $10,000 (Salmon P. Chase); the $500 through $10,000 series ended in 1969, and none of them can be bought from a bank today.