You’ve probably accidentally left a twenty-dollar bill in your jeans pocket and realized it halfway through the dryer cycle. If that bill were actually made of wood pulp—the stuff in your morning newspaper or that novel on your nightstand—it would have come out as a clump of soggy, unrecognizable lint. But it didn't. It probably looked a little crisp, maybe slightly faded, but otherwise perfectly spendable.
That’s because it isn't paper. Not really.
When people ask money is printed on what type of paper, they’re usually surprised to find out that the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) doesn't use trees at all. If you want to get technical, your "paper" money is actually a high-performance textile. It’s a fabric. It’s more closely related to your favorite t-shirt than it is to a sheet of printer paper. Specifically, U.S. currency is composed of 75% cotton and 25% linen.
Why Wood Pulp is a Disaster for Currency
Think about a standard piece of notebook paper. If you fold it back and forth twenty times, it starts to fray. By the fiftieth time, it snaps. It’s fragile. Wood pulp contains something called lignin, which is the stuff that makes trees rigid but also causes paper to turn yellow and brittle over time.
The Federal Reserve needs something tougher. A dollar bill has a rough life. It’s shoved into vending machines, folded into origami hearts, sweat on in pockets, and passed through thousands of greasy hands.
The cotton-linen blend used for American greenbacks is designed to withstand about 8,000 double folds before it finally tears. That’s an incredible amount of structural integrity for something so thin. This specific blend is produced exclusively by Crane & Co., a company based in Dalton, Massachusetts, which has been the sole supplier of U.S. currency paper since 1879. They have a bit of a monopoly, but for good reason: their recipe is a matter of national security.
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The Secret Recipe of Crane & Co.
Crane & Co. doesn't just toss some old rags into a blender. The process is incredibly refined. The cotton fibers used aren't the long ones used for expensive sheets; they are often "linters," the short, fine fibers that stay attached to the cottonseed after ginning. The linen comes from the flax plant.
When you mix these two, you get a substrate that is essentially waterproof compared to wood-based paper. The fibers are physically intertwined in a way that creates a dense, durable web.
But it’s not just about durability. It’s about the "feel."
You know that specific, slightly rough texture of a fresh $100 bill? That isn't just the ink. It’s the way the cotton-linen fibers grab onto the intaglio printing. Intaglio is a fancy word for a printing process where the ink is pulled out of deep grooves in a metal plate under massive pressure. This creates a raised surface. If you rub your fingernail across Benjamin Franklin’s shoulder, you can feel the ridges. You can’t get that same tactile "snap" on wood pulp paper; the paper would just crush or tear under the pressure of the plates.
Security Features Baked Into the Fiber
Because we’re talking about money is printed on what type of paper, we have to talk about the stuff hidden inside the paper. It’s not just a blank canvas.
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- The Security Thread: If you hold a $5 bill or higher up to a light, you’ll see a vertical line. This isn't printed on top. It’s actually embedded inside the cotton-linen slurry while the paper is being formed. It’s literally trapped between the layers of fibers.
- The Watermark: Similar to the thread, the watermark is created by varying the thickness of the fibers during the paper-making process. It’s a shadow image that’s part of the paper’s anatomy.
- Red and Blue Fibers: Look really closely at a bill—maybe use a magnifying glass. You’ll see tiny red and blue silk-like threads scattered throughout. These are synthetic fibers. Back in the day, they used silk, but now they use a durable synthetic. Counterfeiters often try to print these lines on the surface, but on real money, they are deep in the "paper" itself.
International Variations: Plastic vs. Fabric
While the U.S. sticks to its 1879-style cotton-linen guns, other countries have moved into the future. Or at least, a different version of it.
Australia was the first to go "plastic" in 1988. They use a polymer—specifically biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP). Canada, the UK, and several other nations have followed suit.
Polymer "paper" is essentially a thin sheet of plastic. It’s even harder to tear than the U.S. cotton-linen blend and lasts about 2.5 times longer. It’s also much cleaner because it doesn't have the porous fibers that soak up oils and bacteria from your hands. However, polymer has a downside: it’s hard to fold, and if you accidentally hit it with a hot iron, it melts into a puddle.
The U.S. has tested polymers but continues to use the cotton-linen blend primarily because of the massive infrastructure already in place for intaglio printing on fabric-based substrates. Changing the material would mean changing every single printing press in the country.
The Myth of "Rags"
You might have heard that money is made from "old rags." This is a bit of a historical holdover. In the 18th and 19th centuries, paper was indeed made from recycled clothing. People would sell their old linen shirts to "ragmen," who sold them to paper mills.
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Today, while the components are the same (cotton and linen), the BEP uses "combers" and "linters"—the leftovers from the textile industry that haven't been worn by people. So, no, your five-dollar bill wasn't someone’s old underwear in a past life.
How to Tell if It’s Real Using the "Paper"
Since you now know that money is printed on what type of paper (75% cotton, 25% linen), you can use this to spot fakes. Most counterfeiters use high-quality commercial paper. It might look good, but it feels wrong.
If you suspect a bill is fake, try the "scrunch test." Real currency has a certain "memory." If you crumble it, it tends to stay a bit more pliable and soft. Wood-based paper feels stiffer and makes a distinct "crackling" sound that is sharper than the muffled "thud" of cotton.
Also, check the edges. Because U.S. currency is a textile, the edges can sometimes get slightly fuzzy over years of use as the fibers loosen. Wood paper tends to just flake or peel.
Actionable Steps for Handling and Verifying Currency
Knowing the science behind the paper isn't just trivia; it’s a tool for financial security. If you handle cash frequently, these steps help you leverage that knowledge:
- Feel for the Intaglio: Always run your thumb over the portrait. The cotton-linen blend allows for extremely high-pressure printing that leaves a raised texture you can't miss. If it’s flat, it’s fake.
- Use a Counterfeit Detector Pen (With Caution): These pens contain an iodine solution. On real cotton-linen currency, the ink stays yellow. On wood-based paper, it reacts with the starch and turns dark blue or black. Just be aware that sophisticated counterfeiters sometimes "starch-wrap" fake bills to bypass this.
- Check for Fiber Depth: Use a needle to gently try and "lift" one of those tiny red or blue fibers. On a real bill, you can’t; it’s woven in. On a cheap fake, it might just be a speck of ink on the surface.
- Wash With Confidence: If you accidentally wash your money, don't panic. Avoid using high heat in the dryer, which can damage the security ribbons. Air drying is best to preserve the linen's structural integrity.
Understanding that money is a textile helps you realize why it’s so resilient. It isn't just "printed"; it is engineered. The next time you hold a bill, remember you're holding a piece of specialized fabric that has survived a century-old recipe of Massachusetts flax and southern cotton.