Currencies

$100s closing in on $1s for most common currency

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Washington and Jackson may be lining your pockets, but Benjamin's been making a run for the border.

One-dollar bills and hundreds make up the vast majority of U.S. currency, according to the 2015 World Almanac. There are 10.7 billion ones in circulation, and 9.7 billion hundreds.

Twenty years ago, hundreds made up only 14 percent of the bills in circulation, now they're more than a quarter. The other common denominations have all dropped in frequency, except twos which still make up 3 percent of bills.

Hundreds made up around three-quarters of the total value of U.S. currency in 2014, or $968 billion of the total $1.3 trillion in circulation at the end of the year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

But not all of that money is making you rich at home. Around half of the total value of U.S. currency is abroad, according to a 2011 Fed estimate. Foreign nationals and companies buy U.S. dollars for their secure value and some use it as a medium of exchange. Among hundred-dollar bills in circulation, the portion held overseas jumped to 71 percent in 2011, from 49 percent 20 years ago.