How much is a stamp in the US?

What a Forever stamp pays for

When people ask how much a stamp is, they usually mean the Forever stamp, the ordinary letter stamp with no price printed on it, also known as a first-class stamp. Since July 12, 2026 it has cost $0.82, and it pays for a First-Class Mail letter of up to 1 ounce to any address in the United States. That covers most everyday mail, because a #10 business envelope with about four sheets of printer paper folded inside stays under an ounce. A book of 20 costs $16.40, simply 20 times the single price, so it saves you trips to the post office, not money.

A Forever stamp is always worth the current price of a 1 oz letter, whatever you paid for it, and it doesn't expire, so an old book you find in a drawer still mails letters after a price rise. The price table above lists every stamp and service with its weight steps, and the stamp calculator can work out the stamps for your envelope.

Heavier letters, greeting cards and postcards

A letter over 1 ounce still goes as First-Class Mail, but each extra ounce or part of one adds $0.29, up to a limit of 3.5 ounces. Eight printed pages folded into a #10 envelope weigh about 1.5 ounces, for example, which puts the letter in the 2 oz step at $1.11: one Forever stamp plus a stamp worth $0.29. About fifteen pages land in the 3 oz step at $1.40, which is one Forever stamp plus two of those. With only Forever stamps at home, two cover any ordinary rectangular letter up to 3 ounces.

A greeting card in an envelope never gets the postcard price, however small it is, and pays at least the letter price. A 5×7 card in an A7 envelope usually weighs just under an ounce, so one Forever stamp covers it. A photo or thick insert can push it into the 2 oz step, so weigh one finished card on a kitchen scale before you stamp the rest. For a holiday batch, our guide to mailing Christmas cards has the send-by dates, and address labels save writing each envelope by hand.

A postcard is a card sent without an envelope, and it has its own, cheaper stamp at $0.65. The card has to meet the USPS size rule: Rectangular card 5–6 in × 3½–4¼ in; bigger cards pay the letter price. A standard 4×6 photo postcard meets it, while a 5×7 card mailed on its own is too big. A folded greeting card isn't a postcard either, so put it in an envelope. A Forever stamp on a postcard is accepted, but it overpays.

Large envelopes and odd-shaped letters

An envelope stops being a letter once it breaks one of the USPS letter limits: Up to 11½ × 6⅛ in, ¼ in thick, 3.5 oz. A 6×9 booklet envelope stays within them, but a 9×12 envelope is far taller than any letter can be. Anything over a letter limit counts as a large envelope, also called a flat, priced from $1.69 for the first ounce. Flats have limits of their own: Bigger than a letter, up to 15 × 12 in, ¾ in thick, 13 oz; must be flexible and evenly thick. A large envelope that is stiff, unevenly thick or bigger than that pays the higher package price instead.

Say you're mailing a five-page contract, unfolded, in a 9×12 envelope. With the envelope it weighs roughly 1.5 ounces, which puts it in the 2 oz flat step at $1.98. Two Forever stamps don't even cover the first ounce of a flat, so use three, which overpay a little, or one Forever stamp plus four stamps worth $0.29 for the exact amount. Folded into a #10 envelope, the same pages would go as an ordinary letter for much less.

Some letters can't run through USPS sorting machines because they are square, rigid or lumpy, addressed upright along the short side, or closed with a clasp, string or button. These pay the non-machinable surcharge of $0.49 on top of the letter price. A square invitation of 5 to 6 inches still fits the letter limits, so even with the surcharge two Forever stamps cover it up to 2 ounces. A 6½ or 7 inch square envelope is too tall for a letter and pays the large-envelope price instead, which three Forever stamps cover up to 3 ounces.

Decorated invitations need more care. For specially decorated envelopes, USPS lets you pay the non-machinable surcharge and ask the Post Office counter to hand-cancel them, and for wax seals, strings, ribbons and other decorations on the outside it advises not to send them exposed but to put the envelope inside another envelope. Either way, a seal, ribbon or string usually leaves the letter lumpy or unevenly thick, so it still pays the non-machinable surcharge: for a 1 oz invitation, count on $1.31, which two Forever stamps cover.

Sending letters and cards abroad

The stamp for mail going abroad is the Global Forever stamp, which costs $1.75 and pays for a 1 oz letter or a postcard to any country. There is no cheaper postcard rate abroad, so a light card in an envelope to Ireland and a postcard to Japan each take one. Domestic Forever stamps also work, but you'd need three, since two fall just short of the Global Forever price. Square, rigid or lumpy letters cost more abroad too, which means one Global Forever stamp won't cover a square card. Ask at the post office counter for the exact amount.

Heavier letters abroad are priced by destination, in three groups: Canada, Mexico and every other country. A 2 oz letter costs $2.35 to Canada, $2.60 to Mexico and $3.50 anywhere else, so an extra page matters most on a letter to Europe or Asia. A 1.5-ounce letter to London, for example, needs two Global Forever stamps, which add up to that price exactly. Letters abroad also stop at 3.5 ounces. Put the country name on its own last line, as our guide on how to address an envelope shows.

When stamp prices change

The price history table on this page shows how fast the Forever stamp has climbed. Since early 2019 the price has gone up eight times, twice a year in 2023 and 2024, and the stamp now costs about 50 percent more than it did then. In 2025 and 2026, USPS changed prices once a year, in July, announcing each change about three months ahead and filing it with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the regulator that reviews postal prices.

As of November 8, 2026, no change has been announced yet, but the July pattern may not hold. USPS has not published new stamp prices for 2027. Its Postal Explorer site lists a price change effective January 17, 2027, but so far only with draft forms for business mailers, and in July 2026 USPS asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (docket R2027-1) for a rule waiver so it could move its yearly price change to January, so a change in early 2027 is possible. So check the next-change line in the price table above before a big mailing.