How much has the USPS Certified Mail fee gone up?

The Certified Mail fee rose from $3.45 on January 21, 2018 to $5.55 on July 12, 2026, an increase of 61%. Over the same years the 1 oz stamped letter went from $0.50 to $0.82 and the electronic return receipt from $1.50 to $2.91.

What is the USPS Certified Mail fee now?

$5.55, effective July 12, 2026. With $0.82 of postage for a 1 oz stamped letter the total is $6.37, or $9.28 with an electronic return receipt.

What was the Certified Mail fee in 2023?

It was $4.15 from January 22, 2023 and $4.35 from July 9, 2023.

When do Certified Mail prices change?

Most changes took effect in January or July. The exception was August 29, 2021. USPS made no market-dominant price change in January 2022, January 2025 or January 2026, so the fee stayed the same for those years.

USPS prices

USPS Certified Mail price history

The Certified Mail fee rose from $3.45 in January 2018 to $5.55 on July 12, 2026, up 61%. A 1 oz stamped letter sent Certified Mail now costs $6.37, up from $3.95.

See current costs Download the CSV

Checked October 28, 2026.

Look it up

What did Certified Mail cost on a date?

Date you mailed the letter

Enter a date to see the prices in effect.

Every price change

Prices are for a letter at the single-piece rate. The last column is a 1 oz stamped letter sent Certified Mail with no return receipt. Each date links to the USPS Notice 123 that carried it.

Effective	Certified Mail fee	Paper return receipt	Electronic return receipt	1 oz stamped	1 oz metered	Added ounce	Certified letter
July 12, 2026	$5.55	$4.65	$2.91	$0.82	$0.78	$0.29	$6.37
July 13, 2025	$5.30	$4.40	$2.82	$0.78	$0.74	$0.29	$6.08
July 14, 2024	$4.85	$4.10	$2.62	$0.73	$0.69	$0.28	$5.58
January 21, 2024	$4.40	$3.65	$2.32	$0.68	$0.64	$0.24	$5.08
July 9, 2023	$4.35	$3.55	$2.20	$0.66	$0.63	$0.24	$5.01
January 22, 2023	$4.15	$3.35	$2.10	$0.63	$0.60	$0.24	$4.78
July 10, 2022	$4.00	$3.25	$2.00	$0.60	$0.57	$0.24	$4.60
August 29, 2021	$3.75	$3.05	$1.85	$0.58	$0.53	$0.20	$4.33
January 24, 2021	$3.60	$2.85	$1.75	$0.55	$0.51	$0.20	$4.15
January 26, 2020	$3.55	$2.85	$1.70	$0.55	$0.50	$0.15	$4.10
January 27, 2019	$3.50	$2.80	$1.60	$0.55	$0.50	$0.15	$4.05
January 21, 2018	$3.45	$2.75	$1.50	$0.50	$0.47	$0.21	$3.95

A 1 oz stamped letter sent Certified Mail, by date

The same numbers as the last column of the table.

Notes on the table

Each date is the day USPS’s new prices took effect. A Notice 123 reissue that left all of these values unchanged is not listed.
The electronic return receipt for January 24, 2021 is $1.75 in USPS’s price list and its price file. The Postal Regulatory Commission’s published schedule still showed $1.70. This table uses USPS’s price list.
The additional ounce is the 2 oz letter price minus the 1 oz price. Large envelopes, parcels and the other Certified Mail extras are not in this table.
USPS made no market-dominant price change in January 2022, January 2025 or January 2026.
USPS’s live Notice 123 is headed “Effective October 04, 2026”. That is a temporary holiday parcel change that runs through January 17, 2027. The prices in this table did not change.
We found no filing for a January 2027 change as of October 28, 2026.

Sources

Every value comes from USPS Notice 123 as archived for its date, checked against the USPS price file and the Postal Regulatory Commission’s filing for the change. The data is free to use under CC BY 4.0; please link to this page.

What these prices add up to today, with examples, is on the Certified Mail cost page.