Is a torn dollar bill still worth anything?

Yes — a torn dollar is still worth exactly one dollar, provided enough of it survives. U.S. currency works on a simple tolerance line: if clearly more than half of the note is present and identifiable, it carries full face value. Tears, tape, and grime don't discount it. The paper is just the carrier; the value rides on the verifiable claim printed into it.

The more-than-half rule

A torn or worn note that is clearly more than one-half intact is officially "unfit," not ruined. You can spend it, or — the cleaner route — deposit it at your bank, which forwards it to the Federal Reserve to be swapped out of circulation and replaced with a fresh note. No form, no fee, no haircut. The value never prorates: there is no such thing as sixty cents of a dollar bill.

When half or less remains

Below the halfway line, the note becomes what the Treasury calls mutilated currency — money so damaged its value needs expert examination. Those pieces go to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Mutilated Currency Division in Washington, whose examiners reconstruct burned, soaked, buried, and pet-chewed cash by hand. If they can establish that the missing portion was destroyed rather than spent elsewhere, they redeem the note at full face value. The service is free, and it is busy: the BEP fields more than 22,000 redemption requests in an average year, worth over $35 million.

Why the line sits at one half

The halfway threshold is anti-fraud engineering. If both halves of a torn bill were each worth a dollar, one tear would double your money. Requiring clearly more than 50% guarantees that every note can only ever be redeemed once — the two halves of the same bill can't both clear the bar.