Today's scrap metal prices (U.S.)

Where does ScrapMonitor get scrap metal prices?

Looking for scrap metal prices today? The metals market changes constantly. So you can see current prices before you load up your truck, we built ScrapMonitor. Our service collects, structures, and updates data across the country every day to give you an objective view of the market and its trends.

Here's how we build the prices you see on our site:

1. We collect local price lists

We automatically pull data from the published price lists of hundreds of scrap yards across the U.S. Because each yard may use different names for the same metals, our system normalizes everything to a single standard (e.g., price per pound or per ton) so you can compare easily.

2. We track global exchanges

What your local scrap yard pays is closely tied to exchange prices for refined metals (e.g., COMEX). We monitor these benchmarks continuously. When the exchange moves up or down sharply, that's a leading indicator of where yard prices are headed in the coming days.

3. We filter stale or bad data

Sometimes a yard doesn't update its site for a long time or a glitch occurs. Our algorithms detect these cases: if a price is an outlier vs. regional trends or hasn't changed for months, we exclude it from our averages.

4. We account for geography

Steel and copper prices differ by state because of logistics and where processors are located. So we compute averages not only nationally but also by state and city.

5. We show how fresh the data is

The market moves fast, so old data loses value and eventually drops out of our calculations. So you know how current the numbers are, we show timestamps next to prices (e.g., "updated today").