Copper content
How much copper is in Christmas lights?
About 20% of the weight is recoverable copper. Here's how much copper each common size holds, and what that means for stripping and what your yard will pay.
Identifying Christmas lights
Also sold or searched as holiday string lights, mini-light strings. Published figures range 5–30% — hair-thin conductors, sockets, and bulbs eat the weight. Never worth stripping; sell by the pound as-is.
How much copper is inside
The copper recovery rate is the share of a cable's total weight that is actual copper once the insulation and jacket are stripped away. For Christmas lights that's about 20%, and typically anywhere from 15% to 25% depending on gauge, age, and condition.
In round numbers: 100 lb of Christmas lights yields roughly 20 lb of bare copper. At an indicative #1 copper price of $4.70/lb (October 2026) that's about $94 of copper — but prices swing by region and by the week, so run it with the number your own yard pays.
Open the Copper Wire Yield calculator, pick "Christmas lights" (or type your own recovery %), and enter your local prices to see the stripped-vs-as-is breakdown for your exact load.
Copper weight by size
Mini-light sets use thin 22 AWG wire. A set with an end connector runs three wires along most of its length; plain sections have two. Bulbs and sockets add weight but almost no copper.
| Size | Copper in one 100-light set (21 ft) | Copper in 100 ft of string |
|---|---|---|
| 2-wire sections | 0.08 lb | 0.40 lb |
| 3-wire sets (most 100-light) | 0.12 lb | 0.60 lb |
Copper weights are computed from the nominal AWG cross-section of annealed copper (8.89 g/cm³), plus 2% for stranding. Wire gauge and set length come from manufacturer listings (see Sources).
Strip it or sell it as-is?
Verdict for Christmas lights: not worth stripping — sell as-is by the pound. Stripping only pays when the gap between the bare-copper price and the as-is (insulated) price beats the time it takes — and that gap scales with the recovery rate. At 20%, there is too little copper — and too much fiddly insulation — for hand-stripping to be worth the hours. Sell it by the pound.
To put a dollar figure on your own time, run it through the Strip or Sell calculator, which adds an hourly rate to the raw copper math.
How it compares to other cable
Every common cable type, with this page's row marked:
| Cable type | Recovery | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| MCM / feeder cable (250 MCM+) | ~88% | 85–94% |
| THHN — heavy gauge (4 AWG to 4/0) | ~84% | 80–90% |
| THHN — standard (8–16 AWG) | ~80% | 75–88% |
| Double-insulated power wire | ~75% | 70–80% |
| Romex / NM-B (indoor solid) | ~65% | 60–73% |
| Mixed #2 insulated wire | ~60% | 55–69% |
| AC / appliance whip wire | ~55% | 50–60% |
| Extension cords / SJ cord | ~42% | 35–48% |
| Cat5/Cat6 — solid bulk runs | ~42% | 35–58% |
| Cat5/Cat6 patch cords (stranded) | ~22% | 18–28% |
| MC/BX armored cable (copper inside) | ~30% | 25–35% |
| Christmas lights ← this page | ~20% | 15–25% |
Sources
- iScrap App: low-grade category
- Community reports range 5–30%; default kept conservative
- 1000Bulbs, 100-light mini set listing (22 AWG wire, 21 ft total length)
Recovery figures are cross-checked against at least two published yard references and kept at the conservative end of each range, so surprises land in your favor. Measuring a stripped sample of your own cable always beats a table.
Christmas lights: quick answers
How much copper is in a 100-light string of Christmas lights?
About 0.12 lb. That size carries 6.0 lb of copper per 1000 ft. It takes about 8 of them to make a pound of copper. The table above has every common size.
Is it worth stripping Christmas lights?
Not worth stripping — sell as-is by the pound. The math is the bare-copper premium over the insulated price, times the copper you get back, against the hours it takes. The Strip or Sell calculator runs it with your yard's prices and your hourly rate.
How do yards grade Christmas lights?
Own low-grade category at most yards. Yards buy insulated wire as-is at a discounted "ICW" rate that already assumes an average recovery; stripping clean copper moves it up to a higher-paying bare-copper grade.
Price your own wire
Enter your yard's prices and see stripped vs as-is for this exact cable.