If you’ve ever sent cash to your family in Tegucigalpa or planned a trip to Roatán, you’re familiar with the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Honduran lempira. It changes what a dollar buys in San Pedro Sula. It also shifts the value of remittances sent home.
Here is a detailed guide to the exchange rate between the United States and Honduras and how it is influenced.
Current Exchange Rate
The current USD to HNL rate has been relatively stable compared to other Latin American currencies. It doesn’t swing wildly day-to-day. But stable does not mean frozen. Over the past five years, the lempira has slowly lost ground, moving from around 24.0 to nearly 24.8. This slow slide matters.
As of early 2025, the exchange rate between the United States and Honduras was around 24.50 to 24.80 Lempiras per 1 US Dollar. This is the rate set by the Central Bank of Honduras. It is what banks use.
But this number is not the whole story. The official rate is like a sticker price. The real, street-level price may differ. If you walk into a bank in La Ceiba, you might get a rate close to the official one. But if you send money through a service like Western Union, the rate your family receives may be slightly less favorable. These companies build their fee into the exchange rate itself. So you must always check the rate they offer, not just the fee they advertise. A small difference in the rate adds up fast when you send hundreds of dollars.
Rate Trends
If you look back ten or twenty years, you will see that the lempira has lost value relative to the dollar. In 2015, one dollar was worth 22 lempiras. In 2010, it got you 19. In 2005, it got you 18. This is not a crash. It is a slow, soft drift. For a look at scale, see the Peso or the Lira. Those coins had huge drops. The lempira’s path is more of a soft, down slope.
Factors that Influence Exchange Rates between the US and Honduras
Cash pairs do not shift without a reason. Here are some factors that influence the exchange rates between the US and Honduras.
1. Remittance
Hondurans in far lands, most in the US, send home vast sums each year. This cash is now more than 25% of all of Honduras’s GDP. That is a huge flow of US bucks into the land. People take those bucks and swap them for lempiras to spend.
2. Central Bank Intervention
The main bank of Honduras does not let the market run free. It sets the rate. It does this to halt fear and big jumps. If the lempira starts to drop too fast, the bank sells some of its buck hoard to buy lempiras. This holds up the worth. If it climbs too much, they do the swap back. This keeps the rate set, which helps firms plan.
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