American scrap reviews contain something the reviews in other countries do not: customers who phoned two yards, wrote down both quotes, and reported the gap.
That makes this the only market where the spread is documented in dollars. And the single clearest example is in Phoenix, where two yards sit on opposite sides of the same street and a customer recorded clean yellow brass at 1.40 a pound at one and 2.73 at the other.
There is also a barrier here that appears in no other country's data. In one city it is now municipal policy. More on that below.
Ranked by Google Maps review count across seven cities, retrieved September 2026. Source: Google. Counts, hours and rates move.
Phoenix
| Yard | Address | Reviews | Rating | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-Z Money Recycling | 1234 S 7th St | 441 | 4.5 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:45, Sat to 13:45 |
| Fast Cash Recycling | 2833 W Lincoln St | 339 | 4.3 | Mon-Sat 07:00-17:00, Sun 08:00-15:00 |
| AIM Recycling Phoenix West | 4202 W Highland Ave | 310 | 4.3 | Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00, Sat to 14:00 |
| Scrap It Recycling | 2520 W Jackson St | 125 | 5.0 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:45, Sat 09:00-14:45 |
| Davis Metals | 3322 E Washington St | 98 | 4.1 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:00 |
| We Buy Scrap | 3035 W Broadway Rd | 90 | 4.2 | Tue-Fri 08:00-16:00, Sat to 13:00 |
| All Metal Buys Scrap | 2900 W Lincoln St | 73 | 3.4 | Mon-Sat 07:30-17:00, Sun 09:00-15:00 |
| Arizona Scrap Iron & Metal | 433 S 7th Ave | 21 | 4.1 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00 |
E-Z Money holds 441 reviews, the highest count of any yard in this article. Reviewers consistently name accurate scales and a clean drive area, and note the yard honours the prices posted on its website.
Scrap It Recycling holds a clean 5.0 across 125 reviews, with a reviewer recording aluminium cans at 0.95 a pound against 0.75 to 0.85 elsewhere in town.
The street to look at is W Lincoln. Fast Cash sits at 2833 and All Metal Buys Scrap at 2900, directly opposite. One reviewer took brass to both and recorded clean yellow brass at 1.40 a pound at one and 2.73 at the other, with red brass at 3.30. That is a gap of nearly double, across a street you can walk in twenty seconds.
Fast Cash is also open Sundays, which most of this list is not.
Detroit
| Yard | Address | Reviews | Rating | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McNichols Scrap Iron & Metal | 6500 E McNichols Rd | 187 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00 |
| Southend Metals Recycling | 3740 Wyoming Ave, Dearborn | 172 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:45, Sat to 13:00 |
| Detroit Iron & Metal | 8300 Dix Ave | 126 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:45, Sat to 12:45 |
| GLE Scrap Metal | 25435 Outer Dr W, Melvindale | 114 | 4.5 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:30 |
| Sikora Metals | 12850 Mt Elliott St | 100 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:00, Sat to 12:00 |
| Winston Brothers Iron & Metal | 17384 Conant | 59 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00 |
| City Recycling | 1943 Mack Ave | 37 | 4.1 | Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00, Sat 09:00-14:00 |
Detroit is the most consistently rated city in the American sample: five yards at 4.7. No other US city here has that. Reviewers describe multi-generational custom, with one noting their grandfather used the same yard.
Note the hours. Most Detroit yards close at 16:00 and several are shut on Saturdays entirely, which is tighter than Phoenix or Philadelphia.
Philadelphia
| Yard | Address | Reviews | Rating | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMR Philadelphia – Atlas | 3 Industrial Dr, Sharon Hill | 208 | 4.5 | Mon-Fri 06:00-22:00, Sat 08:00-16:00 |
| Nicholas Scrap Metal | 3812 Old York Rd | 94 | 4.2 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:30, Sat to 13:00 |
| S D Richman Sons | 2435 Wheatsheaf Ln | 71 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:30, Sat to 14:00 |
| M Dunn Recycling | 3611 Welsh Rd | 57 | 4.7 | Mon-Thu 08:00-17:00, Fri to 16:00 |
| B K & Sons | 2901 Southampton Rd | 53 | 4.3 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:45, Sat to 11:45 |
| All-Met Recycling | 2250 Adams Ave | 38 | 4.3 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:00 |
| Philadelphia Scrap Metal | 4921 Cottman Ave | 30 | 3.6 | Mon-Fri 07:00-16:00, weekends to 14:00 |
EMR Atlas in Sharon Hill runs 06:00 to 22:00 on weekdays, by some distance the longest hours in this article. One reviewer recorded 190 dollars for about 52 pounds of copper, roughly 3.65 a pound.
A Philadelphia reviewer also recorded the sharpest single comparison here: a half truckload that paid 300 dollars at one yard, then three times that quantity offered 175 at a second, then 746 when taken back to the first.
Atlanta
| Yard | Address | Reviews | Rating | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton Metals Recycling | 4255 Roosevelt Hwy, College Park | 193 | 4.6 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:30, Sat 09:00-13:30 |
| SA Recycling | 1359 Central Ave, East Point | 145 | 4.0 | Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00, Sat to 12:30 |
| SA Recycling | 2800 Amwiler Rd, Doraville | 121 | 4.2 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:30, Sat to 12:00 |
| M&M Recycling | 1328 Lakewood Ave SE | 105 | 3.3 | Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00, Sat to 12:00 |
| Bare Metals | 3799 Browns Mill Rd SE | 84 | 4.7 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00 |
| SA Recycling | 598 Wells St SW | 56 | 3.9 | Mon-Thu 07:30-15:30, Fri to 14:30 |
| Radius Recycling | 1450 Blashfield St SE | 51 | 3.9 | Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00, Sat to 12:00 |
Atlanta has the widest rating spread of the seven cities, from 3.3 to 4.7. One Doraville reviewer recorded being told number one copper wire was about 1.60 a pound, questioning it, and being given 2.50. That is the single most useful sentence in the American dataset: the price moved because the customer asked.
Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles
The three cities covered in the first version of this page remain below, in summary. Full tables follow the same pattern.
Houston. Astro City Scrap Metal leads at 374 reviews and 4.8, with reviewers describing being handed cold water on arrival and first-time sellers paid by check, regulars in cash. C&D Bingle Rd holds 316 at 3.9. Houston Scrap Metal Recycle Center runs to 19:00 weekdays, the longest in that city.
Chicago. American Scrap Metal Services in Alsip leads at 281 and 4.4. American Metals on N Lynch draws the most detailed pricing reviews in the city, with clean copper at 4.25 a pound and mixed brass at 2.00. Two Chicago yards open Sunday mornings.
Los Angeles. C & M Metals leads at 337 and 4.3 and opens Sunday mornings. TM Scrap and Tuxford Recycling sit a few doors apart on Tuxford Street in Sun Valley, both taking CRV bottles and cans as well as metal, with cans recorded at 1.90 a pound in April 2026.
Every rate customers recorded
| Material | Rate | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Clean copper | 4.25 per lb | Chicago |
| Copper, mixed load | about 3.65 per lb | Philadelphia |
| Shiny stripped copper | 3.60 vs 2.50 per lb | Chicago, two yards |
| Red brass | 3.30 per lb | Phoenix |
| Number 1 copper wire | 2.50 after challenge, 1.60 quoted | Atlanta |
| Clean yellow brass | 2.73 vs 1.40 per lb | Phoenix, two yards facing each other |
| Mixed brass | 2.00 per lb | Chicago |
| Number 12 copper | 1.72 per lb | Houston |
| Aluminium cans | 1.90 to 2.00 per lb | Los Angeles |
| Aluminium cans | 0.95 vs 0.75-0.85 per lb | Phoenix |
| Aluminium extrusion | 1.00, written up at 0.40 | Houston |
| Clean extruded aluminium | 0.60 vs 0.35 per lb | Philadelphia, two yards |
| Aluminium rims | 0.84 vs 0.60 per lb | Houston, two yards |
| Aluminium breakage | 0.18 per lb | Chicago |
| Heavy steel | 0.14 per lb | Chicago |
Five of those lines are the same metal at two different yards. The narrowest of those gaps is 40 percent. The widest is 95 percent.
The walk-in ban, and the Philadelphia rule
Several yards in Los Angeles and Chicago will not serve anyone arriving without a vehicle. One LA reviewer arrived by bicycle and was turned away. A Chicago regular who had brought cans on foot for a year was told the yard no longer accepted walk-ups.
Philadelphia goes further. A reviewer at EMR Atlas in Sharon Hill notes that the yard still permits walk-ups and specifies that yards inside Philadelphia no longer do, because the mayor stopped it. Sharon Hill is outside the city line.
We are not going to file that under opening hours. It is a barrier that falls hardest on the people for whom a bag of cans matters most, and where it is city policy rather than a yard's choice, crossing a municipal boundary becomes the only remedy available.
Practically: if you do not drive, phone before you travel, and if you are in Philadelphia, ask about yards just outside the city line.
How to use this list
- Call two, and if you can, call the one across the street. The Phoenix brass comparison is the clearest evidence in this project that the gap is real.
- Ask the grade and push back on it. An Atlanta reviewer moved copper from 1.60 to 2.50 by questioning the classification.
- Ask which grade before you tip. Extrusion at a dollar becoming sheet at forty cents happens at the scale, not the price list.
- Weigh at home. Several US reviewers did and caught discrepancies.
- If you do not drive, phone first, and in Philadelphia look just outside the city.
- Ask cash or check before you load.
What this list does not tell you
Review count measures public engagement, not price, licensing or tonnage. Every rate above is one customer's record of one transaction on a date we cannot verify, and US scrap prices move weekly.
Our yard directory does not yet cover the United States. There is no national register of licensed scrap dealers to build it from, unlike the UK council registers our UK directory is drawn from, and we would rather have no US listings than listings we cannot source.
For state metals theft laws, catalytic converter rules and the telecom copper figures, see scrap metal prices in the United States.
*Business names, addresses, opening hours, review counts and ratings are from Google Maps, retrieved September 2026. Source: Google. Rates are individual customers' records of their own transactions, summarised in our own words; no individual review is quoted.*