Minimum wage by state 2026: every rate, tipped wage and 2027 change

The minimum wage by state ranges from the federal floor of $7.25 an hour to $18.40 in the District of Columbia. As of November 4, 2026, 30 states and DC require more than $7.25, and the other 20 states either adopt the federal rate, set a lower rate that the federal law overrides, or have no minimum wage law at all. The table below lists every state alphabetically with the rate in effect today, the tipped cash wage, and the next scheduled change where the state has officially announced one. It starts from the U.S. Department of Labor’s state minimum wage and tipped wage tables (both updated July 1, 2026), updated with state labor agency announcements made since then.

The federal minimum wage and which rate applies

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. It has not changed since July 24, 2009, and Congress has not passed an increase, so no federal change is scheduled for 2027. The federal rules that go with it:

• Tipped employees. An employer can pay a cash wage of $2.13 an hour and count up to $5.12 of tips toward the minimum, if the employee regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips and tips bring them to $7.25 for every hour.
• Youth opportunity wage. Workers under 20 can be paid $4.25 an hour for their first 90 consecutive calendar days with an employer.
• Overtime. Non-exempt employees get 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. At $7.25 that is $10.875 an hour; at a state rate of $15.00 it is $22.50. Our guide on how to calculate overtime covers bonuses and two-rate weeks.

Which rate applies. The Department of Labor is clear that when federal, state and local minimum wages differ, the employee is owed the highest one. A state rate above $7.25 replaces the federal floor. A city rate above the state rate replaces the state rate for hours worked inside the city. A state rate below $7.25, as in Georgia and Wyoming, only matters for the small number of employers the FLSA does not cover.

Illustrative example. Ana Ruiz works 40 hours a week at a warehouse. If the warehouse is in Kansas City, Missouri, the state minimum is $15.00, so her floor is $600.00 a week. If it is a few miles west in Kansas City, Kansas, the floor is $7.25, or $290.00 a week. Same job, same metro area, a $310.00 weekly difference, because the rate follows where the work is done.

State minimum wage 2026: all 50 states and DC

Rates in effect on November 4, 2026. “Tipped cash wage” is the lowest hourly wage an employer can pay a tipped employee before tips; tips must still bring the employee up to the full minimum. “No tip credit” means tipped employees get the full minimum wage before tips. “None announced” means the state has no scheduled increase under current law.

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, “State Minimum Wage Laws” and “Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees” (updated July 1, 2026), with later changes from FloridaCommerce (Florida’s September 30, 2026 step), the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (July 1, 2026 steps), the DC Department of Employment Services, and the state agencies named in the 2027 section below. Tipped figures apply to employers who meet the state’s tip credit conditions. Several states also have lower rates for minors, trainees or small employers, covered further down.

For the full detail on a single state, including history, pay examples and posters, see our guides to the California minimum wage, the Florida minimum wage, the Texas minimum wage, the New York minimum wage, the Ohio minimum wage and the Michigan minimum wage.

Highest minimum wage and lowest rates in 2026

Sorting the minimum wage by state from highest to lowest, using the rate in effect on November 4, 2026, the highest minimum wage rates are:

1. District of Columbia: $18.40. DC adjusts every July 1 for inflation, according to the DC Department of Employment Services.
2. Washington: $17.13. The highest of any state, and it applies statewide with no tip credit.
3. New York (downstate): $17.00 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County; $16.00 elsewhere.
4. Connecticut: $16.94.
5. California: $16.90.
6. Oregon (Portland metro): $16.80, with $15.55 as the standard rate.

At the other end, 20 states effectively pay the federal $7.25. Thirteen of them (Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin) set or adopt $7.25 in state law. Five (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee) have no state minimum wage law, and two (Georgia and Wyoming) set $5.15, which the federal rate overrides for covered employers. Among states above the federal rate, West Virginia is lowest at $8.75.

A full-time week of 40 hours at the minimum pays $290.00 at $7.25, $600.00 at $15.00 and $685.20 at Washington’s $17.13, all before taxes. Over 52 weeks that is $15,080.00, $31,200.00 and $35,630.40. To compare any hourly rate with a salary offer, use our hourly to salary calculator.

State minimum wage increases on January 1, 2027

Fifteen states have officially announced a new rate for January 1, 2027. Most come from inflation formulas written into state law; Michigan, Rhode Island and Virginia follow fixed schedules set by their legislatures.

Notes on the bigger changes:

• Michigan has the largest jump, $1.27 an hour. A full-time employee at the minimum gains $50.80 a week ($13.73 × 40 = $549.20 becomes $15.00 × 40 = $600.00). The tipped share also rises each year until it reaches 50% of the minimum in 2031, and annual inflation adjustments start after 2027, according to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
• Virginia rises $0.98 to $13.75, then to $15.00 on January 1, 2028, under bills Governor Spanberger signed in April 2026. Inflation indexing returns in 2029.
• New Jersey also moves seasonal employers and employers with fewer than six employees from $15.23 to $16.25, and agricultural workers to $15.00.
• Ohio raises the gross receipts threshold for the state rate from $405,000 to $419,000. Smaller employers and workers aged 14 and 15 stay at $7.25.
• Washington lets employers pay 14- and 15-year-olds 85% of the minimum, which becomes $15.07 in 2027, according to the Department of Labor & Industries.
• Vermont adjusts every January 1 for inflation. Its Department of Labor had not posted the 2027 figure when we checked, so look it up before your first January payroll.

States that do not change on January 1. New York’s Department of Labor says the statewide rate stays at $17.00 and $16.00 on January 1, 2027, because an “off-ramp” condition in its indexing law was met. The governor has proposed increases to $17.60 and $16.55 on March 1, 2027, which need approval from the State Legislature. Missouri stays at $15.00 after a 2025 law repealed its annual inflation adjustment. Florida stays at $15.00 until its first inflation adjustment on January 1, 2028. Alaska, Oregon and DC change on July 1, not January 1.

Ballot measures. Oklahoma voters rejected State Question 832, which would have raised the state rate in steps to $15.00, in a June 16, 2026 election, according to news reports, so Oklahoma stays at $7.25. Rates may also change after recent ballot measures. If your state or city had a wage question on the November 3, 2026 ballot, check the state labor department for the certified result and effective date before changing pay.

Tipped minimum wage by state

The tip credit is the part of the minimum wage an employer may cover with an employee’s tips. States fall into three groups in the Department of Labor’s tipped table:

• No tip credit (7 states). Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington require the full state minimum wage before tips. A server in Seattle gets at least $17.13 an hour from the employer, and tips are extra.
• Cash wage above $2.13 (27 states and DC). Examples are Florida ($11.98, a $3.02 credit), Arizona ($12.15), Hawaii ($14.75, only if wages plus tips are at least $7.00 above the minimum), Illinois ($9.00, 60% of the minimum) and DC ($10.30, which DC’s Attorney General says is 56% of the standard minimum and rises in steps every two years).
• Cash wage of $2.13 (the rest). Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Nebraska and most states at the federal rate let employers pay $2.13 as long as tips bring each hour up to the state minimum.

Illustrative example. A server in Phoenix works 30 hours in a week. Arizona’s minimum is $15.15 and the cash wage is $12.15, so the employer pays $364.50 in cash wages (30 × $12.15). Tips must bring the week to at least $454.50 (30 × $15.15), which means at least $90.00 in tips. If the server only reports $60.00, the employer owes another $30.00. In Texas the same 30 hours require $63.90 in cash wages (30 × $2.13) and $217.50 in total (30 × $7.25).

Wherever an employer takes a tip credit, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At the federal rate, the overtime cash wage for a tipped employee is $10.875 − $5.12 = $5.755 an hour. Tips belong to the employee, and employers and managers cannot keep any part of them, under the FLSA. Many states add notice and recordkeeping rules for tip credits, so read your state’s rules before using one.

Tiers, small employers and lower rates

Several states set more than one rate, so the table shows the rate most employees get. Check these before you set pay:

• Regional rates. New York pays $17.00 downstate and $16.00 upstate. Oregon pays $16.80 inside the Portland metro urban growth boundary, $15.55 in standard counties and $14.55 in nonurban counties, according to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
• Employer size or sales. Ohio’s $11.00 applies to employers with annual gross receipts of $405,000 or more; smaller employers pay $7.25. Montana’s $4.00 rate applies only to businesses with sales of $110,000 or less that the FLSA does not cover. Oklahoma’s $2.00 rate and Georgia’s and Wyoming’s $5.15 rates apply only to employers outside the FLSA. Arkansas, Illinois and Nebraska cover employers with 4 or more employees, and West Virginia covers employers with 6 or more at one location.
• Small and seasonal employers. New Jersey sets $15.23 for employers with fewer than six employees and seasonal employment, rising to $16.25 in 2027.
• Youth and training wages. Minnesota has a 90-day training wage for workers under 20 ($9.31 now, $9.68 in 2027). Nebraska’s LB 258 created a youth wage of $13.50 for 14- and 15-year-olds. Washington allows 85% for 14- and 15-year-olds. California has no youth rate.

Most businesses are covered by the FLSA, either because they have $500,000 or more in annual sales or because their employees work in interstate commerce. For them, a state rate below $7.25 does not apply. If you are unsure, the Department of Labor’s coverage guidance is the place to start.

The minimum wage also sets the salary floor for overtime-exempt staff in several states, including California, New York, Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Maine. A higher minimum wage in January often means a higher exempt salary too, as our guide to exempt vs non-exempt employees explains.

City and county minimum wages

The Department of Labor’s table shows state rates only. Dozens of cities and counties set their own, higher minimum wage, mostly in California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Arizona and Maine. Well-known examples include Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Montgomery County in Maryland, and many California cities, such as San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles and San Diego. Our California minimum wage guide lists more than a dozen local rates with their 2027 changes.

Other states block local minimums for private employers. Texas Labor Code Section 62.0515 says the state minimum wage overrides any city or county wage ordinance, and Florida law preempts local rates too, so Austin, Houston and Miami employers follow the state rate.

Local rates follow where the work happens, not where the company is registered. A crew that spends Monday in Denver and Tuesday in an unincorporated part of the county is owed each place’s rate for the hours worked there. A GPS time clock app that records where each shift took place makes that easy to prove.

What employers should do before January 1, 2027

1. List every work location. Check the minimum wage by state for each one, then note the state, county and city for each one, including remote employees’ home addresses, and look up the current and 2027 rate for each.
2. Find everyone under the new rate. Update pay for the first pay period that includes hours on or after January 1, 2027. If a pay period straddles the date, hours worked from January 1 on are paid at the new rate.
3. Recheck tipped cash wages. In Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota, the cash wage changes along with the minimum.
4. Check exempt salaries. In states that tie the salary test to the minimum wage, raise salaries or reclassify staff as non-exempt.
5. Watch for pay compression. A shift lead in Michigan earning $14.75 will soon earn less than a new hire at $15.00. Decide raises before the January schedule goes out, and use a scheduling tool that shows labor cost per shift.
6. Swap the posters. Most states publish a new minimum wage poster each year. Put up the 2027 version where employees can see it.
7. Diary the July 1 changes. Alaska ($15.00), Oregon, DC and many California cities change on July 1, 2027.

Underpaying the minimum wage can mean back pay, an equal amount in liquidated damages under the FLSA, and state penalties on top. Employees can file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or their state labor department.

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