New Jersey minimum wage 2026: rates, tips and the 2027 increase

The New Jersey minimum wage is $15.92 an hour in 2026 for most employees and goes up to $16.48 on January 1, 2027. Unlike New York or California, New Jersey has no city or county minimum wages, so one state table covers every location from Cape May to Bergen County. What does vary is the employer: small and seasonal businesses, farms and long-term care facilities each have their own rate, and tipped staff have a separate cash wage. This guide gives every rate with its NJDOL source, the history since the 2019 law, worked pay examples, the overtime, earned sick leave and payday rules that apply alongside the minimum wage, and a checklist for the January change.

New Jersey minimum wage 2026 and the 2027 increase

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) sets the rate each year. On October 1, 2025, it announced that the minimum wage for most employees would rise 43 cents, from $15.49 to $15.92 an hour on January 1, 2026. On September 29, 2026, it announced the next step: the NJ minimum wage for 2027 will be $16.48 an hour from January 1, 2027, an increase of 56 cents.

How the number is set: the 2019 law (P.L. 2019, c. 32) wrote in fixed $1.00 steps that took most employers to $15 in 2024, and said that whenever inflation pushes higher, inflation wins. Since reaching $15, the general rate has moved only with inflation. Each year NJDOL compares the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W, U.S. City Average) for August with August of the year before, publishes the result on or about September 30, and the new rate takes effect January 1. For 2027 the index rose 3.52%, from 317.306 to 328.481; 3.52% of $15.92 is 56 cents, which gives $16.48. The New Jersey Constitution (Article 1, Paragraph 23) requires these annual adjustments, so they do not need a vote.

The federal minimum wage is still $7.25, so it plays no part in New Jersey pay. To see how the minimum wage in NJ compares with neighboring states, see our minimum wage by state table; New York's rate, which is $17.00 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 elsewhere with no January 2027 increase, is covered in our New York minimum wage guide.

Which rate applies: small, seasonal, farm and long-term care employers

Four groups sit outside the general rate. Each one is defined by the employer or the job, not by the employee's age or hours.

• Small employers (fewer than six employees) and seasonal employers. $15.23 in 2026, $16.25 from January 1, 2027. The 2019 law gave these businesses a slower climb, but the gap is closing: for 2027 and 2028 the rate rises by the same CPI increase as the general rate plus half the gap between $15.00 and the 2026 general rate. NJDOL's public notice shows the 2027 arithmetic as $15.23 + $0.56 + $0.46 = $16.25. NJDOL says the scheduled increases finish in 2028, when the two rates meet and move together from then on. Count every employee, full-time or part-time; a cafe with five staff on the books pays $15.23, and the day it hires a sixth it pays $15.92. Confirm your seasonal status with NJDOL before using the lower rate, because the definition depends on when the business operates during the year.
• Farm workers paid hourly or by the piece. $14.20 in 2026, $15.00 from January 1, 2027, which NJDOL describes as the first time agricultural workers reach the $15 benchmark. Farm rates are on the slowest schedule in the law; NJDOL says the statutory increases for farm workers run through 2030.
• Long-term care facility direct care staff. $18.92 in 2026 and $19.48 from January 1, 2027. The law sets this rate at $3.00 above the general minimum wage, so it moves in step with it every January.
• Temporary workers. New Jersey's Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights, signed in February 2023, requires staffing agencies in covered occupations to pay temporary workers at least the average rate of pay (and benefits or their cash value) of the client's own employees doing the same or similar work. If you use agency staff in warehouse, food, cleaning or similar roles, the minimum wage is the floor, not the target; confirm the details with NJDOL.

Everyone else, including part-time staff, trainees after their training period and workers in every county, gets the general rate. No New Jersey city sets a higher local rate.

NJ tipped minimum wage and tip credit in 2026 and 2027

New Jersey allows a tip credit. An employer may pay a tipped employee a cash wage below the minimum and count tips toward the rest, as long as cash wage plus tips reaches the full minimum wage for every hour in the workweek. Under the 2019 law the maximum tip credit has been fixed at $9.87 since 2024, so the cash wage rises each year by the same amount as the minimum wage.

Example. Nadia Khan serves at a diner in Asbury Park and works 30 hours in a week in 2026. Her employer pays the $6.05 cash wage, which comes to 30 × $6.05 = $181.50. To reach the minimum she needs 30 × $15.92 = $477.60 in total, so her tips must be at least $296.10. If a slow week brings only $250.00 in tips, she has $431.50, and the employer must add $46.10 on that paycheck. The check is done per workweek, not per shift, so a strong Saturday can cover a quiet Tuesday within the same week, but never a different week.

Two details employers get wrong. First, the overtime rate for a tipped employee is based on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage: 1.5 × $15.92 = $23.88, less the $9.87 tip credit, so the cash owed for an overtime hour in 2026 is $14.01 (and $14.85 in 2027). Second, the tip credit is only available if the employee keeps the tips, apart from a valid tip pool among tipped staff. Restaurants that track tips per shift in their restaurant scheduling and time clock software have the weekly numbers ready at payroll time.

Weekly pay examples at the minimum wage in NJ

These examples show gross pay before taxes for a non-exempt employee paid only by the hour.

The January 2027 increase adds $22.40 to a 40-hour week and $1,164.80 to a year of 40-hour weeks for an employee at the general rate.

Example with overtime. Omar Reyes is a line cook in Newark earning the $15.92 minimum. In one workweek he works 46 hours. New Jersey owes time and a half for hours over 40 in a seven-day workweek, so 6 hours are overtime at $23.88 an hour ($15.92 × 1.5).

1. Regular pay: 40 hours × $15.92 = $636.80.
2. Overtime pay: 6 hours × $23.88 = $143.28.
3. Total for the week: $636.80 + $143.28 = $780.08.

The same week in 2027 pays 40 × $16.48 = $659.20 plus 6 × $24.72 = $148.32, for $807.52. If Omar also earns a night premium or a bonus, add it to the regular rate before multiplying; our guide to how to calculate overtime walks through two-rate weeks, and time and a half covers the basic math.

Example on a biweekly payroll. Grace Lin works 80 hours in a two-week pay period at a 20-person retail store paying the minimum. In 2026 her gross is 80 × $15.92 = $1,273.60. For the first pay period that includes hours worked on or after January 1, 2027, those January hours are paid at $16.48, so a period that straddles the new year is split: hours before January 1 at $15.92 and hours from January 1 at $16.48. A full 80-hour period in 2027 pays $1,318.40.

New Jersey minimum wage history, 2019 to 2027

Governor Murphy signed the $15 minimum wage law on February 4, 2019. Before it, the rate was $8.85. The figures below come from NJDOL's minimum wage chart (form MW-571) and its annual announcements. Where the CPI adjustment beat the statutory step, as in 2023, the higher figure applied.

Two things stand out. The general rate has risen $7.63, or 86%, in eight years. And the small employer gap, $1.40 in 2024, is down to 23 cents for 2027 and closes in 2028, so a five-person business should budget for the general rate within two payroll years.

Overtime, earned sick leave and paydays in New Jersey

Four rules travel with the New Jersey minimum wage on every paycheck. All of them come from NJDOL's Division of Wage and Hour Compliance.

• Overtime. Non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate after 40 hours of actual work in a seven-day workweek. New Jersey has no daily overtime, so a 12-hour shift earns straight time unless the week passes 40 hours. Paid time off, holidays and sick leave are not hours worked and do not count toward the 40. Salaried executive, administrative and professional employees can be exempt; New Jersey does not publish its own higher salary floor the way New York and California do, so the federal $684 a week salary level and the duties tests decide, as our exempt vs non-exempt guide explains.
• Earned sick leave. Every New Jersey employer, whatever its size, must give full-time, part-time and temporary employees 1 hour of earned sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per benefit year, or front-load 40 hours at the start of the year. Under NJDOL's rules (N.J.A.C. 12:69-3.5) employees may start using accrued leave on the 120th calendar day of employment, unless the employer allows earlier use. Up to 40 unused hours carry over, or the employer may pay them out at year end. Written notice goes to each employee at hire, and the Earned Sick Leave poster must be displayed. Union construction workers, per diem healthcare workers and public employees with existing sick leave are the main exclusions. Our paid time off guide covers how sick leave fits with vacation and PTO, and PTO tracking that accrues from hours worked keeps the 1-per-30 balance right.
• Pay frequency. New Jersey's Wage Payment Law (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.2) requires employers to pay the full wages due at least twice during each calendar month, on regular paydays set in advance. Executive, supervisory and other special classes may be paid once a month on a regular schedule. Weekly and biweekly schedules both qualify; monthly does not for hourly staff. NJDOL says a final paycheck, whether the employee quit or was let go, can wait until the next regular payday for that pay period.
• Breaks. New Jersey requires no meal or rest break for employees 18 and older; company policy governs. Minors must get a 30-minute meal break after five continuous hours of work. Short breaks you do offer are paid time under the FLSA.

Minors, students and training wages

• Minors under 18. Every minor who works in New Jersey needs working papers (an employment certificate) for each employer; applications have been online through NJDOL since 2023. NJDOL's youth employment rules say a minor is entitled to the minimum wage in retail and mercantile, food service, hotel and motel, beauty culture, laundry and dry cleaning, light manufacturing of apparel and first processing of farm products, which covers almost every job a teenager holds. Hours are capped too: at 14 and 15, no more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours a day and 40 hours in a non-school week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.; at 16 and 17, no more than 8 hours a day and 40 a week, between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. The federal FLSA still applies to minors in any case.
• Full-time students. NJDOL's regulations (N.J.A.C. 12:56-3.6) allow a college or university to pay full-time students it employs not less than 85% of the minimum wage, which is $13.53 in 2026 and $14.01 in 2027 (rounded). This applies only to the school as employer.
• Training wage. The 2019 law allows a training wage of not less than 90% of the minimum wage ($14.33 in 2026, $14.83 in 2027, rounded) for the first 120 hours of work in an occupation in which the employee has no previous similar experience, but only for employees in an established on-the-job training program. Check NJDOL's conditions before using it; most employers find it simpler to pay the full rate from day one.

What employers should do before January 1, 2027

1. Identify your employer group. Count employees now and at the start of January. Fewer than six, or seasonal, means $16.25; otherwise $16.48. Farms pay $15.00 and long-term care facilities pay direct care staff $19.48.
2. Find everyone under the new rate. Update hourly rates for all hours worked on or after January 1, 2027, even if the pay period started in December. Tipped staff move to a $6.61 cash wage.
3. Recalculate overtime and premiums. Overtime and shift differentials are built on the regular rate, so they rise with the base wage. The overtime rate at the new minimum is $24.72, and $14.85 in cash for a tipped employee.
4. Watch for pay compression. A shift lead earning $16.25 today will be paid 23 cents less than a new hire at the general rate. Decide on raises before the January schedule is published, and check the labor cost per shift in your scheduling tool at the new rates.
5. Re-check tip credit math every week. From January, cash wage plus tips must reach $16.48 for every hour. Build the shortfall check into payroll rather than waiting for a complaint.
6. Confirm paydays and sick leave accrual. Hourly employees must be paid at least twice a month, and sick leave must accrue at 1 hour per 30 worked from the first shift. A time clock that records actual hours feeds both.
7. Swap the posters. Download NJDOL's updated Employer Poster Packet in December and post the new wage and hour abstract and the Earned Sick Leave notice where every employee can see them.
8. Plan for 2028. Small and seasonal employers reach the general rate in 2028, and the general rate itself will move again by the CPI figure NJDOL publishes around September 30, 2027.

Underpaying the minimum wage is costly. NJDOL's Division of Wage and Hour Compliance investigates complaints and can order back wages, liquidated damages and penalties. Employers can reach the division at [email protected] or through myworkrights.nj.gov. If you also have staff across the river, our New York minimum wage guide covers the different rates there.

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