Ohio minimum wage 2026: $11.00 rate, tipped wage and the 2027 increase

The Ohio minimum wage is $11.00 an hour for non-tipped employees in 2026, and tipped employees can be paid a cash wage of $5.50 an hour as long as tips make up the rest. Those rates apply to businesses with annual gross receipts of $405,000 or more; smaller businesses and workers under 16 follow the federal $7.25 minimum. The rate is indexed to inflation every January 1, and the Ohio Department of Commerce has already announced the next step: $11.40 an hour and $5.70 for tipped staff from January 1, 2027. This guide uses the department’s official minimum wage posters, walks through weekly and annual pay examples, and covers the tip credit, overtime, minor labor rules, Ohio’s semimonthly pay law and how wage complaints work.

Ohio minimum wage 2026: $11.00 an hour

The Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, publishes the state minimum wage each year on its official poster. The 2026 poster sets a minimum wage of $11.00 per hour for non-tipped employees and $5.50 per hour plus tips for tipped employees, effective January 1, 2026. That was a 2.8% increase over the 2025 rates of $10.70 and $5.35.

Who is covered. The minimum wage in Ohio comes from Article II, Section 34a of the Ohio Constitution, approved by voters in November 2006, and from Chapter 4111 of the Ohio Revised Code. The state rate applies to most private employees at businesses above the gross receipts threshold. The poster lists people who are exempt, including federal employees, outside salespeople paid by commission, bona fide executive, administrative, professional and computer professional employees, babysitters in the employer’s home, certain volunteers and camp staff, and family members who work in a solely family-owned and operated business.

No city rates. Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati all start from the same number. Section 4111.02 of the Ohio Revised Code, as amended by Senate Bill 331 in 2016, says no political subdivision may set a minimum wage different from the state rate.

The 2027 increase: $11.40 from January 1

The Ohio Constitution requires the minimum wage to rise every January 1 by the rate of inflation. The department measures inflation with the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) for the 12 months before September, then announces the new rate on or around September 30. The gross receipts threshold, which started at $250,000 in 2007, is indexed the same way.

On September 30, 2026, the Department of Commerce announced a 3.5% increase for 2027. Its 2027 poster (revised September 30, 2026) lists:

• Non-tipped employees: $11.40 per hour, up $0.40.
• Tipped employees: $5.70 per hour plus tips, up $0.20.
• Small employers: businesses grossing less than $419,000 a year pay at least the federal $7.25.
• Employees under 16: at least the federal $7.25.

The new rate applies to hours worked on or after January 1, 2027. If your pay period runs from December 21 to January 3, hours on December 31 are paid at $11.00 and hours on January 1 at $11.40. The 2028 rate will be calculated from inflation through August 2027 and announced around September 30, 2027.

Small employers and 14- and 15-year-olds

Ohio has two groups who are tied to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 instead of the state rate:

• Small businesses. Employers grossing less than $405,000 in 2026 ($419,000 in 2027) must pay at least $7.25. The figure is total annual gross receipts of the business, not payroll or profit.
• Employees under 16. The poster says employees under the age of 16 must be paid at least the current federal minimum wage. In practice this covers 14- and 15-year-olds, the youngest ages Ohio and federal law allow in most non-agricultural jobs.

Two cautions before you pay the lower rate. First, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has its own coverage rules. The U.S. Department of Labor covers every employee of an enterprise with at least $500,000 in annual sales, and it also covers individual employees who take part in interstate commerce, such as those who process card payments, order goods from other states or handle interstate mail. A small Ohio employer below the state threshold is still bound by the $7.25 federal floor for those workers. Second, the state rate is only a floor for teens. You can choose to pay 14- and 15-year-olds the same $11.00 as everyone else, which avoids a mid-year rate change when a teen turns 16. The lower rate stops on the 16th birthday.

Pay examples at the minimum wage in Ohio

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

Example with overtime. A stocker at a Dayton grocery store earns $11.00 an hour and works 45 hours in one workweek. The 5 hours over 40 are paid at $16.50 ($11.00 × 1.5).

1. Regular pay: 40 hours × $11.00 = $440.00.
2. Overtime pay: 5 hours × $16.50 = $82.50.
3. Total for the week: $440.00 + $82.50 = $522.50.

The same week in 2027 pays 40 × $11.40 = $456.00 plus 5 × $17.10 = $85.50, or $541.50. If the employee also earns a bonus or a shift premium, add it to the regular rate before you multiply; how to calculate overtime shows those weeks step by step, and the overtime calculator does the math for you.

Example for a 15-year-old. A 15-year-old who works 12 hours a week bagging groceries can be paid $7.25, or $87.00 a week. At $11.00, the same hours pay $132.00.

Ohio minimum wage history since 2022

The 2023 to 2027 figures come from the Department of Commerce’s published minimum wage posters; the 2022 figures come from the department’s 2021 announcement as reported at the time. The tipped wage is always half of the regular rate.

The federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 since July 24, 2009. For a side-by-side look at other states, see our minimum wage by state guide. Neighboring Michigan sets its own rate by statute, covered in our Michigan minimum wage guide, while the Florida minimum wage reached $15.00 in September 2026.

Ohio tipped wage and tip credit rules

The Ohio tipped wage is $5.50 an hour in 2026 and $5.70 from January 1, 2027. The Ohio Constitution lets an employer pay a tipped employee less than the minimum wage, but not less than half of it, with tips making up the difference. That makes the tip credit $5.50 an hour in 2026 and $5.70 in 2027. Ohio’s cash wage is well above the federal tipped cash wage of $2.13, and Ohio employers must pay the higher state figure.

• Who counts as tipped. The poster defines a tipped employee as anyone in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. Servers, bartenders and bussers usually qualify; cooks and dishwashers do not.
• You must be able to prove it. Employers using the tip credit “must be able to show” that cash wages plus the tip credit reach the minimum wage. That means recorded tips and hours for every workweek.
• Make up any shortfall. If tips plus the cash wage do not reach $11.00 for every hour in the workweek, pay the difference by the regular payday.
• Federal tip rules still apply. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet 15 requires a tip credit notice before you take the credit, bars managers and supervisors from keeping any part of employees’ tips, and limits mandatory tip pools to customarily tipped staff when you take a credit. Give tipped employees an updated written notice each time the cash wage changes.

Example: tip shortfall. A server at a Toledo diner works 30 hours in a slow week and receives $120.00 in tips. Cash wages are 30 × $5.50 = $165.00. Tips plus wages equal $285.00, but the minimum for the week is 30 × $11.00 = $330.00. The employer owes an extra $45.00 that payday. In a week with $200.00 in tips, no top-up is needed.

Overtime for tipped staff. Overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At $11.00 the overtime rate is $16.50, and after the $5.50 credit the employer pays at least $11.00 in cash per overtime hour. A server working 45 hours earns at least 40 × $5.50 = $220.00 plus 5 × $11.00 = $55.00, or $275.00 in cash wages, before tips. In 2027 the overtime cash wage is $17.10 − $5.70 = $11.40.

Overtime and exempt employees in Ohio

Ohio has no daily overtime rule. Section 4111.03 of the Ohio Revised Code adopts the FLSA approach: non-exempt employees get one and one-half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, with the same exemptions as federal law. The state poster adds one exception: Ohio’s overtime rule does not apply to employers grossing less than $150,000 a year. As with the minimum wage, the FLSA can still require overtime at those businesses when it covers the employee, so most employers should simply pay it.

Ohio does not set its own salary threshold for exempt employees. Exempt status follows the federal salary and duties tests, and the salary level the U.S. Department of Labor currently enforces is $684 a week ($35,568 a year). Job duties count as much as pay, as our exempt vs non-exempt guide explains.

Ohio minor labor rules in brief

Pay is only part of hiring teenagers. Chapter 4109 of the Ohio Revised Code and federal child labor rules both limit when minors can work, and the stricter rule wins. The main points employers run into:

• Work permits. Ohio generally requires an age and schooling certificate (work permit) for employees aged 14 through 17, issued through the minor’s school district. Keep it on file before the first shift.
• 14- and 15-year-olds. Federal rules cap work at 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a non-school week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day).
• 16- and 17-year-olds. Ohio limits early-morning and late-night work on school days; commonly cited limits are no work before 7 a.m. on a school day and no work after 11 p.m. on a night before a school day.
• Breaks. Ohio requires a 30-minute break for minors who work more than 5 consecutive hours.

These limits change from time to time, so confirm current hours on the Division of Industrial Compliance’s minor labor pages before you publish a schedule with teens on it. A shift scheduling tool that flags hours by age helps you catch problems before the week starts.

Paydays, the Prompt Pay Act and pay stubs

Pay frequency. Section 4113.15 of the Ohio Revised Code, often called the Ohio Prompt Pay Act, sets semimonthly pay as the default. Wages earned from the 1st through the 15th of a month must be paid by the 1st of the next month, and wages earned from the 16th to month-end must be paid by the 15th of the next month. The law also allows weekly or daily pay, and a different lag where it is customary in the trade or set by written contract or by law. If you pay biweekly or on another schedule, make sure it fits one of those provisions, and ask your attorney if you are unsure.

Late wages. If wages stay unpaid 30 days after the regular payday and there is no genuine dispute, the employer owes liquidated damages of 6% of the unpaid amount or $200, whichever is greater, on top of the wages.

Pay stubs. Ohio’s Pay Stub Protection Act took effect in April 2025. Employers must give each employee a written or electronic statement every pay period showing, among other items, gross and net wages, each deduction, the pay date and pay period, and for hourly staff the hours worked, hourly rate and hours over 40 in a workweek. Our guide to reading a pay stub shows what employees check line by line.

Filing an Ohio wage complaint

Employees who are paid less than the minimum wage, are not paid overtime, have unauthorized deductions or have a final paycheck held back can file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Wage and Hour Administration. The department’s minimum wage complaint page offers an online form and a printable one; include copies of pay stubs and time records. You can reach the division at 614-644-2239 or at 6606 Tussing Road, Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068.

• Lawsuits. Under the Ohio Constitution, an employee can also sue. A minimum wage action must be brought within three years of the violation (or of when a continuing violation ended), and damages are back wages plus an additional two times the back wages, with attorney’s fees and costs.
• Records on request. Employers must keep each employee’s name, address, occupation, rate of pay, amount paid each pay period, and hours worked each day and workweek for at least three years, and give that information to the employee free of charge on request.
• No retaliation. The constitution bars firing or punishing an employee for asserting minimum wage rights.
• Federal route. Employees can also contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division about federal minimum wage and overtime violations.

If a complaint reaches you, start with the punch records. Clean, timestamped records from a time clock app are the fastest way to show what was worked and what was paid.

What employers should do before January 1, 2027

1. Check your gross receipts. If you were near the $405,000 line in 2026, compare against $419,000 for 2027, and check FLSA coverage before paying $7.25 to anyone.
2. Raise base rates. Move every non-tipped hourly rate below $11.40 up to at least $11.40, starting with hours worked on January 1, 2027.
3. Update tipped wages and notices. Raise tipped cash wages to $5.70 and give each tipped employee an updated written tip credit notice.
4. Fix overtime rates. The minimum overtime rate becomes $17.10, and $11.40 in cash for tipped staff.
5. Put up the 2027 poster. The Department of Commerce poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place, along with the federal FLSA poster.
6. Plan for pay compression. A shift lead at $11.50 now sits only $0.10 above a new hire. Decide on raises before the January schedule is published.
7. Check teen rates and hours. Decide whether 14- and 15-year-olds stay at $7.25 or move to the state rate, and switch anyone turning 16 to the state rate on their birthday.

For the full payroll run, from approving hours to filing deposits, see how to process payroll.

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