Pennsylvania minimum wage 2026: rate, tipped pay and Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal minimum wage, and it applies to most private employers in the state. That is the PA minimum wage in 2026, and nothing in state law changes it on January 1, 2027. Pennsylvania sits next to states that pay $11 to nearly $16 an hour, so employers who compete for workers usually pay well above the floor. This guide covers the rate, the stalled increase bill, tipped pay, Philadelphia, overtime, the pay timing rules and worked pay examples.

Pennsylvania minimum wage today

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) enforces the state Minimum Wage Act, and its Minimum Wage Act page lists paying less than $7.25 an hour as a violation. The Pennsylvania rate has been equal to the federal rate since the last federal increase took effect on July 24, 2009. The Department of Labor's state history table lists Pennsylvania at $7.25 from 2010 onward.

Two practical points follow from that. First, because the state and federal rates match, an employer that is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and by the state act owes the same $7.25 under both. Second, the minimum wage in Pennsylvania has no automatic annual adjustment. Unlike Ohio, New Jersey or Washington, the rate only changes if the General Assembly passes a law and the governor signs it, which is why it has stayed flat for years while neighboring states have moved up. You can see where the PA rate falls against every other state in our minimum wage by state table.

Pennsylvania minimum wage increase: where the bills stand

Searches for a Pennsylvania minimum wage increase mostly lead to House Bill 1549, which would amend the Minimum Wage Act. According to the General Assembly's bill page, the bill passed the House 102-101 on June 11, 2025, and was referred to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee on June 18, 2025. As of November 12, 2026, that referral is the last recorded action. The Senate has not voted on it and the governor has not signed anything.

Law firm summaries of the House bill describe a phase-in toward $15, with a lower tier for smaller, more rural counties. Because the bill is not law, those figures can change or never take effect, so this guide does not treat any future rate as scheduled. Employers should watch the General Assembly's bill page and L&I announcements. If a bill is enacted, expect an effective date and a poster update from L&I, and plan to change pay rates in payroll before the first affected pay period.

The practical advice for now: pay at least $7.25 (or more), and do not promise staff a rate change that has not been signed into law.

Pay examples at the Pennsylvania minimum wage

These examples show gross pay before taxes for a non-exempt employee paid only by the hour. The third column shows what the same hours pay at the Philadelphia contractor standard, which only applies to covered city contracts, as explained below.

Example with overtime. Susquehanna Diner is a sample restaurant in Harrisburg. Its line cook Devon Mitchell earns $14.00 an hour and works 46 hours in one Sunday-to-Saturday workweek. Hours over 40 are paid at $21.00 an hour ($14.00 × 1.5).

1. Regular pay: 40 hours × $14.00 = $560.00.
2. Overtime pay: 6 hours × $21.00 = $126.00.
3. Total for the week: $560.00 + $126.00 = $686.00.

The same math at a $7.25 wage and 44 hours pays 40 × $7.25 = $290.00 plus 4 × $10.875 = $43.50, for $333.50. Our overtime calculation guide and the overtime calculator check any week, and the time and a half page covers the rate itself.

Example with a salaried non-exempt employee. Priya Nair, the diner's office assistant, is paid a $600 weekly salary, does not meet an exemption test, and works 48 hours. Under L&I's 2022 regulation the regular rate is the weekly pay divided by 40, not by all 48 hours: $600 ÷ 40 = $15.00. The 8 overtime hours are paid at $22.50 ($15.00 × 1.5) for $180.00, so the week totals $600.00 + $180.00 = $780.00. The older "half-time" method, which divides by 48, would have paid only about $50.00 in overtime. The shortcut no longer works in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania minimum wage history

The Pennsylvania rate rose in three steps in the 2000s, then moved with the federal law. The figures below come from the Department of Labor's state minimum wage history table, which shows the rate on January 1 of each year, and from its federal history page.

The federal steps took effect on July 24 of 2007, 2008 and 2009, according to the Department of Labor: $5.85, $6.55 and $7.25. Pennsylvania was already above the federal rate in 2007 and 2008, then matched it once the federal rate caught up in 2009. Since then, the two have not moved.

Tipped employees and tip rules in Pennsylvania

L&I's Minimum Wage Act page sets the minimum cash wage for tipped employees at $2.83 an hour, higher than the $2.13 federal cash wage. The employer may claim a tip credit of up to $4.42 ($7.25 minus $2.83), but only if tips bring the employee up to $7.25 an hour. The main rules, in effect since an L&I regulation took effect on August 5, 2022, are:

• $135 monthly threshold. An employee counts as tipped, and the employer may take a tip credit, only when the worker customarily receives more than $135 a month in tips. The federal threshold is $30.
• 80/20 rule. A tip credit is not allowed for time spent on work that does not produce tips when it goes over 20% of the hours worked in the workweek. Federal rules also limit continuous non-tip work to 30 minutes for FLSA-covered employers.
• Tip pooling. If the employer takes a tip credit, the pool is limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips. Managers and supervisors cannot take part, and the employer must record who shares the pool and what each person gets.
• No fee deductions. Employers may not deduct credit card processing fees or other fees from tips.

Example. Gabriela Kowalski, a server at Susquehanna Diner, works 30 hours in a week and earns $480 in tips. Her cash wage is 30 × $2.83 = $84.90. The tip credit the employer relied on is 30 × $4.42 = $132.60, which her tips cover. Her total pay is $84.90 + $480.00 = $564.90, or $18.83 an hour. In a slow week her tips are only $100, which does not cover the $132.60 credit, so the employer pays the $32.60 shortfall in cash. Her cash pay is then $84.90 + $32.60 = $117.50, and $117.50 + $100 = $217.50, which equals 30 × $7.25.

Payroll must also track tips received through card payments and hand them to the employee without a processing fee. Our payroll deductions guide explains which deductions are allowed from a paycheck.

Philadelphia minimum wage and the contractor standard

Philadelphia does not have its own citywide minimum wage for private employers. Pennsylvania state law has been read to prevent cities from setting a general rate, so an employer in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or Harrisburg pays the state's $7.25 unless a contract or another rule requires more.

What Philadelphia does set is a Minimum Wage Standard under Chapter 17-1300 of the Philadelphia Code. In a letter dated June 24, 2026, the city's Director of Finance announced that, effective July 1, 2026, the standard is $17.63 an hour. It applies to recipients of city contracts, leases, concessions, franchises and financial aid, and to their subcontractors at all levels, as follows:

• New contracts that take effect on or after July 1, 2026.
• Amendments and renewals taking effect on or after that date.
• Contracts longer than one year signed on or after April 19, 2019 that have not been renewed or amended.

Short contracts that began before July 1, 2026 stay at the earlier $16.82 through their term. The city calls the standard a floor, not a ceiling, and says prevailing wage rules may also apply to some work. Check the Finance Department's letter, or your contract manager, before you set pay for covered work. Some third-party sites list different figures for this standard, so use the city's letter. Philadelphia also has other employment ordinances, including paid sick leave and fair workweek rules for some large hospitality and retail employers, that are separate from the minimum wage.

Pennsylvania vs neighboring states

Employers near the border compete directly with higher-paying states. These rates match our minimum wage by state guide. The last column shows what 40 hours pays at the base rate before taxes.

Pennsylvania is the lowest of the seven by a wide margin. West Virginia is $1.50 an hour higher, New Jersey is $8.67 higher, Delaware and Maryland are $7.75 higher, and New York is $8.75 to $9.75 higher. Pay at the floor in these border areas tends to lose candidates to the other side of the line, and many Pennsylvania job posts advertise more than $7.25 for that reason.

Overtime, exempt pay, minors and pay timing

Overtime

The Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act requires 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. There is no daily overtime and no state rule requiring an overtime premium for a seventh day. Tracking by workweek, not pay period, matters for biweekly employers. Read our lunch break laws by state guide for how meal breaks work in Pennsylvania, and our exempt vs non-exempt page for classification.

Exempt salary threshold

Pennsylvania uses the federal duties tests, and a salary floor of $684 a week ($35,568 a year), the federal level the site's other guides use. Pennsylvania adopted a higher state threshold by regulation, but sources report it was repealed in 2021, so the federal figure applies. An employee must meet both the duties test and the salary test to be exempt, and job titles alone do not decide it. Confirm the current figure with L&I before you reclassify anyone.

Minors

Under the Child Labor Act, L&I says children under 14 generally may not work, with limited exceptions. Minors under 16 need a written parental or guardian permission statement, may not work before 5 a.m. or after 8 p.m., and may not work during school hours. Minors are entitled to a 30-minute meal period during five consecutive hours of work. Because Pennsylvania has one minimum wage, check L&I for any youth or training wage rules before you pay a minor less than $7.25.

When wages are due

The Wage Payment and Collection Law requires wages on regularly scheduled paydays set in advance. The delay between the end of a pay period and payday may not go beyond what a written contract says, what is customary in the trade, or 15 days. When employment ends, whether the employee quits, is laid off or is fired, earned wages are due by the next scheduled payday. If wages stay unpaid 30 days after the regular payday, an employee can claim liquidated damages of 25% of the wages or $500, whichever is greater. Pay frequency rules matter in how you run payroll; see our payroll processing guide and the PTO payout laws by state page for final pay with accrued time off.

Records

L&I's wage FAQ says employers need to keep employee records for three years, which is consistent with the FLSA payroll record rule. Keep hours, rates, overtime and deductions together so you can show them in a wage claim.

What Pennsylvania employers should do

• Pay at least $7.25 for every hour worked, including training, meetings and opening and closing duties.
• Audit tipped roles. Confirm each tipped worker clears $135 a month, track non-tip work against the 80/20 rule, keep managers out of tip pools and never take card fees out of tips.
• Recheck salaried non-exempt staff. Divide weekly salary by 40 to get the regular rate, and pay 1.5 times that rate for each overtime hour.
• Check city contracts. If you serve the City of Philadelphia as a vendor, lessee or grantee, compare your wages with the $17.63 standard on the contract's effective date.
• Post the paydays. Set pay dates in advance, pay final wages by the next regular payday and keep records for at least three years.
• Watch the Senate. If HB 1549 or a similar bill becomes law, update rates, tipped cash wages and the poster before the first affected pay period.

Frequently asked questions