Minimum Wage by State 2026: Complete Guide

Federal Minimum Wage in 2026

The federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour in 2026, a rate set on July 24, 2009. As of March 2026, this 17-year stretch without an increase is the longest in the history of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which established the federal wage floor in 1938 at $0.25 per hour. Congress has approved 22 increases over that span — the last being a raise from $6.55 to $7.25 on July 24, 2009.

In real purchasing-power terms, the federal minimum wage has lost approximately 30% of its value since 2009 due to inflation. The 1968 minimum of $1.60 per hour represented the historical peak in real terms; adjusted to 2026 dollars, that rate equals roughly $14.82 per hour — more than double the current nominal rate.

At $7.25 for a standard 40-hour week, 52 weeks per year, a full-time worker earns $15,080 gross per year. The 2026 federal poverty guideline for a single-person household is $15,650, meaning the federal minimum wage leaves a full-time single worker below the poverty line. For a family of four (poverty threshold: $32,150), the federal minimum covers less than half of what the government defines as the poverty threshold.

The FLSA's supremacy clause requires employers to pay whichever is higher — the federal or applicable state rate. In practice, the $7.25 floor only applies in the roughly 18–20 states that have not enacted a higher rate. Multiple federal bills, including successive versions of the Raise the Wage Act targeting a phased-in $15 minimum, have failed to pass the Senate. No federal increase is currently scheduled.

Use our Salary Calculator to see what any hourly wage translates to in annual take-home pay after taxes.

All 50 States + D.C.: Minimum Wage Rates (2026)

As of January 1, 2026, 22 states plus D.C. raised their minimum wages, and a further handful have mid-year increases scheduled. The table below reflects rates in effect as of March 2026. Sources: U.S. Department of Labor (DOL/WHD), NELP “Raises from Coast to Coast in 2026,” and state labor agencies.

Highest Minimum Wage States (2026)

Mid-Tier States (2026)

Lower-Rate States (2026)

States at the Federal Minimum ($7.25)

Eighteen states default to the federal rate of $7.25 per hour: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Note: Georgia ($5.15) and Wyoming ($5.15) have nominal state minimums below $7.25, but covered employees are protected by the higher federal rate under the FLSA.

Five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee — have no state minimum wage statute at all, relying entirely on the federal floor. Compare how state income taxes further affect take-home pay with our State Income Tax Comparison.

Tipped Employee Minimum Wages by State (2026)

The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 per hour — unchanged since 1991. This applies to employees who regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips. Employers may claim a “tip credit” of up to $5.12 per hour (the difference between $7.25 and $2.13), but only if tips bring total hourly compensation to at least $7.25. If tips are insufficient in any pay period, the employer must make up the difference — a legal requirement that labor enforcement data shows is routinely violated.

States With No Tip Credit (Full Minimum Wage Required)

Seven states prohibit tip credits entirely. Tipped employees in these states receive the full state minimum wage as their cash base, with tips on top:

Selected State Tipped Minimum Wages (2026)

The gap between states is stark: a server in Washington state earns at least $17.13 before tips, while a server in Texas starts at $2.13. Even with identical tip income, the Washington server takes home substantially more. According to BLS data, leisure and hospitality — the industry housing most tipped workers — had 5.6% of its workers at or below the federal minimum in 2024, the highest of any sector. Use our Hourly to Salary Converter to compare annual earnings at different wage levels.

City and Local Minimum Wages (2026)

Dozens of cities and counties have enacted minimum wages above their state's floor, responding to higher local costs of living. The UC Berkeley Labor Center tracks more than 60 such jurisdictions nationwide. Here are the major metro-level rates in effect for 2026:

Seattle, Washington

Seattle's minimum wage is $21.30 per hour effective January 1, 2026, for all employers regardless of size — a unification of the previously split large/small employer schedule that ended January 1, 2025. At $21.30, a full-time Seattle worker earns $44,304 gross per year, nearly three times the federal minimum wage annual total of $15,080. Seattle's cost of living is approximately 45–50% above the national average, which partially contextualizes the premium. (Source: Seattle Office of Labor Standards)

New York City

New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County moved to $17.00 per hour on January 1, 2026 (up from $16.00), as part of New York State's tiered system. Upstate New York rose to $16.00. Starting in 2027, the rate will adjust annually to CPI-W for the Northeast Region. NYC also maintains separate tipped wage rules: food service workers receive a $11.35 cash minimum wage with a $5.65 tip credit; other service employees receive $14.15 with a $2.85 tip credit. (Source: NY Department of Labor)

Denver, Colorado

Denver's citywide minimum wage is $19.29 per hour effective January 1, 2026, indexed annually to local CPI. This is significantly above Colorado's statewide rate of $15.16. Denver also sets a tipped minimum of $16.27 per hour for food and beverage workers. The city's ordinance applies to employees who perform at least 4 hours of work within Denver city limits per week. (Source: City and County of Denver, Auditor's Office)

California Cities (2026)

California's statewide rate of $16.90 is itself a floor — many cities have gone further. Exact rates effective January 1, 2026:

*Emeryville rate reflects 2025 figure; 2026 update pending confirmation from city. Source: Davis Wright Tremaine, California Employers Association, HRWatchdog (CalChamber).

Use our Cost of Living Calculator to see how far these wages stretch in different cities.

States With Automatic CPI Indexing

Fourteen states and D.C. have adopted automatic inflation-adjustment mechanisms that tie minimum wage increases to changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eliminating the need for legislative action each year. According to the Economic Policy Institute and NELP, eight states that have wages above $7.25 lack inflation indexing — meaning their real wage floors will erode unless lawmakers act: Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Virginia.

• Washington: CPI-W (Urban Wage Earners) indexed since 2001; 2026 rate ($17.13) set by August 2025 CPI data.
• Oregon: Three-tier CPI system — Portland metro ($16.30), standard ($14.05), nonurban ($13.20) — adjusted each July 1.
• Colorado: CPI-indexed statewide ($15.16); Denver maintains a separate local CPI ordinance ($19.29).
• Arizona: CPI-indexed since Prop 206 (2016); 2026 rate is $15.15.
• Montana: CPI-indexed; 2026 rate is $10.85.
• Ohio: CPI-indexed (capped at 3.5%); 2026 rate is $11.00.
• Maine: CPI-indexed since 2016 ballot measure; 2026 rate is $15.10.
• Minnesota: CPI-indexed with a 2.5% annual cap; 2026 rate is $11.41.
• New Jersey: CPI-indexed after reaching $15.00; 2026 rate is $15.92 (large employers).
• South Dakota: CPI-indexed since 2014 ballot measure; 2026 rate is $11.85.
• Vermont: CPI-indexed with a 5% cap; 2026 rate is $14.42.
• Alaska: CPI-indexed after reaching $15.00 in 2027 per ballot measure.
• Florida: $1/year increases until reaching $15.00 (September 30, 2026), after which CPI indexing begins.
• New York: Will begin annual CPI-W (Northeast Region) indexing starting in 2027.
• District of Columbia: CPI-indexed; 2026 rate is $17.95.

If the federal minimum wage had been indexed to CPI since 1968 — when the $1.60 rate held its historical peak purchasing power — it would be approximately $14.82 per hour in 2026, more than double the current $7.25. Under productivity-indexed scenarios, the figure climbs even higher.

Industry-Specific Minimum Wages

California has pioneered sector-specific wage floors that sit above its general statewide minimum:

Fast Food Workers — California AB 1228

Signed September 28, 2023, and effective April 1, 2024, AB 1228 created a $20.00 per hour minimum wage for fast food chain employees at restaurants with 60 or more locations nationwide. This is $3.10 above California's general 2026 minimum of $16.90, creating a meaningful two-tier wage structure. The law also established the Fast Food Council with authority to adjust the rate annually. In 2026, the fast food sector minimum is adjusted by the council; the $20 floor set in 2024 may have increased. Workers at chains such as McDonald's, Starbucks, and Chipotle are covered. Franchisees with fewer than 60 total locations nationwide are excluded.

Healthcare Workers — California SB 525

SB 525, signed in 2023, created a phased minimum wage schedule for healthcare workers at covered facilities, reaching $25.00 per hour for large health systems (10,000+ FTE employees) effective June 1, 2026. The law applies broadly — not just nurses and physicians but also janitors, food service workers, and security personnel employed at covered healthcare facilities. The phased schedule for smaller facilities reaches $25/hr at later dates. This makes California's healthcare minimum the highest sector-specific wage floor in U.S. history.

Gig Workers and App-Based Drivers

Several cities have enacted minimum earnings standards for independent contractors in on-demand delivery and rideshare:

• New York City: App-based food delivery workers (DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc.) must earn a minimum of approximately $17.96 per hour of active delivery time under a 2023 city ordinance enforced by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
• Seattle: The Pay Up ordinance requires rideshare and delivery drivers to earn a minimum of $1.53 per minute or $0.31 per mile while on trip, ensuring compensation equivalent to or above the city's $21.30 general minimum after expenses.
• Colorado: App-based delivery companies operating in unincorporated areas must meet a minimum per-mile and per-minute rate under 2023 state legislation.

Use our Freelance Rate Calculator to determine what hourly equivalent you need as an independent worker to match an employee wage after accounting for self-employment taxes and expenses.

Minimum Wage vs. Living Wage by State (MIT Data)

The MIT Living Wage Calculator (last updated February 15, 2026) estimates the hourly rate a full-time worker needs to cover basic necessities — food, housing, healthcare, transportation, childcare, and taxes — without public assistance. It is fundamentally different from the poverty wage, which is the federal poverty guideline converted to an hourly rate ($7.67/hour for a single adult in 2026).

The following table compares the 2026 state minimum wage against MIT's living wage for a single adult with no children, and for a single parent with one child:

*NYC/Long Island/Westchester rate. †Not retrieved; visit livingwage.mit.edu for the full breakdown. Source: MIT Living Wage Calculator, February 15, 2026 update.

Even Washington state — with the highest statewide minimum at $17.13 — falls $9.46 per hour short of the MIT living wage for a single adult. In California, the gap is $13.58/hr for a single adult and a staggering $36.64/hr for a single parent with one child. The single-parent gap illustrates why childcare costs are so central to the living wage calculation: in most states, childcare alone accounts for 20–30% of a family's total required budget.

This gap explains why millions of minimum wage earners simultaneously hold down full-time jobs and receive SNAP, Medicaid, or housing assistance. Workers earning minimum wage should use our Salary Calculator to understand their exact after-tax monthly income.

Scheduled Minimum Wage Increases: 2026–2027

The following increases are either already in law or pending in 2026 after January 1, or are scheduled for 2027. HR professionals should calendar these effective dates:

Mid-Year 2026 Increases

• Alaska: $14.00/hr effective July 1, 2026 (up from $13.00). Part of a ballot-measure phased schedule.
• Florida: $15.00/hr effective September 30, 2026 (up from $14.00). After this date, future increases will be CPI-indexed annually.
• Oregon: Annual CPI adjustment effective July 1, 2026; exact rate to be announced based on August 2025–August 2026 CPI data.
• California — Healthcare (SB 525): Large health systems reach $25.00/hr on June 1, 2026.

Scheduled 2027 Increases

• Alaska: $15.00/hr effective July 1, 2027 per ballot measure, then CPI-indexed annually thereafter.
• Virginia: Continuing phased increases; legislation signed by Governor Spanberger targets reaching $15.00/hr by 2028 with intermediate steps in 2026–2027.
• Michigan: Court-ordered schedule continues; rate expected to reach $15.00+ by 2027 under the “Mothball” litigation outcome.
• New York: Begins annual CPI-W Northeast Region indexing starting January 1, 2027.
• Nebraska: At $15.00 as of January 1, 2026; begins CPI indexing in subsequent years per 2022 ballot measure.

States Not Scheduled to Increase

Eight states with above-federal minimums lack automatic indexing and have no increase currently scheduled: Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Their real wage floors will decline relative to inflation until legislatures act. (Source: NELP, “Raises from Coast to Coast in 2026,” December 2025)

How Minimum Wage Affects Poverty Rates

The relationship between minimum wage increases and poverty reduction is real but complicated. Several factors limit how directly a higher minimum wage translates into poverty reduction:

• Household composition mismatch: Many minimum wage earners are not the sole earner in a poor household — they may be teenagers or secondary earners in middle-income families. Conversely, many poor adults work in salaried or informal jobs not covered by minimum wage laws.
• Geographic variation: The poverty line is uniform nationally, but a $15 minimum wage is transformative in Mississippi and modest in San Francisco.
• Public assistance interactions: Wage increases can reduce eligibility for SNAP, Medicaid, and housing subsidies, sometimes partially offsetting net income gains — a phenomenon called the “benefits cliff.”

A 2025 review published in Social Science Research found that minimum wage increases are associated with statistically significant reductions in poverty, with a 10% minimum wage increase linked to a 1.5–5% reduction in poverty rates among affected households. Earlier research (Neumark & Wascher; 2002) found more ambiguous or slightly negative effects.

The Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the Raise the Wage Act (2021) projected that a $15 federal minimum would lift 900,000 workers out of poverty by 2025 while reducing employment by a median estimate of 1.4 million workers — a range of near-zero to 2.7 million depending on economic conditions. The CBO's framework has been critiqued by Dube and others for using elasticity estimates that don't adequately account for monopsony dynamics.

In states where the minimum wage has already reached $15+, early evidence is mixed: price increases in affected industries are modest (generally 0.5–0.7% for restaurant meals), employment effects are small or negligible at moderate minimum wages, but more rapid increases in high-cost cities show larger displacement effects for the least-skilled workers.

Economic Research on Minimum Wage Effects

The economics literature on minimum wage has evolved significantly over the past three decades. Key findings and debates as of 2026:

The Traditional View: Competitive Labor Markets

Classical economics predicts that a price floor above the market wage causes disemployment: employers hire fewer workers. David Neumark and William Wascher's meta-analysis of studies through the early 2000s found median own-wage elasticities of −0.1 to −0.2, meaning a 10% minimum wage increase reduces employment of affected workers by 1–2%. The CBO uses elasticity assumptions broadly consistent with this range in its federal estimates.

The Monopsony and Search-and-Matching View

Arindrajit Dube (UMass Amherst) and colleagues — notably Cengiz, Dube, Lindner & Zipperer (2019, Quarterly Journal of Economics) — studied 138 state-level minimum wage events from 1984 to 2016 using a bunching estimator and found no significant reduction in low-wage job counts. Their interpretation: many low-wage labor markets exhibit monopsony power, where employers face an upward-sloping labor supply curve. A minimum wage in such markets can simultaneously raise wages and increase (or leave unchanged) employment by forcing employers closer to the competitive outcome. Separately, Dube, Giuliano & Leonard found minimum wages substantially reduce employee separation and turnover rates — an efficiency gain that partially offsets wage-bill increases for employers.

High-Minimum-Wage Natural Experiments

Seattle's rapid increase to $13–$15 (2014–2017) generated intensive academic study. The University of Washington found hours reductions for the lowest-paid workers during the steepest phase; UC Berkeley found minimal employment loss in Seattle restaurants versus border controls. A 2024 NBER working paper by Jardim et al. revisited the Seattle data and found net neutral employment effects overall with income gains for affected workers, once job transitions are accounted for.

California's AB 1228 fast food wage increase to $20 (April 2024) was studied by researchers at UC Riverside, who found a ~2.5–3.5% price increase in fast food meals and an estimated 0.5–1.5% reduction in fast food employment in the first year — smaller effects than critics predicted, and larger than proponents claimed.

Consensus and Uncertainty

The current research consensus is roughly: moderate minimum wage increases (to the range of 50–60% of the local median wage) have small or negligible negative employment effects in most labor markets, meaningfully reduce income inequality, and modestly reduce poverty among affected households. Very large, rapid increases in concentrated low-wage markets carry higher disemployment risk. The federal $7.25 is 25–30% of the national median hourly wage — well below any international threshold that researchers associate with adverse effects.

State Preemption Laws: Blocking Local Minimum Wages

Nearly 30 states have enacted preemption laws that prohibit cities, counties, and other local governments from establishing minimum wages above the state floor. These laws were largely passed in response to the Fight for $15 movement's success at the local level beginning around 2012. According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), state wage preemption costs an estimated 350,000 workers approximately $4,000 per year each in foregone wages.

States With Active Minimum Wage Preemption

The following states expressly prohibit localities from setting their own minimum wages: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri (state legislature blocked Kansas City's $13 ordinance), North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Several others have implicit preemption through “Dillon's Rule” interpretations limiting local authority.

Notable Cases

• Alabama (2016): The state legislature passed a preemption law two days before Birmingham's $10.10 ordinance was to take effect, retroactively nullifying the raise for approximately 40,000 workers.
• Texas (2023): Enacted sweeping preemption legislation covering minimum wage plus heat standards, scheduling, and other workplace rules. The law is under legal challenge but has already chilled local action in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.
• Florida (2023): State Statute §218.077 prohibits any county or municipality from enacting a local minimum wage; the Third DCA upheld this preemption in 2017 when it invalidated Miami Beach's local ordinance. Florida's statewide rate is set by a 2020 constitutional amendment — the preemption law cannot override voter-approved state minimums.
• Missouri: Blocked Kansas City's $13 minimum in 2017; however, the state's own $15 minimum wage passed by 2024 ballot measure (Prop A) has since superseded earlier city initiatives.

States that allow local minimum wages include California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington — all of which have active city and county ordinances above the state floor. The UC Berkeley Labor Center's inventory documents more than 60 active U.S. city and county minimum wage ordinances as of 2026.

What Minimum Wage Actually Means for Your Paycheck

Understanding minimum wage in take-home terms requires accounting for federal income tax, FICA (7.65%), and state income tax. BLS data show that in 2024, 842,000 hourly workers (82,000 at exactly $7.25 and 760,000 below it) earned at or below the federal minimum. Workers under 25 represent 43% of that group despite being only one-fifth of the hourly workforce. Nearly three-quarters work in service occupations, primarily food preparation and service.

At the federal minimum, a worker takes home roughly $1,142 per month after taxes. The national median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is approximately $1,500/month — meaning the federal minimum wage does not cover a single worker's rent in virtually any U.S. market, even before food, transportation, or healthcare.

Our Paycheck Calculator provides an exact breakdown of take-home pay at any wage, accounting for federal tax, state tax, FICA, and pre-tax benefit deductions by state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division — State Minimum Wage Laws: dol.gov
• U.S. Department of Labor, WHD — Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees: dol.gov
• Bureau of Labor Statistics — Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2024: bls.gov
• MIT Living Wage Calculator (updated February 15, 2026): livingwage.mit.edu
• NELP — “Raises from Coast to Coast in 2026,” December 2025: nelp.org
• Congressional Budget Office — “The Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage” (2021): cbo.gov
• Economic Policy Institute — Preemption Map: epi.org
• Cengiz, Dube, Lindner & Zipperer (2019) — “The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs,” Quarterly Journal of Economics
• Ballotpedia — Minimum Wage Increases in 2026: ballotpedia.org
• City of Seattle, Office of Labor Standards — 2026 Minimum Wage: seattle.gov
• City and County of Denver, Auditor's Office — 2026 Citywide Minimum Wage: denvergov.org
• Davis Wright Tremaine — California Statewide and Local Minimum Wage Increases Effective January 1, 2026: dwt.com
• New York Department of Labor — Minimum Wage: dol.ny.gov
• California Department of Industrial Relations — AB 1228 Fast Food Minimum Wage: dir.ca.gov