Minimum Wage by State 2027: Every Rate, Date and Tipped Wage

Fifteen states raise their minimum wage on January 1, 2027, and Vermont will make it sixteen once it announces its indexed figure. Washington takes the highest state rate at $17.73, California reaches $17.40, Michigan and Nebraska pass $15 for the first time, and Virginia jumps almost a dollar to $13.75 on its way to $15 in 2028. New York does not rise at all: the state's inflation off-ramp was triggered, so rates stay at $17.00 downstate and $16.00 upstate unless the Legislature adopts the governor's March 2027 proposal. The federal minimum stays at $7.25, where it has been since July 24, 2009, and twenty states still pay it.

This page lists every state's 2026 and 2027 rate, the date the 2027 rate takes effect, the tipped cash wage and the announcement behind each figure, from the state agency releases read in October 2026. Figures that no agency had published by October 28, 2026 (Vermont, the District of Columbia's July rate, Oregon's July rates) are marked rather than estimated. The 2026 table stays live for the rates that apply until December 31.

Minimum wage in every state, 2027

Rates are the general adult rate for a standard employer. Where a state has small-employer, training or regional tiers they are in the notes. "Federal rate" means the state either has no minimum wage law or sets one at or below $7.25, so the Fair Labor Standards Act rate applies to covered employers.

Sources: state labor agency releases (California DIR news release 2026-66; Washington L&I 26-17; New Jersey Department of Labor, September 29, 2026; Maine Department of Labor, September 18, 2026; Minnesota DLI, August 19, 2026; Connecticut governor's office, August 5, 2026; Colorado CDLE, August 13, 2026; New York State Department of Labor minimum wage page; Ohio Department of Commerce 2027 poster; South Dakota DLR and Montana DLI rate pages), the US Department of Labor state and tipped minimum wage tables (revised July 1, 2026) and, for Arizona, Michigan, Nebraska and Rhode Island, news reports of the agency figures. Arizona's and Nebraska's agency releases were not located, so those two figures rest on the published formula and press reports.

The January 1, 2027 increases

The indexed increases cluster between 3.2% and 4.1% because the consumer price index rose about 3.4% to 3.7% over the measurement periods the states use. The two largest jumps, Michigan and Virginia, are statutory steps toward $15 rather than inflation adjustments. Trackers that count 13, 14 or 17 January 1 states are usually omitting Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska or counting Vermont before it has announced.

New York, Missouri, Nebraska and Florida: the states that changed course

New York. The 2023 budget law indexed the minimum wage to the three-year average of the Northeast CPI-W from 2027, but with an off-ramp: no increase if the index falls, if unemployment rises by half a point, or if total employment declines. The State Department of Labor confirmed that an off-ramp condition was met, so the January 1, 2027 increase does not take effect. Governor Hochul has proposed changing the off-ramp and raising the rate to $17.60 and $16.55 from March 1, 2027; that is a proposal until the Legislature passes it. The exempt salary thresholds tied to the minimum wage also stay put. Home care aides are the exception and rise to $20.00 downstate and $19.00 upstate on January 1.

Missouri. Voters approved Proposition A in November 2024 with inflation indexing from 2027. House Bill 567, signed July 10, 2025 and effective August 28, 2025, repealed the indexing (and the paid sick leave that came with it). The rate stays $15.00. Many trackers still show Missouri as indexed.

Nebraska. Initiative 433 (2022) took the rate to $15 in 2026 with CPI indexing after. Legislative Bill 258, signed February 9, 2026 after a 33 to 16 vote, replaced the 2027 CPI increase (which would have produced about $15.55) with a fixed 1.75%, giving $15.26, and created a $13.50 youth and training wage. Omaha and Lincoln passed ordinances restoring the CPI formula locally; both are in litigation and a Lincoln judge blocked that city's ordinance in July 2026.

Florida. Amendment 2 (2020) ended its dollar-a-year steps at $15.00 on September 30, 2026. Pages showing $16.00 for 2027 are wrong: the amendment moves to inflation adjustments calculated from September 2027, with the first adjusted rate taking effect in 2028.

Mid-year changes in 2027

• Alaska rises from $14.00 to $15.00 on July 1, 2027, the last fixed step of Ballot Measure 1, with Anchorage CPI indexing afterward. Alaska's exempt salary threshold, set at twice the minimum wage, rises to $62,400 the same day.
• Oregon adjusts its three regional rates ($15.55 standard, $16.80 Portland metro, $14.55 non-urban) on July 1, 2027; the Bureau of Labor and Industries announces the figures in April.
• District of Columbia adjusts on July 1, 2027 from $18.40; the notice usually appears in the spring.
• Saint Paul, Chicago, Cook County, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montgomery County (Maryland) and several other localities adjust on July 1.
• Florida does not change on September 30, 2027.

The federal rate and the states that use it

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since July 24, 2009, the longest period without an increase since the rate was created in 1938. The federal tipped cash wage is $2.13 with a maximum tip credit of $5.12. Thirteen states set their own minimum at $7.25 (Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin), five have no minimum wage law (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee), and two set a rate below it that covers almost nobody (Georgia and Wyoming at $5.15). That is twenty states where $7.25 is the effective floor for FLSA-covered work. Tipped cash wages in those states are mostly $2.13, with Idaho ($3.35), Iowa ($4.35), New Hampshire ($3.27), North Dakota ($4.86), Pennsylvania ($2.83) and Wisconsin ($2.33) higher.

The Higher Wages for American Workers Act, introduced in June 2025 by Senators Hawley and Welch, would set a $15 federal rate; it has had no committee or floor action. Executive Order 14026, which set a $17.75 minimum for federal contractors in 2025, was rescinded on March 14, 2025. Oklahoma's State Question 832, which would have reached $15 by 2029, failed at the June 16, 2026 election.

City and county rates above the state rate

SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham, Everett and Burien in Washington, and Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and Emeryville in California, all pay above their state rate and had not published 2027 figures when this page was written; most will exceed $19. New York City has no separate local rate and follows the state's $17.00. Seattle ended its small-employer tip and benefit credit in 2025, so one rate now applies to every employer there.

The tipped cash wage

Eight states require tipped employees to be paid the full minimum wage before tips: Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and, from 2027 still phasing, none others; Hawaii allows only a $1.25 credit and only where wages plus tips reach $7.00 over the minimum. At the other end, Nebraska, Virginia, Texas and the federal-rate states allow a cash wage of $2.13. Michigan's tipped wage rises each year as a percentage of the minimum (42% in 2027), the District of Columbia paused its phase-out in 2025, and New York sets separate cash wages for food service and other service employees. Whatever the credit, the employer must make up the difference if tips fall short, and in every state the tip credit requires notice to the employee. Our salary to hourly calculator handles the arithmetic for mixed tipped and hourly pay.

What employers need to do at each change

1. Update pay rates before the first shift of the new rate, not the first payroll. A shift that starts December 31 and ends January 1 is paid at the new rate for the hours after midnight in most states.
2. Replace the poster. Every state with a change issues a new poster; the Ohio and Washington posters are already published. Federal law requires the FLSA poster regardless.
3. Recheck exempt employees. California, Washington, Colorado, Maine, Alaska and New York tie the salary needed for overtime exemption to the minimum wage. California's floor rises to $72,384 and Washington's to $92,196 at employers with 51 or more staff; our exempt salary thresholds by state 2027 page has the figures.
4. Check tip credit arithmetic and tipped notices where the credit changed (Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota).
5. Update local rates for every work location, including remote employees paid by where they work. Seattle, Denver and the Bay Area cities move on January 1.
6. Watch the mid-year dates: Alaska, Oregon, DC and the July 1 cities, plus New York if the March proposal passes.

Our January 1, 2027 labor law roundup covers the paid leave, AI and monitoring rules that start the same day, and the year-end payroll checklist covers the federal figures.

How many workers and how much money

• The Economic Policy Institute counted 19 states raising minimum wages on January 1, 2026, lifting pay for more than 8.3 million workers by about $5 billion, plus 47 cities and counties, and noted that more workers now live in states at $15 or above than in states at $7.25. Its 2027 estimate is usually published in December.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 843,000 hourly workers earning $7.25 or less in 2024, 1.0% of the 80.3 million hourly paid workers; 82,000 earned exactly $7.25 and 760,000 less, mostly tipped and exempt workers (Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, Report 1115, June 2025).
• Consumer prices rose 3.7% in the twelve months to September 2026 (CPI-U). Since July 2009 the index has risen roughly 50%, so $7.25 buys about what $4.85 bought when it took effect, a loss of about one-third in real terms. That is our arithmetic from the published index, not an agency figure.
• The gap between the highest state rate (Washington, $17.73) and the federal rate is $10.48 in 2027, the widest it has been. Seattle's $22.14 is more than three times the federal rate.

Key takeaways

• Fifteen states raise their minimum wage on January 1, 2027: Washington ($17.73), Connecticut ($17.48), California ($17.40), Rhode Island ($17.00), New Jersey ($16.48), Colorado ($15.71), Maine ($15.70), Arizona ($15.65), Nebraska ($15.26), Michigan ($15.00), Virginia ($13.75), South Dakota ($12.30), Minnesota ($11.87), Ohio ($11.40) and Montana ($11.20). Vermont's indexed figure was not announced by October 28, 2026.
• New York's rates are frozen at $17.00 and $16.00 for January 1, 2027 because the inflation off-ramp was triggered; a $17.60 / $16.55 increase from March 1 is only a proposal.
• Missouri repealed its indexing (HB 567), Nebraska capped its increase at 1.75% (LB 258), and Florida's fixed steps ended at $15; trackers that still show those states rising are out of date.
• Alaska ($15.00), Oregon and the District of Columbia change on July 1, 2027, not January 1.
• The federal rate is $7.25 for the eighteenth year; twenty states use it as their effective floor. The federal tipped cash wage is $2.13.
• Seattle ($22.14), unincorporated King County ($21.57), West Hollywood ($20.94) and Denver ($19.84) are the highest local rates announced for 2027.
• Eight states and DC's neighbor Oregon allow no tip credit: Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, plus Hawaii's near-zero credit.