Minimum wage increases: the 2026 changes after January and the 2027 rates

The raises that came after January 1, 2026

Most states set their new rate on the first day of the year, which is why January 1 gets the attention. A handful work on a different calendar, either because the statute or the ballot measure that created the wage chose another date, or because the jurisdiction indexes its rate on a fiscal cycle. For a worker in those places the pay stub changes in the middle of the year, and a pay period that straddles the date must be split: hours worked before the effective date at the old rate, hours worked on or after it at the new one.

July 1 is the second date of the year. Alaska, District of Columbia and Oregon moved on that day. For a full-time worker who was paid exactly the old rate, the step is worth $2,080 a year in Alaska, $936 a year in District of Columbia, $1,040 a year in Oregon. Oregon sets a different rate by region, so the county where you work decides which line applies. Florida follows its own schedule, written into the state constitution by voters: the rate steps up each September 30, and on September 30, 2026 it reached $15.00, up from $14.00. The tipped cash wage in Florida moves on the same day, since it is the minimum wage less a fixed tip credit. These changes are easy to miss because payroll systems are often updated only in January. If your hourly rate sat exactly at the old minimum, check the first full pay period after the effective date.

Rates already set for 2027

14 jurisdictions on file have published a higher general rate for next year. Some of these figures come from an inflation formula that the agency applies each autumn; others were fixed years ago in a statute that climbs step by step. The table shows the rate in force now, the announced one, the date and the size of the step in dollars and in percent.

The biggest move is in Michigan: $1.27 more an hour, which is $2,642 over a full-time year. The smallest is in Nebraska, at $0.26 an hour, the kind of step an inflation index produces in a calm year. Not every 2027 rate starts on New Year's Day: Alaska moves on July 1, 2027, so the 2026 rate stays in force for the first months of 2027 there. New York stands apart: the published 2027 figure equals the current one. In New York the Department of Labor found that an off-ramp written into the indexing law had been triggered, so the general rates were not raised for 2027.

Tipped workers get their own schedule in some states. New Jersey has already set a tipped cash wage of $6.61 from January 1, 2027. Where the tipped cash wage is a fixed share of the full minimum, it rises automatically with it; where it is a fixed dollar amount, only a change in the law moves it. The tipped minimum wage guide compares the states.

Cities and counties that do not wait for the state

Local ordinances often adjust on July 1, half a year away from the state date, which means a worker in one of these places can see two raises in twelve months, or one raise that the state level never gives. The local rates on file that changed on July 1, 2026 or later are Emeryville, CA, at $20.34; San Francisco, CA, at $19.61; Berkeley, CA, at $19.61; Pasadena, CA, at $18.57; Los Angeles County (unincorporated areas), CA, at $18.47; Santa Monica, CA, at $18.47; Los Angeles (city), CA, at $18.42; Montgomery County (51+ employees), MD, at $18.00; Chicago, IL, at $17.05; Howard County, MD, at $16.00; Cook County, IL, at $15.40; City of Santa Fe, NM, at $15.40; Santa Fe County (unincorporated), NM, at $15.40; Prince George's County, MD, at $15.30. The rate applies to hours worked inside the city or county limits, so a delivery driver or a home care aide who crosses a boundary during the day can be owed two different rates in the same week. The city minimum wage guide lists every local rate on file with its own state rate.

States where nothing changes

The federal rate has not moved since July 24, 2009. In 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, it is still the figure that applies, and no change is scheduled. A worker earning $7.25 for 40 hours has had the same $15,080 a year in gross pay for well over a decade. Above the federal floor, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia have neither a mid-year change in 2026 nor a higher 2027 figure on file yet. For some of them the reason is simple: the rate is indexed and the agency announces the next figure late in the year, often in October or November. For others the rate is fixed in statute until the legislature or voters act again. The table on the minimum wage by state page will show the new figure as soon as an agency publishes it.

What a raise changes on your pay stub

A higher minimum does more than lift the base rate. Overtime is paid at one and a half times the regular rate, so a worker at the minimum also gets a larger overtime rate the day the raise applies: at $7.25 the overtime rate is $10.88, while at the Michigan 2027 rate it becomes $22.50. In states that tie the salary level of exempt employees to the minimum wage, a raise also lifts the salary a manager must earn to stay exempt; the salary threshold guide shows which states do so. Workers paid slightly above the minimum are not owed a raise by law, but employers often adjust their pay scales to keep a gap with new hires.

Check three things after an increase takes effect. First, that the new hourly rate appears from the right date and not from the next full pay period only. Second, that overtime hours use the new rate. Third, for tipped workers, that cash wage plus tips still reaches the new minimum in every workweek; if it falls short, the employer must make up the difference. A missing raise is a wage claim, and the state labor agency decides it on the pay records; each state page names that agency.

Why the 2027 list keeps growing

Several states compute next year's rate from a price index measured over the summer and publish the figure between August and November. Others wait for a formal notice in the state register. This page reads the same data files as the calculator, so a newly published rate appears in the table above as soon as its file is updated, along with the agency page it came from. The rate in force on the day you work is the one that counts; an announced figure only becomes owed on its effective date.