The U.S government, as well as individual state governments, are in charge of regulating wages to ensure workers are being fairly compensated.
As such, there has been a federal minimum wage since 1938, when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the first federal minimum wage was 25 cents per hour.
The U.S Department of Labor says the minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2009, but MIT’s Living Wage Calculator reports the average living wage as of 2019 is $16.54.
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What is the minimum wage in each state?:Somewhere between $5.15 and $16 an hour: A list of the minimum wage in every state
What state has the lowest minimum wage?
Two states, Georgia and Wyoming, have a minimum wage of $5.15 for employers exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the Department of Labor. Most companies, though, use the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Many other states use the federal minimum wage established by the U.S. government.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies to any state without its own established minimum wage, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
States that follow the federal minimum wage
The following states all enforce a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour f, according to the Department of Labor:
- Alabama
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wisconsin
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Which state has the highest minimum wage?
The current highest state minimum wage is in California, which raised the minimum hourly wage to $15 in January 2022, though companies with 25 or fewer employees are exempt and can pay $14 per hour, according to Paycor.
The state has passed legislation which will raise the minimum wage to $15.50 for all companies starting in January 2023, according to Paycor.
Several U.S. states have passed legislation to provide for a $15 minimum wage in the coming years, including Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia, according to Paycor.
Washington, D.C. has a higher minimum wage than any U.S. state. As of July 2022, the minimum wage is $16.10 per hour for non-tipped employees, according to the Executive Office of the Mayor.
What is the minimum wage for tipped employees?
The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour in direct wages, as long as an employee is making enough tips to meet the minimum hourly wage of $7.25, according to the Department of Labor.
Like other minimum wage laws, many states have different laws establishing standards of compensation for tipped employees.
