State Minimum Wages (2024)

FAQs

What is the answer to the minimum wage? ›

The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.

Employees working full-time at minimum wage cannot afford basic necessities, such as food, housing, transportation, childcare, and healthcare in any location across the country.

The primary argument advanced in favor of raising the minimum wage is that higher earnings would improve the overall standard of living for minimum wage workers by providing them with a more appropriate income level to handle the cost of living increases.

Raise the minimum wage and expand coverage at the federal, state, and local levels—to move the minimum wage closer to a living wage. Make more workers eligible for overtime pay, so they are properly paid for the long hours they put in.

Economists have also linked higher wages to better physical and mental health and reduced “decision fatigue,” leading to higher productivity. Raising the minimum wage reduces turnover. Higher wages lead to lower employee turnover, resulting in reduced recruiting and training costs.

The state in the Northeast with the highest average salary is Massachusetts at $76,600. The state in the West with the highest average salary is California at $73,220. The state in the South with the highest average salary is Maryland at $69,750.

In January, the minimum wages in Maryland, New Jersey, and upstate New York will reach or exceed $15 an hour for the first time, joining California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, and the rest of New York as states at or above $15 an hour.

Starting April 1, 2024, all “fast food restaurant employees” who are covered by the new law must be paid at least $20.00 per hour. Does an employer covered by the new law have to post a new minimum wage or Industrial Welfare Commissioner Order? Yes.

California's $16-an-hour minimum wage may be much higher than a “poverty wage” by federal standards, but high housing costs still make it difficult for low wage workers to live and make ends meet in the state, according to a new report by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office.

Can you live off minimum wage? ›

Working for minimum wage does not give most people a living wage. Many states and cities have a higher minimum wage in place, more than double in some cases, but workers still struggle to make ends meet.

The living wage standard allows for no more than 30% of income to be spent on rent or a mortgage and is sufficiently higher than the poverty level. The concept of living wages dates back to early America when workers demanded higher pay.

Some economists argue that increasing the minimum wage encourages consumer spending, helps families out of poverty, and boosts tax revenue while reducing tax-funded government assistance.

Increasing labor costs due to a higher minimum wage can pose challenges for businesses, particularly small enterprises. When wages go up, businesses must spend more money on paying their workers. This can pressure their finances, especially if they make little profit.

A $15 minimum wage by 2024 would generate $120 billion in higher wages for workers and would also benefit their communities. Because lower-paid workers spend much of their extra earnings, this injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.

The movement for minimum wages was first motivated as a way to stop the exploitation of workers in sweatshops, by employers who were thought to have unfair bargaining power over them. Over time, minimum wages came to be seen as a way to help lower-income families.

MYTH ONE: “The minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It's primarily for young people starting out.” FALSE. The minimum wage was established to ensure that jobs pay enough to support families. For many years it was set at about half the wage paid to a typical (median) worker.

The federal minimum wage in 2024 is $7.25 per hour.

However, the tipped wage rate is $2.13 per hour, so long as each employee earns enough actual tips during the workweek to make up the other $5.12 per hour.