ECONOMY
In which states is the minimum wage increasing in January 2024?
More than half of the US’s states will see an increase in the minimum wage for workers this year. Find out if yours is included in this list.
Residents in 26 states saw their minimum wage increase on New Year’s Day. Over the past decade, around 20 states in the United States have passed bills to raise the minimum wage. Some of these states have also allowed the minimum wage to rise along with inflation to prevent the erosion of purchasing power.
Hawaii and Nebraska saw the most significant increase in the minimum wage, with a rise of 16.67% and 14.29%, respectively. In 2022, approximately 327,000 workers in Hawaii were paid the minimum wage. However, the median hourly wage in Hawaii was $23.35/hour, which is almost $10 more than what the minimum wage will increase to in 2024.
States where the minimum wage increased for 2024
State | 2023 Min. Wage | 2024 Min. Wage | 2023-2024 Change
- Alaska | $10.85 | $11.73 | 8.11%
- Arizona | $13.85 | $14.35 | 3.61%
- California | $15.50 |$16.00 | 3.23%
- Colorado | $13.65 | $14.42 | 5.64%
- Connecticut | $15.00| $15.69 | 4.60%
- Delaware | $11.75| $13.25 | 12.77%
- Hawaii | $12.00 | $14.00 | 16.67%
- Illinois | $13.00 | $14.00 | 7.69%
- Maine | $13.80 | $14.15 | 2.54%
- Maryland | $13.25 | $15.00 | 13.21%
- Michigan | $10.10 | $10.33 | 2.28%
- Minnesota | $10.59 | $10.85 | 2.46%
- Missouri | $12.00 | $12.30 | 2.50%
- Montana | $9.95 | $10.30 | 3.52%
- Nebraska | $10.50 | $12.00 | 14.29%
- New Jersey | $14.13 | $15.13 | 7.08%
- New York | $14.20 | $16.00 | 12.68%
- Ohio | $10.10 | $10.45. | 3.47%
- Rhode Island | $13.00 | $14.00 | 7.69%
- South Dakota | $10.80 | $11.20 | 3.70%
- Vermont | $13.18 | $13.67 | 3.72%
- Washington | $15.74 | $16.28 | 3.43%
On the flip side, 20 states have a minimum wage of $7.25, which is currently the lowest wage that can be paid according to federal labor law.
Which states will have the lowest minimum wage in 2024?
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
In the remaining states and the District of Colombia, the minimum wage is higher than that set by Congress, but will not increase next year:
States where the minimum wage will remain unchanged in 2024
- Arkansas: $11.00
- District of Columbia: $17.00
- Florida: $12.00
- Massachusetts: $15.00
- Nevada: $11.25
- New Mexico: $12.00
- Oregon: $14.20
- Virginia: $12.00
- West Virginia: $8.75
Which states have the highest rate of workers making minimum wage?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were around one million workers in the US who made $7.25 an hour or less in 2022. This is a fraction of the more than 78 million workers who earned an hourly wage as opposed to an annual salary in the same year.
As a portion of the sub-sect of workers making an hourly wage, Louisiana (2.8 percent), District of Columbia(2.7 percent), Mississippi (2.5 percent), Rhode Island (2.5 percent), and North Carolina (2.3 percent) had the highest rate making at or below $7.25 an hour.
This does not mean that increases in the minimum wage do not impact those workers who are not part of this group. A rise in the minimum wage can result in higher pay for other employees since it increases the overall value of labor. In the 20 states where the minimum wage remains $7.25, the median hourly wage in 2022 was $20.19, while in the remaining states, that figure was $22.83.
States considering an increase to their minimum wage
Lawmakers in Indiana and South Carolina have proposed bills to increase the minimum wage. Currently, workers in these states are paid the federal minimum wage, the lowest wage allowed by law. The proposed bill in Indiana would gradually increase the minimum wage to $12.10 by 2026, while the bill in South Carolina would raise it to $10.07 by the end of 2024.
In Pennsylvania, a bill has also been introduced that would mandate an increase in the minimum wage to $11 an hour on 1 January. However, the bill is unlikely to pass before the beginning of the new year.
Connecticut is considering passing a bill that would increase the minimum wage for tipped workers to $15 an hour. Wait staff have had a minimum wage of $6.38 since 2017, and bartenders have a minimum wage of $8.23.
The bill would erase the differences between tipped and non-tipped workers and ensure that all make at least $15 an hour.