Minimum Wage Hikes Hit 22 States

NATIONAL REPORT — Retailers across the country will increase their operating budgets as the new year brings new wage hikes. Higher minimum wages took effect in 22 states on Jan. 1.

Employees in seven states — California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington — as well as Washington, D.C., will be guaranteed baseline pay of $15 or more an hour, reported Chain Store Age, a sister publication of Convenience Store News. 

Additionally, 41 cities and counties that set their own minimum wages will also pay $15 as an hourly minimum.

[Read more: Buc-ee's Stands Out Among Retailers for High Wages & Customer Experience]

The federal minimum wage remains unchanged at $7.25 an hour, which will remain the minimum wage for 20 states that are primarily located in the South and parts of the Midwest.

The 22 states that saw minimum wages increase in the new year are:

• Alaska: $11.73 (up from $10.85 per hour)
• Arizona: $14.35 (up from $13.85)
• California: $16 (up from $15.50)
• Colorado: $14.42 (up from $13.65)
• Connecticut: $15.69 (up from $15)
• Delaware: $13.25 (up from $11.75)
• Hawaii: $14 (up from $12)
• Illinois $14 (up from $13)
• Maine $14.15 (up from $13.80)
• Maryland: $15 (up from $13.25)
• Michigan: $10.33 (up from $10.10)
• Minnesota: $8.85 small employers; $10.85 large (up from $8.63 and $10.59, respectively)
• Missouri: $12.30 (up from $12)
• Montana: $10.30 (up from $9.95)
• Nebraska: $12 (up from $10.50)
• New Jersey: $15.13; $13.75 seasonal/small employers (up from $14.13 and $12.93, respectively)
• New York: $15 (up from $14.20); additionally, New York City, Westchester and Long Island: $16 (up from $15)
• Ohio: $10.45 (up from $10.10)
• Rhode Island: $14 (up from $13)
• South Dakota: $11.20 (up from $10.80)
• Vermont: $13.67 (up from $13.18)
• Washington: $16.28 (up from $15.74)

Several wage hikes will take place later in the year: Florida will increase its minimum wage to $13 per hour on Sept. 30; Nevada will increase its minimum wage to $12 on July 1; and Washington, D.C., will increase its minimum wage from $17 to an as-yet undetermined new rate.

Additionally, Oregon will add $1.25 per hour over the standard minimum wage for employers in the Portland metro; $1 less than the standard minimum wage for nonurban counties, effective July 1 (up from $15.45 for employers in the Portland metro; $13.20 for nonurban counties; and $14.20 for all others).

Convenience Store News and Chain Store Age are properties of EnsembleIQ.