New Year Ushers in Minimum Wage Hikes in 21 States
NATIONAL REPORT — Minimum wage increases took effect on Jan. 1 in 21 states and approximately 50 local jurisdictions due to legislation, ballot measures and inflation adjustments.
The states with the highest wages are now Washington at $16.66 per hour, followed by California and New York, both at $16.50 per hour, according to Chain Store Age, a sister publication to Convenience Store News.
[Read more: Year in Review: The Top Legislative & Regulatory Moves of 2024]
In California, 29 cities set new wage floors, including $17 per hour in Oakland, while seven towns in Washington raised their minimum wage. Tukwila, Wash., now offers the country's highest minimum at $21.10 per hour.
These wages hikes are expected to affect more than 9.2 million workers, raising their pay by a combined $5.7 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Although teenage workers are disproportionately likely to be minimum wage workers, the EPI noted that the vast majority of affected workers (88%) are adults.
Seven states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming) have either no minimum wage law or a minimum wage below the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 per hour. The federal minimum wage, which has not increased since 2009, applies in all of these states.
The 2025 state minimum wage increases are:
- Alaska: $11.91
- Arizona: $14.70
- California: $16.50
- Colorado: $14.81
- Connecticut: $16.35
- Delaware: $15
- Illinois: $15
- Maine: $14.65
- Michigan: $10.56 (On Feb. 21, Michigan's minimum wage will increase again to $12.48.)
- Minnesota: $11.13
- Missouri: $13.75
- Montana: $10.55
- Nebraska: $13.50
- New Jersey: $15.49 for employers with six or more employees; $14.53 for seasonal employers and employers with fewer than six employees
- New York: $16.50 per hour for New York City, Long Island and Westchester County; $15.50 per hour for the rest of the state
- Ohio: $10.70 for employers with annual gross receipts of more than $394,000 per year
- Rhode Island: $15
- South Dakota: $11.50
- Vermont: $14.01
- Virginia: $12.41
- Washington: $16.66
Oregon and Washington, D.C., will have cost of living wage increases in July, and a second 2025 minimum, wage increase will take effect in Alaska on July 1. Florida's minimum wage will rise to $14 on Sept. 30, then to $15 in 2026.
ADP Inc.'s list of 2025 minimum wage increases across local jurisdictions, along with other wage considerations, can be found here.
Chain Store Age and Convenience Store News are properties of EnsembleIQ.