Minimum Wage 2027 by State: What Each New Rate Pays a Year

On January 1, 2027, sixteen states raise their minimum wage, and Alaska follows on July 1. The new rates run from $11.20 an hour in Montana to $17.73 in Washington. The federal minimum stays at $7.25, where it has been since 2009 (U.S. Department of Labor).

An hourly rate is hard to picture. A yearly figure is easier: at 40 hours a week, Washington's $17.73 is $36,878 a year, about $3,073 a month or $1,418 every two weeks, before tax. Michigan's raise to $15.00 is the biggest in the country, at $1.27 an hour, or $2,642 a year for a full-time worker. Below we convert every new state rate the same way, show what the raise is worth, and price the change for the employers who pay it.

Who this is for: hourly workers paid at or near their state's minimum, people comparing job offers across state lines, and small-business owners budgeting 2027 payroll. What it does not cover: the many city and county minimums (a few big ones are mentioned below), industry-specific rates such as California's fast-food and health-care minimums, and states whose rate is not changing. Every rate in the tables was checked against the state's own labor department, statute or governor's announcement on November 13, 2026. Where we could not confirm a figure, it is left out and the reason is given.

The listEvery state minimum wage rising in 2027

These are the general rates for most adult workers. Several states also have lower rates for small employers, trainees or minors, which are noted under the table.

The official source for each row, and the details that change who gets which rate:

• Washington — $17.73; 14- and 15-year-olds may be paid $15.07 (WA Labor & Industries).
• Connecticut — $17.48, indexed to the federal employment cost index (Office of the Governor, August 2026).
• California — $17.40, an inflation adjustment certified by the Department of Finance (CA Department of Industrial Relations).
• Rhode Island — $17.00, set by statute in 2025 (R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-12-3; RI DLT).
• New Jersey — $16.48 for most employers; $16.25 for seasonal employers and those with fewer than six employees; $15.00 for farm workers (NJ Department of Labor, September 29, 2026).
• Colorado — $15.71 statewide; Denver and some other cities are higher (Colorado CDLE).
• Maine — $15.70, indexed to Northeast inflation (Maine Department of Labor).
• Arizona — $15.65 (Industrial Commission of Arizona, 2027 fact sheet); Flagstaff and Tucson have their own rates.
• Nebraska — $15.26. After a 2026 change to state law, the rate rises by a fixed 1.75% a year instead of by inflation, which is why Nebraska's raise is the smallest on the list (Nebraska Department of Labor schedule).
• Michigan — $15.00, the last fixed step of the 2025 law; inflation indexing follows (Michigan LEO).
• Alaska — $15.00 on July 1, 2027, the last step of the 2024 ballot measure; annual inflation adjustments start January 1, 2028 (Alaska Department of Labor).
• Vermont — $14.91, announced November 9, 2026 (Vermont Department of Labor).
• Virginia — $13.75, then $15.00 on January 1, 2028, under the 2026 law (Virginia DOLI).
• South Dakota — $12.30 (SD Department of Labor and Regulation).
• Minnesota — $11.87 for all employers; $9.68 training wage for workers under 20 in their first 90 days (Minnesota DLI). Minneapolis and St. Paul are higher.
• Ohio — $11.40 for employers with gross receipts over $419,000. Smaller businesses and 14- and 15-year-olds stay at $7.25 (Ohio Department of Commerce).
• Montana — $11.20; businesses not covered by federal law with sales of $110,000 or less may pay $4.00 (Montana DLI).

Your payWhat each new rate is per year, month and paycheck

Here is each 2027 rate at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 2,080 hours, the usual full-time year, before any tax:

The quick rule behind the table: hourly rate × 2,080 = yearly pay, and hourly rate × 80 = a biweekly paycheck. A full-time minimum-wage worker in Washington earns $21,798 a year more than one paid the federal $7.25. To try your own rate, hours or unpaid weeks, use the Hourly to Salary Calculator. If you earn exactly $15, the $15 an hour page shows the full breakdown and take-home by state.

Part-time: 25 hours a week

Many minimum-wage jobs are part-time, so the yearly figures above are often too high. At 25 hours a week (1,300 hours a year):

• Washington, $17.73: $23,049 a year, about $1,921 a month; the raise adds $780 a year.
• Michigan, $15.00: $19,500 a year, $1,625 a month; the raise adds $1,651 a year.
• Ohio, $11.40: $14,820 a year, $1,235 a month; the raise adds $520 a year.

A biweekly paycheck at 25 hours is 50 hours × your rate. That is $750 in Michigan and $570 in Ohio.

Before taxWhat a minimum-wage paycheck takes home

Every figure above is gross pay, before tax. Take-home is lower. Take a full-time single worker in Washington, which has no state income tax, using the 2027 federal figures (IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-35: standard deduction $16,600, 10% on the first $12,800 of taxable income, 12% after that):

In a state with an income tax, take-home is lower again. The Paycheck Tax Calculator applies your state's tax and your filing status. If you live on biweekly pay, remember that a year has 26 paychecks, not 24. Bills by paycheck shows how to plan around the two months with three paydays.

InflationMost of these raises only keep pace

Most of the 2027 increases are not decided by lawmakers each year. They come from a formula tied to inflation. That means they mostly restore buying power rather than add to it. Consumer prices were up 3.7% in the year to September 2026 (BLS CPI; what that does to a budget is in inflation at 3.7%). By that yardstick, 10 of the 16 January raises are smaller than 3.7%: Washington, Connecticut, California, New Jersey, Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, Vermont, Ohio and Montana.

That is not a mistake in any of them. Each state measures inflation over its own period, often the twelve months to June or August, and at a time when inflation was lower. But it does mean a worker in those states should not expect 2027 to feel like a raise. The real gains are in the states still on a fixed schedule: Michigan (+9.2%), Virginia (+7.7%), Alaska (+7.1%) and Rhode Island (+6.3%).

Tipped workersThe cash wage for tipped jobs

Most states let employers pay tipped workers a lower cash wage, as long as tips bring the total up to the full minimum. If they do not, the employer must make up the difference. The federal cash wage is $2.13 (DOL, tipped minimum wages). Where the 2027 state figure is published officially:

California, Washington, Minnesota, Montana and Alaska allow no tip credit at all, so tipped workers there get the full minimum plus tips. Michigan's tipped wage rises to 42% of the full minimum in 2027 under the 2025 law. A referendum to repeal that law did not gather enough signatures for the 2026 ballot. Tips you earn may also be deductible on your federal return through 2028, and no tax on tips and overtime explains what that deduction is really worth.

CitiesLocal rates are often higher

Dozens of cities and counties set their own minimum, and where one applies, the employer pays whichever rate is higher. Three of the biggest for 2027:

• Seattle: $22.14 for all employers (Seattle Office of Labor Standards), which is $46,051 a year full time.
• Denver: $19.84 (City and County of Denver), or $41,267 a year.
• Many California cities, especially in the Bay Area, set their own rates, mostly between about $17.50 and $20 in 2027. Check your city's labor office.

Expert questionsThe objections, answered

"2,080 hours is not a real year." It is the payroll standard, and it assumes every week is paid. A worker who takes two weeks off unpaid works 2,000 hours: at Michigan's $15.00 that is $30,000 instead of $31,200. Paid holidays and paid sick leave count as paid hours, but not as hours worked. In the tables, every hour in the 2,080 is a paid hour.

"What about overtime?" Federal law requires 1.5 times the regular rate after 40 hours in a week. At the new minimums that is $26.60 an hour in Washington, $26.10 in California, $22.50 in Michigan and $16.80 in Montana. California and Alaska also require overtime after 8 hours in a day. Your regular rate includes night and weekend premiums, which shift differential pay works through. Holiday shifts follow their own rules, covered in holiday pay rules for 2026. New Year's Day, January 1, is also the first day of the new rates.

"These are pre-tax numbers." Yes, on purpose. A minimum wage is set gross, and pay stubs and job offers are quoted gross. The worked example above shows a typical take-home of about 86–88% of gross before state tax, and less with state tax.

"My employer is small, does the state rate apply?" Usually yes, but check. Ohio (gross receipts of $419,000 or less), Montana (non-FLSA businesses with sales of $110,000 or less) and New Jersey (fewer than six employees, a lower rate) all carve out small employers. Most other states do not.

"Is a raise mid-year possible?" Yes. Alaska's increase falls on July 1, 2027. Oregon, Washington D.C. and several cities (including Chicago and Los Angeles) adjust on July 1, and most announce the amount in the spring, so those rates are not in this table.

For employersWhat the raise costs per employee

For a business, the cost of a minimum-wage employee is more than the wage. The employer also pays Social Security and Medicare (7.65%) on every dollar, plus federal unemployment tax (normally $42 a year per employee: 0.6% of the first $7,000), state unemployment insurance and workers' compensation, which vary by state and industry. Wages plus employer FICA only, for one full-time employee:

The Alaska row shows a full year at $15.00. In 2027 itself, only the second half is at the new rate. A Michigan restaurant or shop with ten full-time minimum-wage employees pays about $28,437 more in 2027 in wages and employer FICA alone.

Where these numbers come from

• Rates: the official state sources linked in the list above, read November 13, 2026. A few official pages could not be opened by our tools directly. For those, the rate was confirmed from the same agency's announcement, poster or fact sheet as indexed by search, and they all agree with each other. The federal $7.25 is from the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Hours: full time is 40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 paid hours. Monthly is yearly ÷ 12. Biweekly is 80 hours. Part-time is 25 hours × 52 = 1,300 hours. No overtime, tips, differentials or unpaid time off.
• Raise: (2027 rate − 2026 rate) × 2,080. For Alaska that is a full year at the new rate. The actual 2027 calendar-year gain is about half, because the raise starts July 1.
• Take-home: 2027 federal standard deduction and brackets from IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-35, single filer, no credits, no pre-tax deductions, employee FICA 7.65%, Washington (no state income tax).
• Employer cost: wages plus employer FICA at 7.65%. Federal and state unemployment tax and workers' compensation are left out because they vary, so the true cost is somewhat higher than shown.
• Inflation comparison: CPI-U, 12 months to September 2026, 3.7%. States index to different measures and periods, so this is a yardstick, not their formula.
• Bias: the full-time figures assume every week is paid. Many minimum-wage workers have fewer hours, so for them the yearly figures overstate income. The employer figures assume nobody above the minimum gets a raise, so they understate the full payroll change. All arithmetic is in drafts/minimum-wage-2027-by-state-numbers.mjs.

FAQFrequently asked questions

Which states raise the minimum wage on January 1, 2027?

Sixteen: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Alaska raises its rate on July 1, 2027. New York's general rate does not change on January 1, 2027.

What is the highest state minimum wage in 2027?

Washington's, at $17.73 an hour, followed by Connecticut at $17.48 and California at $17.40. Some cities are higher still, such as Seattle at $22.14 and Denver at $19.84.

How much is the 2027 minimum wage a year?

Multiply the hourly rate by 2,080 hours for a full-time year. That is $36,878 in Washington, $31,200 at $15.00 in Michigan and Alaska, $23,296 in Montana and $15,080 at the federal $7.25. All are before tax.

Is the federal minimum wage going up in 2027?

No. The federal minimum stays at $7.25 an hour, and the federal tipped cash wage at $2.13. Changing either needs an act of Congress. Where a state or city minimum is higher, the employer must pay the higher rate.

Does the new minimum wage apply to my whole paycheck in January?

Only to hours worked on or after January 1, 2027. If a pay period runs from December 25 to January 7, the December hours may be paid at the 2026 rate and the January hours must be paid at the 2027 rate.

Which state has the biggest raise in 2027?

Michigan, at $1.27 an hour (9.2%), to $15.00. That is $2,642 more a year for a full-time worker. Virginia (+$0.98) and Rhode Island and Alaska (+$1.00 each) follow.

The number to plan with

A minimum-wage raise is easiest to use as a yearly and per-paycheck figure: hourly rate × 2,080 for the year, × 80 for a biweekly paycheck, then subtract roughly 12–14% for federal tax and FICA. If your own rate is not on these lists, the Hourly to Salary Calculator converts any rate and schedule. To see what lands in your account after your state's tax, use the Paycheck Tax Calculator. If your hours change from week to week, log them in the free Shift & Hours Tracker, so January's first paycheck can be checked against the new rate.