Minimum wage 2027: the state increases and what they mean for your job search

Most of these increases follow inflation: the state law ties the minimum wage to a price index and the labor department publishes the new rate in the fall. Michigan, Rhode Island and Virginia follow a schedule written into law instead. Here are the rates we could confirm, read on each state's official website or, where that page was blocked, in two concordant sources (marked "as announced"):

Some states have separate rates. In New Jersey, seasonal employers and employers with fewer than six workers move from $15.23 to $16.25. In Washington, 14 and 15 year olds get $15.07. Minnesota's 90-day training wage for workers under 20 rises to $9.68. In Ohio, the state rate applies to businesses with more than $419,000 in annual gross receipts; at smaller businesses, and for 14 and 15 year olds, the minimum stays tied to the federal $7.25.

Not every state moves in January. Alaska's minimum wage rose to $14.00 on July 1, 2026, and Oregon and Washington, D.C. also adjust in July, according to OnPay. Vermont and Nebraska also index their rates, but we could not find an official 2027 figure on November 4, 2026; we will add them once their labor departments publish them.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and no increase has been announced for 2027. Only Congress can change it. According to OnPay's state-by-state guide, about 20 states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, have no higher state rate, so $7.25 is the legal floor there for most jobs.

When a federal, state and local minimum wage all apply to the same job, the employer must pay the highest one. That is why a cashier in Seattle is owed more than the Washington state rate.

No statewide minimum wage question was on the ballot on November 3, 2026, according to Ballotpedia. The only one this year, Oklahoma's State Question 832 for a $15 minimum wage, was rejected by voters on June 16, 2026.

Dozens of cities and counties set their own minimum wage above the state rate, mostly in California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota and New Mexico. Two confirmed examples for 2027:

• Seattle: $22.14 an hour in 2027, up from $21.30, according to the city's Office of Labor Standards. King County and other Washington cities have their own rates, listed by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries.
• Denver: $19.84 an hour in 2027, up from $19.29, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which also publishes the rates of other Colorado cities as they are announced.

If you are applying in a large city, look up its own rate before you compare an offer with the state minimum. The city's labor standards office or the state labor department lists it.

In most states, an employer can pay a tipped worker a lower cash wage as long as wages plus tips reach the full minimum wage. If they do not, the employer must pay the difference. The federal cash wage is $2.13 an hour. Some states set it higher for 2027:

• Colorado: $12.69 an hour.
• Maine: $7.85 an hour.
• New Jersey: $6.61 an hour.
• South Dakota: $6.15 an hour.
• Ohio: $5.70 an hour.

Other states do not allow a lower cash wage at all. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington require the full state minimum wage before tips. For a server or bartender job, ask which base rate applies, not only how much the tips are.

For entry-level, retail, restaurant and seasonal jobs, the new rate sets the floor for every offer made for next year. Use it in four places:

1. Reading the job posting: a job in Colorado that starts in January at "$15.25 an hour" has to move to at least $15.71. In Washington, employers with 15 or more employees must put a wage scale or salary range in the posting, and in New York State the rule applies from four employees. A posting without a range in those states is worth a question.
2. Comparing offers: convert every offer to an hourly rate. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, Washington's $17.73 comes to about $36,878 a year before tax, against $15,080 at the federal $7.25 (our own calculations).
3. Negotiating: when the employer pays the minimum, the hourly rate is fixed by law, but the hours, the schedule, shift differentials, training and the date of the first review are not. Ask about them. Our list of questions to ask the interviewer has the ones that work, and pay questions go to the recruiter, not the hiring manager.
4. Your first job: an offer at the minimum wage is normal for a first job. What makes the next one better paid is what you can show on your resume after a few months. Our resume with no work experience and high school student resume examples show how to fill a page with school, volunteering and part-time work.

Do not put your hourly pay on your resume: it is not expected in the United States, and it anchors the conversation too low. Put what the employer is paying for instead:

• Numbers from your current or last job: customers served per shift, cash drawer balanced without errors, orders handled during a rush.
• Availability: if you can work nights, weekends or the holidays, say so in your summary. For the holiday hiring season, read our guide to seasonal jobs.
• Certifications: food handler card, forklift, CPR. List them near the top when the posting asks for them.

If you are starting from scratch, the Kandiq resume builder gives you a resume to edit, and you see the finished document before you pay anything. To rehearse the interview itself, try the mock interview.

• Your pay stub: divide your gross pay by the hours worked in the pay period. The result must be at least the highest minimum wage that applies where you work.
• Your location: the rate follows where you work, not where the company is based. Remote and hybrid workers should check both their state and their city.
• If something is wrong: talk to your employer or HR first, in writing. Then contact your state labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. This page gives general information, not legal advice.

We update this page each fall, when states publish the next year's rates.