Wage news
New minimum wages, tax changes and pay rules, with what each one does to a real paycheck.
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South Dakota's minimum wage rises to $12.30 in 2027, and tipped workers get $6.15
South Dakota's minimum wage rises from $11.85 to $12.30 an hour on January 1, 2027, a 45-cent cost-of-living raise. The tipped cash wage goes to $6.15, half the full rate. With no state income tax, a single full-time worker keeps about 82 cents of each extra dollar.
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Minimum wage increases on January 1, 2027: every confirmed state rate
Fifteen states will raise their minimum wage on January 1, 2027, all confirmed by official notices or state law. Michigan's jump is the biggest, from $13.73 to $15.00 an hour, and Washington keeps the top rate at $17.73. New York's rate will not rise at all because an inflation off-ramp in its law was triggered.
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Florida's minimum wage hits $15: what it pays and what comes next
Florida's minimum wage went from $14.00 to $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026, the final step of Amendment 2. Tipped workers now get at least $11.98 an hour from their employer. The rate holds through December 31, 2027, and the first inflation-adjusted rate takes effect January 1, 2028.
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Federal contractor minimum wage rises to $14.05 in 2027, but few workers still qualify
The federal contractor minimum wage under Executive Order 13658 rises from $13.65 to $14.05 an hour on January 6, 2027, and the tipped cash wage from $9.55 to $9.85. It only covers contracts signed from 2015 to January 29, 2022 and never renewed or extended since. The higher $17.75 floor for newer contracts was revoked in March 2025, and the Labor Department no longer enforces it.
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Montana's minimum wage rises to $11.20 in 2027: what the 35 cents is worth
Montana's minimum wage rises from $10.85 to $11.20 an hour on January 1, 2027, after a 3.40% inflation adjustment that rounding trimmed by two cents. Tipped workers get the full $11.20 because Montana allows no tip credit. At full time, a single filer keeps about 78 cents of each extra dollar.
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Colorado FAMLI premium drops to 0.86% in 2027: what the cut is worth on your paycheck
Colorado's paid family and medical leave premium drops from 0.88% to 0.86% of wages on January 1, 2027, so the most your employer can deduct falls from 0.44% to 0.43% of your pay. For a full-time worker at $20 an hour, the saving is $4.16 a year, sixteen cents a biweekly check. It's also the first rate the program set on its own.
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Reminder: Maryland FAMLI paycheck deduction starts in January, a year before benefits
A reminder for anyone working in Maryland: starting with paychecks in January 2027, employers can deduct 0.45% of your wages for FAMLI, the state's new paid family and medical leave insurance. Benefits don't start until January 2028, so 2027 is a full year of paying in before anyone can file a claim. For a full-time worker at $18 an hour, that's $6.48 a biweekly paycheck.
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Hobby Lobby raises its minimum wage to $21 an hour: what it pays after tax
Hobby Lobby raised its minimum full-time hourly wage to $21.00 on October 5, 2026, its 15th increase since 2009. Full time, that's $43,680 a year before taxes. The release says nothing about part-time pay or what the floor was the day before.
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September jobs report: pay up 3.0% in a year, prices up 3.4%
Average hourly pay for private workers rose to $37.81 in September 2026, up 3.0% from a year earlier, BLS reported on October 2. Production and nonsupervisory workers reached $32.60, up 3.3%. Prices rose 3.4% in the year to August, so the typical raise fell slightly behind inflation.
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DC Paid Family Leave cut: $1,100 a week, 6 weeks for family care
For DC Paid Family Leave claims filed on or after October 1, 2026, the weekly maximum falls from $1,190 to $1,100, medical leave drops from 12 to 10 weeks and family caregiving leave from 12 to 6 weeks. Parental and prenatal leave keep their 12 and 2 weeks. A worker earning $1,500 a week now gets $3,280 less for a full medical leave.
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Connecticut's new pay law: wages in every job ad, full minimum wage for budtenders
Since October 1, 2026, every Connecticut job ad must list the wage or wage range and a general description of benefits, under Public Act 26-12. Cannabis workers can no longer be paid a tipped wage: they get at least $16.94 an hour before tips. Larger employers also owe workers a guide to the codes on their pay stubs.
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New York's minimum wage stays at $17 in 2027, but home care aides go to $20
New York's minimum wage won't rise on January 1, 2027: it stays at $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 everywhere else, because a job-loss trigger in the law froze it. Home care aides still get a raise, to $20.00 and $19.00. Governor Hochul has proposed a fix that would lift rates in March, but it isn't law yet.
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Ohio's minimum wage rises to $11.40 in 2027, but not for everyone
Ohio's minimum wage rises from $11.00 to $11.40 an hour on January 1, 2027, and the tipped cash wage goes from $5.50 to $5.70 plus tips. The raise only reaches workers whose employer grossed more than $419,000: at smaller businesses, and for workers under 16, the floor stays at $7.25.
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Washington's minimum wage rises to $17.73 in 2027, and the overtime salary line jumps to $92,196
Washington's minimum wage rises from $17.13 to $17.73 an hour on January 1, 2027, and tipped workers get all of it. The bigger change is for salaried staff: at employers with 51 or more employees, the salary needed to be exempt from overtime jumps to $92,196 a year, up $12,027.60. Smaller employers stay at 2.25 times the minimum, and Seattle's own rate rises to $22.14.
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New Jersey's minimum wage rises to $16.48 in 2027, with bigger raises for small employers and farm workers
New Jersey's minimum wage rises from $15.92 to $16.48 an hour on January 1, 2027 for most workers. At seasonal employers and those with fewer than six employees it goes to $16.25, farm workers reach $15.00 for the first time, and the tipped cash wage rises to $6.61 with the same $9.87 tip credit.