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.
Fifteen states have officially confirmed a higher minimum wage starting January 1, 2027. Michigan makes the biggest jump, from $13.73 to $15.00 an hour, and Washington stays the highest state rate in the country at $17.73. Michigan, Rhode Island ($17.00) and Virginia ($13.75) get raises their legislatures wrote into law. Nebraska's comes from a fixed yearly percentage. In the other eleven, the rate is indexed to a price or wage index and the state agency has already published the new figure.
New York is the surprise. Its law ties future increases to inflation, but the state Department of Labor says one of the law's "off-ramps" was triggered, so the general minimum wage stays at $17.00 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 everywhere else. Arizona, South Dakota and Vermont ($14.42 now) index their wages too. Arizona's Industrial Commission has posted its 2027 poster, with $15.65 an hour, and South Dakota's labor department has posted $12.30, up from $11.85, so both are in the table. Vermont had not posted a 2027 figure on its official site as of October 14, 2026, so it stays out until it does.
Every confirmed January 2027 rate
Yearly pay assumes the standard full-time year of 2,080 hours (40 hours a week for 52 weeks) and no overtime. Rates are the general statewide minimums for most adult, non-tipped workers. Cities and counties with their own higher minimum, such as Denver, Seattle or Minneapolis, are not in the table.
| State | 2026 rate | Jan 1, 2027 rate | Yearly pay at full time, 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $17.13 | $17.73 | $36,878.40 |
| Connecticut | $16.94 | $17.48 | $36,358.40 |
| California | $16.90 | $17.40 | $36,192.00 |
| Rhode Island | $16.00 | $17.00 | $35,360.00 |
| New Jersey | $15.92 | $16.48 | $34,278.40 |
| Colorado | $15.16 | $15.71 | $32,676.80 |
| Maine | $15.10 | $15.70 | $32,656.00 |
| Arizona | $15.15 | $15.65 | $32,552.00 |
| Nebraska | $15.00 | $15.26 | $31,740.80 |
| Michigan | $13.73 | $15.00 | $31,200.00 |
| Virginia | $12.77 | $13.75 | $28,600.00 |
| South Dakota | $11.85 | $12.30 | $25,584.00 |
| Minnesota | $11.41 | $11.87 | $24,689.60 |
| Ohio | $11.00 | $11.40 | $23,712.00 |
| Montana | $10.85 | $11.20 | $23,296.00 |
| New York (NYC, Long Island, Westchester) | $17.00 | $17.00 (no increase) | $35,360.00 |
| New York (rest of state) | $16.00 | $16.00 (no increase) | $33,280.00 |
Each figure comes from the state's own notice, poster or statute, listed in the sources below. Ohio's rate applies to employers above a gross-receipts threshold; smaller employers and workers under 16 fall back to the federal $7.25. If your state is missing, its rate either isn't scheduled to change on January 1 or changes on another date. Missouri is one to note: its statute stops at the $15.00 that took effect in 2026, with no 2027 step.
The biggest moves, and why they happened
Michigan, +$1.27 (9.25%). This is not inflation. A 2025 rewrite of the state's wage act set a fixed ladder: $12.48 from February 21, 2025, $13.73 in 2026 and $15.00 on January 1, 2027. From October 2027 the state treasurer takes over with yearly inflation adjustments, so this is the last big step.
Rhode Island, +$1.00 (6.25%). Also set by statute: state law lists $16.00 for 2026 and $17.00 for 2027. That puts Rhode Island ahead of New York outside the city and level with New York City itself.
Virginia, +$0.98 (7.67%). The Virginia Code now spells out the steps: $12.77 in 2026, $13.75 in 2027, $15.00 in 2028, then yearly inflation adjustments set by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry from January 1, 2029. So this raise is the smaller of two: the 2028 step is $1.25.
Washington, +$0.60. The highest state rate gets the largest indexed raise in dollars, tied with Maine. Washington adjusts by the CPI-W every September, and 14- and 15-year-olds can be paid 85% of the adult rate, which works out to $15.07.
The rest moved with their indexes. Maine's increase follows a 4.1% rise in the Northeast CPI-W, Montana's follows a 3.40% CPI-U increase (then rounds to the nearest nickel, landing on $11.20) and Colorado's is a 3.6% raise by the state's own count. Nebraska is the outlier on the low side. Its Department of Labor schedule rises by a fixed 1.75% or so a year ($15.26 in 2027, $15.53 in 2028, $15.80 in 2029), whatever inflation does, so its raise is 26 cents. Every other state on this list gets at least 35.
The federal share of a raise at this income is the same everywhere: 12% income tax once you're past the first $12,400 of taxable income, plus 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, so about 20 cents of each new dollar. What changes from state to state is the state's own cut, which is why a raise in Washington, with no income tax, goes further than the same raise in Michigan. To run your own state and hours, use the take-home pay calculator, and see how we calculate for the assumptions.
What to check before January
A minimum wage increase is a floor, not a raise for everyone. If you already earn $15.50 in Michigan, nothing in the law forces your employer to move you. Where it does reach further is in pay structures built on top of the minimum: tipped cash wages and some salary tests are tied to it. New Jersey's tipped cash wage, for example, rises from $6.05 to $6.61, and Ohio's from $5.50 to $5.70. California's exempt salary test is set at twice the state minimum for 2,080 hours, so it climbs to $72,384 in 2027.
Overtime goes up with the base rate too. Time-and-a-half on Michigan's new minimum is $22.50 an hour, and on California's it's $26.10. The overtime calculator does the math for any rate.
And if your hours aren't a clean 40, the yearly figures above won't match your pay stub. A 32-hour schedule at Washington's $17.73 is $29,502.72 a year, not $36,878.40. Plug your actual rate and hours into the hourly to salary calculator to see your number, or read how many work hours there are in 2026 if you're paid for every weekday rather than a flat 2,080.
Questions
Which state will have the highest minimum wage in 2027?
Among states, Washington, at $17.73 an hour from January 1, 2027, followed by Connecticut at $17.48 and California at $17.40. Many cities set their own minimum above the state rate. Denver's, for example, goes to $19.84 in 2027 according to Colorado's labor department. Where a local and a state rate both apply, your employer has to pay the higher one.
Do tipped workers get the 2027 increase too?
In most of these states the cash wage for tipped workers moves with the full minimum. New Jersey's goes from $6.05 to $6.61 an hour, Ohio's from $5.50 to $5.70, Maine's from $7.55 to $7.85 and South Dakota's from $5.925 to $6.15. Colorado's tipped minimum becomes $12.69. Arizona's becomes $12.65, $3 below the full rate. Tips still have to bring your total up to the full rate, and if they don't, the employer pays the difference.
When will Vermont announce its 2027 minimum wage?
Vermont sets its rate from inflation data and had not posted a 2027 notice as of October 14, 2026. South Dakota, the other state still pending when this table was first published, has since posted $12.30. Until Vermont does, any 2027 number you see for it is a projection, not a rate an employer has to pay.