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, a 56-cent raise the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) announced on September 29, 2026. Four other rates move the same day: small and seasonal employers go to $16.25, farm workers reach $15.00, direct care staff in long-term care facilities go to $19.48, and the cash wage for tipped workers rises to $6.61.

The headline 56 cents is the smallest raise on the list, shared with tipped workers and long-term care staff. The workers who gain most are the ones on the slower tracks, because two separate laws are pushing their rates up at once.

The five rates for 2027

New Jersey doesn't have one minimum wage, it has five, and which one applies depends on where you work, not what you do. The general rate is adjusted every year for inflation: the state constitution and N.J.A.C. 12:56-3.1(c) tie it to any increase in the Consumer Price Index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The others follow schedules set by the 2019 law that put the state on the road to $15 (P.L. 2019, c. 32).

Who	2026	From Jan. 1, 2027	Raise
Most employers	$15.92	$16.48	+$0.56
Seasonal and small employers (fewer than 6 employees)	$15.23	$16.25	+$1.02
Agricultural, hourly or piece rate	$14.20	$15.00	+$0.80
Long-term care direct care staff	$18.92	$19.48	+$0.56
Tipped workers, cash wage	$6.05	$6.61	+$0.56

One early report put the general rate at $16.45. NJDOL's figure is $16.48.

The small and seasonal rate is where the real catch-up happens. A $1.02 raise is 6.7%, almost twice the general increase, and it closes the gap with the main rate to 23 cents. NJDOL says that track finishes its statutory steps in 2028; after that it rises with inflation like everything else. Farm workers reach $15 for the first time, which the acting labor commissioner, Kevin D. Jarvis, called "a particularly meaningful step." Their schedule runs until 2030.

Direct care staff in long-term care facilities stay exactly $3 above the general rate, so their raise is the same 56 cents.

What $16.48 pays over a year

At 40 hours a week, $16.48 is $659.20 before taxes and $34,278.40 over the standard 2,080-hour year. That's $1,164.80 more than at this year's $15.92. Overtime moves with it: New Jersey pays time and a half after 40 hours of actual work in a seven-day week, so the lowest legal overtime rate becomes $24.72.

Unlike Washington or Florida, New Jersey taxes wages, and it also takes four small worker contributions out of every check: unemployment, workforce development, temporary disability and family leave insurance. Here's the full year for a single filer, run through our take-home pay calculator with 2026 tax rules (the 2027 brackets aren't out yet, so next year's exact figure will differ slightly):

So of the $1,164.80 raise, about 78 cents on the dollar reaches the paycheck. At a small or seasonal employer the same math gives $33,800 gross and $28,548.69 after tax, up $1,649.65 on the year, which is the bigger real-money raise of the two.

How the tipped math works

A tipped worker's employer pays a cash wage of at least $6.61 and may count up to $9.87 an hour of tips toward the minimum. The tip credit doesn't change in 2027, so the whole 56 cents lands on the cash wage. The two pieces add up to exactly $16.48, and that's the point: tips can cover the gap, but the total can never be less than the full minimum wage. If cash wage plus tips falls short, NJDOL says the employer pays the difference.

The top-up line is the one people miss. On a pay stub it may show up as a separate "tip shortfall" or "make-up pay" line, or just as a higher hourly amount. If your tips were thin and the stub shows only $6.61 an hour, ask how the week was squared.

Tipped workers also get the second half of the story at tax time. The federal no tax on tips deduction lets you subtract up to $25,000 of qualified tips on your 2026 return, but it's claimed when you file, so it doesn't show up in the weekly check.

What to check in January

January 1, 2027 is a Friday. If your pay period spans New Year's, hours worked through December 31 can be paid at the old rate and hours from January 1 at the new one. The first full January pay period is the one to look at: any hourly line still showing $15.92, $15.23, $14.20, $18.92 or $6.05 means payroll wasn't updated. NJDOL takes wage complaints through its Wage and Hour Compliance division.

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