Raises from Coast to Coast in 2025

69 Cities, Counties, and States Will Raise Minimum Wages on January 1, With 28 More Lifting Pay Later in 2025

Summary of Wage Increases in 2025

On January 1, 2025, the minimum wage will increase in 21 states and 48 cities and counties. In 55 of those jurisdictions, the wage floor will reach or exceed $15.00 per hour for some or all employers, including 2 states and 38 localities where the wage floor will reach or exceed $17.00 per hour for some or all employers.

Later in 2025, 5 states and 23 local jurisdictions will likewise lift their wage floors—22¹ of them to $15.00 or more for some or all employers, including 1 state and 18 localities which will reach or exceed a $17.00 minimum wage for some or all employers.

In total, a record 88 jurisdictions—23 states and 65 cities and counties—will raise their minimum wage floors by the end of 2025.² Of those, 70 jurisdictions (9 states and 61 cities and counties) will reach or exceed a $15.00 minimum wage for some or all employees in 2025; and 53 jurisdictions (2 states and 51 cities and counties) will reach or exceed $17.00.

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Below is a summary of what to expect:

On January 1st: Wage floors will increase in 21 states and 48 cities and counties, for a total of 69 jurisdictions (see Table 1 in PDF).

• In 8 states and 47 cities and counties, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15.00 per hour for some or all employees.
• In 2 states and 38 localities, the wage floor will reach or exceed $17.00 per hour for some or all employees. The state figure includes California, which will increase the wage floor to between $18.00 and $23.00 for some health care workers; and New Jersey, which will increase the wage floor to $18.49 for long-term care workers.
• In 14 states and 39 cities and counties, the minimum wage will increase due to cost-of-living adjustments—including New Jersey, which is implementing step increases for small employers, and seasonal and agricultural workers, while adjusting the wage floor for large employers and long-term care workers to reflect inflation.

Later in the year: 5 states and 23 cities and counties will follow with additional minimum wage increases, for a total of 28 jurisdictions (see Table 2 in PDF).

• Among these jurisdictions are Alaska; California; Michigan; West Hollywood, California; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and the Washington cities of Bellingham, Burien, Renton, and Tukwila. These jurisdictions will raise their minimum wages twice (January 1st and later in the year) for some or all employers.
• In 2 states and 20 cities and counties, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15.00 per hour for some or all employers, including California, which will increase the wage floor to between $18.63 and $24 for some health care workers.
• In 1 state (including California’s health care wage floor) and 18 local jurisdictions, the wage floor will reach or exceed $17.00 per hour.
• In 1 state and 19 cities and counties, the minimum wage will increase due to cost-of-living adjustments—including Washington, DC and Chicago, Illinois, which will adjust their standard minimum wages to account for inflation while they continue to phase out their subminimum wage for tipped workers through step increases; and Tukwila, Washington which will adjust the minimum wage for large employers to account for inflation, while continuing to raise the minimum wage for mid-sized employers through step increases.

Wage floors above $15: 6 states and 60 cities and counties will have surpassed a $15.00 minimum wage for some or all employees by the end of 2025, including 2 states and 51 localities which will have reached or surpassed a $17.00 minimum wage (see Table 3 in PDF).

No increases: Seven states (Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Virginia) with minimum wage laws above the federal rate of $7.25 are not expected to raise their minimum wages in 2025. Except for Hawaii—which skips a step increase in 2025, before resuming increases in 2026—all these states have failed to adopt provisions that index their minimum wages to inflation (see Table 4 in PDF).

Legacy of the Fight for $15: 14 states have adopted a path to a $15.00 (or higher) minimum wage since 2012: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. In addition, although Oregon and Washington State adopted wage laws with original target rates under $15.00 per hour, indexing provisions in their laws have boosted their wage floors above $15.00 for some or all workers in recent years. In total, 16 states are on a path to a $15.00 (or higher) minimum wage.

Minimum Wage Victories and Other Developments in 2024

Workers won important minimum wage victories in 2024, including the defeat of a ballot initiative in Arizona that would have harmed tipped workers. Below is a summary of these victories:

• Alaska and Missouri: Voters in the red states of Alaska and Missouri approved ballot initiatives raising the minimum wage and enacting paid sick leave policies. In Alaska, the minimum wage will increase to $15.00 by 2027, and in Missouri it will increase to $15.00 by 2026. Alaska is one of seven states that do not currently allow employers to subsidize their payroll costs through the use of tip credits, making this victory especially consequential for tipped workers.
• Arizona: By a 75 percent to 25 percent margin, voters in Arizona rejected Proposition 138—a restaurant industry-backed ballot initiative that would have cut wages for tipped workers by expanding the “tip credit” from a fixed $3.00 less than the full minimum wage to 25 percent less than the full minimum wage.
• Michigan: Workers in Michigan will reap the rewards of a six-year hard-fought and ultimately victorious campaign to meaningfully boost the state wage floor and eliminate the subminimum tipped wage. In 2018, pro-worker advocates submitted the required signatures to put an initiative on the November ballot that would have increased the state minimum wage to $12.00 by 2022 and phased out the subminimum tipped wage by 2024. The then Republican legislature adopted these provisions only to water them down dramatically (the full minimum wage would not have reached $12.00 until 2030)—an “adopt and amend” maneuver that the Michigan Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 2024. As a result, Michigan became the first state in 40 years to adopt a path to one fair wage for tipped workers. The tipped wage will be phased out under a modified schedule, reaching parity with the full minimum wage by 2030. An estimated 494,000 workers will benefit.
• Boulder, CO: Underpaid workers in one of Colorado’s most expensive cities will welcome the new year with the first of three scheduled minimum wage increases, thanks to the efforts of workers and advocates who demanded and won a higher local wage floor. On January 1, 2025, Boulder’s minimum wage will increase to $15.57, reaching $18.17 by 2027. Boulder is the fourth Colorado locality (following Denver, Edgewater, and Boulder County) to adopt a local minimum wage after the state legislature repealed a law “preempting” or banning localities from enacting higher local wages.
• Burien, WA: The Burien City Council approved an ordinance that will enact the highest wage floor in the nation in 2025. Under the law, employers (including franchisers) with a workforce equal to or more than 500 employees (“Level 1 employers”) will be required to pay $4.50 above the Washington state minimum wage on January 1st, and those with 21 to 499 employees (“Level 2 employers”) will be required to pay $3.50 above the state wage floor on July 1st. Employers with smaller workforces are exempt. The state minimum wage will increase to $16.66 in 2025, which brings the Burien wage floor to $21.16 for level 1 employers, and $20.16 for level 2 employers.
• King County, WA: Unincorporated King County adopted an ordinance that raises its wage floor to $20.29 on January 1st for large employers. Smaller businesses will have additional time to adjust to the higher wage; in 2025, they will be required to pay an hourly wage of $17.29 to $18.29, depending on the number of workers they employ, and the size of their revenue. King County’s hourly wage complements the local minimum wages of cities and towns in the county including Seattle and SeaTac, which were among the nation’s highest local wages.
• Renton, WA: Voters in Renton approved a ballot measure during the February 13th special election that raised the city’s wage floor to $20.29 for large employers and $18.29 for mid-size employers on July 1st. Starting January 1, 2025, Renton’s minimum wage is adjusted to inflation.
• Long Beach, CA: Voters in Long Beach approved a ballot measure that raises the wage floor for hotel workers to $29.50 by 2028. Although it applies to only a small section of the Long Beach workforce, this measure (along with another which applies to concessionaire workers) is meaningful since the city does not otherwise require a minimum wage higher than the state wage floor.

Other developments this year include:

• California and Massachusetts: Although ultimately not approved, voters in California and Massachusetts considered ballot measures that would have raised the minimum wage to $17.00–$18.00 by 2025 (California) and phased out the lower tipped wage by 2029 (Massachusetts). In California, the loss is mitigated by the nearly 4 dozen local minimum wage laws that have reached or surpassed an $18.00 minimum wage or will do so in the next couple of years.
• Minnesota: Until last year, Minnesota’s minimum wage law allowed for a subminimum wage for small businesses and young workers. Recognizing the need for equitable treatment for all workers, in 2024 the legislature passed a bill eliminating these lower wages. Additionally, the bill increased the inflation adjustment cap to 5 percent (up from 2.5 percent), and removed the ability of the Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner to freeze the minimum wage during economic downturns.

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Note on Citations

Citations to data sources are available in the full report PDF.