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Workers in half of the nation will earn more money in the new year thanks to an increase in the minimum wage.
In more than two dozen states, workers earning minimum wage can expect a raise in 2022.
However, many workers will see more substantial pay increases because their employers chose to raise their pay floor on their own.
Virginia will see the largest increase in 2022, boosting its minimum wage by $1.50 per hour after previously scheduled increases were delayed due to revenue losses experienced by businesses and the state during the pandemic.
Delaware is raising its rate by $1.25 per hour. And six states — California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New Mexico —are raising their minimum wage by $1 per hour.
The following states will see minimum wage increases in 2022; most increases will take effect on Jan. 1. In Connecticut, Nevada and Oregon, the increase will occur on July 1, and in Florida, the wage increase will start on Sept. 30. In some cases, employers with fewer than 15 workers may be exempt from paying their state’s minimum wage.
- Arizona: $12.80
- California: $15.00
- Colorado: $12.56
- Connecticut: $14.00 (effective July 1)
- Delaware: $10.50
- Florida: $11.00 (effective Sept. 30)
- Illinois: $12.00
- Maine: $12.75
- Maryland: $12.50
- Massachusetts: $14.25
- Michigan: $9.87
- Minnesota: $10.33
- Missouri: $11.15
- Montana: $9.20
- Nevada: $10.50 (effective July 1)
- New Jersey: $13.00
- New Mexico: $11.50
- New York: $13.20
- Ohio: $9.30
- Oregon: $13.50
- Rhode Island: $12.25
- South Dakota: $9.95
- Vermont: $12.55
- Virginia: $11.00
- Washington state: $14.49
- Washington, D.C.: TBD (D.C.’s minimum wage progressively increases each July in proportion to the increase in the Consumer Price Index.)
The federal minimum wage remains unchanged at $7.25. It was last raised on July 24, 2009.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the federal minimum wage applies in the following 20 states: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have no minimum-wage laws. Georgia and Wyoming both set $5.15 as the state minimum wage, meaning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 applies in most cases.
