--- title: These 4 States Voted to Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $12 an Hour description: 'Four states voted to increase the minimum wage during Tuesday''s election: Maine, Arizona, Washington, Colorado will all pay workers $12 or more by 2020.' authors: - name: Kerry Close url: https://money.com/author/kerry-close/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 182 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/kerryclose former_staff: true published: '2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z' modified: '2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - 2016 Election - income - Minimum Wage - pubdesk - Wages word_count: 304 canonical: https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Higher Ground Moral Day of Action](https://img.money.com/2016/11/gettyimages-603234540.jpg) *Workers protest in Denver, Colorado for a minimum wage hike.* While many people were disappointed by the results of Tuesday's elections, some Americans are celebrating the fact that a pay raise is finally on the horizon. Voters in Washington, Arizona, Colorado, and Maine all approved measures to raise their state's minimum wage, [Bloomberg reported](http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-ballot-initiative-results/). Mainers will see the greatest pay hike, with the minimum hourly pay jumping from $7.50 to $12 by 2020, and later increasing with inflation. The minimum wage for tipped workers there will also increase to $5 an hour, with $1 increase until their earnings equal the general minimum wage by 2024. Colorado will also give workers a sizable raise, incrementally increasing the minimum wage from $8.31 to $12 by 2020. In Washington, not only will workers receive a pay increase -- from $9.47 to $13.50 by 2020 -- but employers will now be required to provide them with one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. Along with a pay hike from $8.05 to $12 by 2020, Arizona will also provide workers with sick leave: 40 hours annually for those at large companies, 24 hours for those at smaller businesses, and guaranteeing one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. ***Read More*: [Why a $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage Won't Happen Any Time Soon](https://money.com/national-minimum-wage-protest-fast-food-workers-fight-15/?iid=sr-link3)** Still, the increases aren't as great as those seen in some major cities -- like [Washington, D.C.](https://money.com/d-c-passes-15-minimum-wage/?iid=sr-link1), Seattle, San Francisco and New York City -- which have passed ballot measures to raise the minimum wage to $15. However, in the wake of Donald Trump's victory last night in the presidential election, others hoping for a raise might be in luck. The president-elect told CNN in May he might be ["open to doing something"](https://money.com/donald-trump-minimum-wage/?iid=sr-link6) about the minimum wage, though that statement reversed his earlier claims that wages were too high across the country. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elections", "item": "https://money.com/elections/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "These 4 States Voted to Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $12 an Hour" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/", "name": "These 4 States Voted to Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $12 an Hour", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "These 4 States Voted to Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $12 an Hour", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/11/gettyimages-603234540.jpg", "width": 5568, "height": 3712, "caption": "Higher Ground Moral Day of Action" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kerry Close", "url": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/kerryclose" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z", "description": "Four states voted to increase the minimum wage during Tuesday's election: Maine, Arizona, Washington, Colorado will all pay workers $12 or more by 2020.", "abstract": "Four states voted to increase the minimum wage during Tuesday's election: Maine, Arizona, Washington, Colorado will all pay workers $12 or more by 2020.", "@id": "https://money.com/election-states-minimum-wage-2016-election/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2016-11-09T14:13:05.000Z", "wordCount": 304, "keywords": [ "2016 Election", "income", "Minimum Wage", "pubdesk", "Wages" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Election", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election" ] } ] } ] } ```