--- title: These 18 States Just Raised Their Minimum Wage description: "18 U.S. states\_raised their minimum wage on January 1, with increases up to $1 for minimum wage workers in one state." authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z' modified: '2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - $15 minimum wage - fight for 15 - Minimum Wage - minimum wage job - raise - salary - wage increase word_count: 380 canonical: https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/ 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/). ![Ahead of an expected New York City Council vote, fast-food](https://img.money.com/2018/01/180102-minimum-wage-hike.jpg) *Ahead of an expected City Council vote, fast-food workers and their supporters held a rally outside New York City Hall in May 2017.* Minimum-wage workers across the country have good reason to celebrate the start of the New Year: about 4.5 million of them just got a raise. 18 U.S. states and 20 cities increased their minimum wage on January 1, with bumps ranging from $.04 for workers in Alaska to $1 for workers in Maine. Washington, which hiked its minimum wage from $11 to $11.50 an hour, now has the highest minimum wage in the country. [Several cities and counties](https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates/) are sending wages even higher than the state floor. In California, cities like Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Palo Alto raised the minimum wage to $13.50 or higher. In New York City, the minimum wage is now $12 for small businesses and $13 for businesses with 11 or more employees. Over the last several years, labor advocacy groups like [Fight for 15 have called for](https://money.com/california-minimum-wage-15/?iid=sr-link1) higher wages for fast food, retail and other traditionally low-paying jobs. This new round of wage increases, many of which are the result of new legislation passed by voters, will eventually reach $15 an hour once they are fully phased in, according to the [National Employment Law Project](http://www.nelp.org/publication/raises-from-coast-to-coast-in-2018-minimum-wage-increases/). The federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, a figure the [Economic Policy Institute estimates](http://www.epi.org/publication/18-states-will-increase-their-minimum-wages-on-january-1-benefitting-4-5-million-workers/?utm_content=bufferf63ee&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) should be close to $19 today, factoring in inflation and cost of living. Here are all the states that rang in the New Year with a wage increase, and how much more money employees can expect to see on their paychecks: **Alaska** Increase: $.04 New Minimum Wage: $9.84 **Arizona** Increase: $.50 New Minimum Wage: $10.50 **California** Increase: $.50 New Minimum Wage: $11.00 **Colorado** Increase: $.90 New Minimum Wage: $10.20 **Florida** Increase: $.15 New Minimum Wage: $8.25 **Hawaii** Increase: $.85 New Minimum Wage: $10.10 **Maine** Increase: $1.00 New Minimum Wage: $10 **Michigan** Increase: $.35 New Minimum Wage: $9.25 **Minnesota** Increase: $.15 New Minimum Wage: $9.65 **Missouri** Increase: $.15 New Minimum Wage: $7.85 **Montana** Increase: $.15 New Minimum Wage: $8.30 **New Jersey** Increase: $.16 New Minimum Wage: $8.60 **New York** Increase: $.70 New Minimum Wage: $10.40 **Ohio** Increase: $.15 New Minimum Wage: $8.30 **Rhode Island** Increase: $.50 New Minimum Wage: $10.10 **South Dakota** Increase: $.20 New Minimum Wage: $8.85 **Vermont** Increase: $.50 New Minimum Wage: $10.50 **Washington** Increase: $.50 New Minimum Wage: $11.50 ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/#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": "Economy", "item": "https://money.com/economy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "These 18 States Just Raised Their Minimum Wage" } ] }, { "@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/minimum-wage-increase/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/", "name": "These 18 States Just Raised Their Minimum Wage", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "These 18 States Just Raised Their Minimum Wage", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/01/180102-minimum-wage-hike.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2003, "caption": "180102-minimum-wage-hike" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2016/08/kristen.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "kristen.bahler@money.com", "jobTitle": "Managing Editor", "alumniOf": "Northeastern University, MA Journalism", "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z", "description": "18 U.S. states raised their minimum wage on January 1, with increases up to $1 for minimum wage workers in one state.", "abstract": "18 U.S. states raised their minimum wage on January 1, with increases up to $1 for minimum wage workers in one state.", "@id": "https://money.com/minimum-wage-increase/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2018-01-02T16:26:31.000Z", "wordCount": 380, "keywords": [ "$15 minimum wage", "fight for 15", "Minimum Wage", "minimum wage job", "raise", "salary", "wage increase" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy" ] } ] } ] } ```