One of the results of the closely followed midterm elections on Nov. 6 was the passage of minimum wage increases in two states that voted heavily for Donald Trump in 2016. Residents of Arkansas and Missouri each voted to lift their minimum wage levels, a progressive triumph in states that are typically regarded as conservative. The federal minimum wage is currently set at $7.25 an hour.
Arkansas residents voted in favor of a bill that proposed the minimum wage rise to $11.00 an hour by 2021. Missouri voters also approved a measure that will increase their state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023.
In light of the election, 24/7 Wall St. compiled a list of the 20 states that have confirmed increases to their minimum wage in 2019.
Missouri was already set to increase the minimum wage in 2019 by at least 25 cents to $8.10 per hour as per the state’s annual inflation-related wage adjustment. Voters in Missouri approved the bill that will increase the minimum wage to $8.60 an hour in 2019.
Last year, 18 states increased their minimum wage. Currently, 20 states are set to increase their minimum wage in 2019. In the case of several states, an increase in the minimum wage depended on the election outcome.
Not all states on this list will have a large increase in their minimum wage this year. In Alaska, minimum wage employees will only see a 5-cent-an-hour increase in their wage. Meanwhile, minimum wage employees in Massachusetts, Maine, and at large companies in California will be noticing the largest hike, with an increase of $1.00 an hour.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed federal labor law posting service LaborLawCenter, labor law compliance service GovDocs, employee advocacy group National Employment Law Project, and various news outlets to determine the states that will raise the minimum wage in 2019. The minimum wage listed for each state does not always apply to all workers. For example, the minimum wage of tipped employees is typically half the wage for non-tipped workers. These employees are required by law to make minimum wage after tip. The change listed for each state is the increase for the lowest paid group of non industry-specific workers, except tipped workers unless specified otherwise.
1. Alaska
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.05
> New minimum wage: $9.89
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Alaska will raise its minimum wage by just 5 cents to $9.89 an hour, the smallest minimum wage increase of any state, but up from $9.84 in 2018. The minimum wage had been $9.80 in 2017. Alaska’s minimum wage automatically increases to adjust for inflation rather than by ballot initiative or state legislative action.
2. Arizona
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.50
> New minimum wage: $11.00
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $12.00 (2020)
Arizona’s minimum wage will increase to $11.00 an hour in 2019, up 50 cents from 2018. The tipped minimum wage will increase the same amount, from $7.50 to $8.00 per hour. The state’s minimum wage will continue to increase steadily until it hits $12.00 an hour in 2020.
3. Arkansas
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.75
> New minimum wage: $9.25
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $11.00 (2021)
Last night Arkansas voters approved the bill that will increase the minimum wage by 75 cents in 2019. The state’s minimum wage had been $8.50 since 2017. Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the nation, and the hike in minimum wage will enable one quarter of all state workers to get a raise. By 2021, low income workers will be earning $11.00 an hour.
4. California
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $1.00 (large empl.), $0.50 (small empl.)
> New minimum wage: $12.00 (large empl.), $11.00 (small empl.)
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $15.00 (2022-23)
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state’s $15 per hour minimum wage law into effect in 2016. Businesses with more than 25 employees will be required to pay workers at least $15 an hour by 2022. Small businesses will be required to match that by 2023. For now, the minimum wage will increase to $12.00 per hour for businesses with at least 25 employees and to $11.00 per hour for smaller employers in 2019.
5. Colorado
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.90
> New minimum wage: $11.10
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $12.00 (2020)
In 2019, Colorado’s low-income workers will see a a 90-cent boost to their hourly wage. By 2020, the minimum wage will be $12.00 an hour, thanks to the passage of Amendment 70 in 2017. Tipped employees will also receive an increase in 2019 to $8.08 an hour, up from the previous $7.18 an hour.
6. Delaware
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.50
> New minimum wage: $9.25
> Increase takes effect: Oct. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $10.25 (2021)
Since 2015, the minimum wage in Delaware has remained unchanged, at $8.25 an hour. This pattern has changed in 2018, after Senate Bill 170 was signed into law on July 1. The state’s minimum wage increased to $8.75 an hour in October and will increase again on Oct. 1, 2019 to $9.25. By 2021, state minimum wage workers will earn $10.25 per hour.
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7. Florida
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.21
> New minimum wage: $8.46
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Florida’s minimum wage continues to outpace the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, although not as much as other states on this list. Floridians will make at least $8.46 in 2019, up from $8.25 in 2018. Those who earn tipped wages will also notice an increase from $5.23 an hour to $5.44.
8. Maine
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $1.00
> New minimum wage: $11.00
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $12.00 (2020)
Maine will raise the minimum wage by a full dollar in 2019, tied for the largest increase of any state along with Massachusetts and workers at large companies in California. There will be more increases to the state minimum until it reaches $12.00 an hour by 2020. For tipped employees, the hourly rate will jump from $5.00 an hour to $5.50 an hour in 2019.
9. Massachusetts
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $1.00
> New minimum wage: $12.00
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $15.00 (2023)
Massachusetts passed a bill in 2018 so that by 2023 the minimum wage will be $15.00 an hour. In 2019, the minimum wage will be $12.00 an hour — an increase from the minimum wage of the past two years of $11.00 an hour. The tipped minimum wage will also increase in 2019, from $3.75 an hour to $4.35.
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10. Minnesota
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.21 (large empl.), $0.17 (small empl.)
> New minimum wage: $9.86 (large empl.), $8.04 (small empl.)
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Minnesota is boosting the hourly minimum wage for workers at small companies from $7.87 in 2018 to $8.04 in 2019, and for workers at large companies from $9.65 to $9.86. Large companies are defined in the state as those with a gross revenue of at least $500,000 a year.
11. Missouri
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.75
> New minimum wage: $8.60
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $12.00 (2023)
The 2019 minimum wage in Missouri will rise by 75 cents to $8.60 an hour, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Missouri voters approved the bill that appeared on the ballot yesterday that will enable the state’s minimum wage to increase each year until it reaches $12.00 an hour in 2023. In 2024 the minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation.
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12. Montana
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.20
> New minimum wage: $8.50
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Montana is one of 20 U.S. states that’s increasing its minimum wage. The minimum wage will rise to $8.50 an hour in 2019 as per an annual adjustment based on inflation.
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13. New Jersey
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.25
> New minimum wage: $8.85
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
New Jersey will raise the minimum wage 25 cents to $8.85 an hour in 2019. This is an accelerated increase compared with the change in minimum wage from 2017 to 2018, when the minimum rose 16 cents to $8.60. The tipped minimum wage will remain the same at $2.13 an hour.
14. New York
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.70
> New minimum wage: $11.10
> Increase takes effect: Dec. 31, 2018
> Planned minimum: N/A
Unlike most states, New York’s increase in minimum wage will take effect on New Year’s Eve. Minimum wage workers will notice a 70-cent increase per hour that day, from $10.40 an hour to $11.10. The hourly wage for tipped employees will remain the same at $7.50 per hour. The minimum wage does not apply to workers in New York City or the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. The minimum wage will be notably higher in these areas.
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15. Ohio
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.25
> New minimum wage: $8.55
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Employers in the Buckeye State will pay workers $8.55 an hour in 2019 after paying them $8.30 the year prior. This is a larger increase than the jump of 15 cents in 2017. The minimum wage increase will only apply to businesses with annual gross revenues of at least $314,000. The minimum wage for tipped employees will also increase from $4.15 an hour to $4.30.
16. Oregon
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.50
> New minimum wage: $11.25 (standard), $11.00 (rural)
> Increase takes effect: July 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $13.50 (standard), $12.50 (rural) (2022)
The minimum wage for workers living in Oregon’s standard zone, which mostly surrounds the Portland metro area but includes other more urban regions, will increase in July of 2019 to $11.25 an hour from $10.75 an hour in 2018. For the non-urban worker population, the minimum wage will also increase by 50 cents, from $10.50 to $11.00. By July 1, 2022 the minimum wage will increase to $13.50 for the standard zone and $12.50 for the non-urban zone.
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17. Rhode Island
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.40
> New minimum wage: $10.50
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: TBD
Rhode Island is pushing for a $15 an hour minimum wage by 2023. Passage of this legislation would affect 165,000 workers, or about one in three Rhode Island residents. In the interim, the minimum wage will be raised to $10.50 an hour in 2019, up 40 cents from $10.10 an hour in 2018.
18. South Dakota
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.25
> New minimum wage: $9.10
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
The minimum wage in South Dakota will surpass the $9.00 an hour mark this coming year. It will be raised to $9.10 an hour up from $8.85 in 2018, and the tipped wage will increase from $4.43 to $4.55 an hour.
19. Vermont
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.28
> New minimum wage: $10.78
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: N/A
Vermont’s low-income workers will be receiving a 28-cent boost to their hourly minimum wage. Starting in 2019, the state’s minimum wage will increase yearly by the smaller of the two — either by 5% or the percentage increase of the consumer price index. In 2019, the minimum wage for tipped employees also will increase, to $5.39 an hour from $5.25.
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20. Washington
> 2019 minimum wage increase: $0.50
> New minimum wage: $12.00
> Increase takes effect: Jan. 1, 2019
> Planned minimum: $13.50 (2020)
Washington state workers will make at least $12.00 per hour in 2019, up from $11.50 this year. The minimum wage for tipped workers in the state is the same as non-tipped workers. In 2020, the minimum wage will increase to $13.50 an hour.
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