The States Where the Minimum Wage Is Highest in 2020
The lowest-paid workers in many of these states have gotten a pay raise in 2020.
In 29 states, workers are paid minimums higher than what federal law requires. Here are the 15 states that are on top after midyear increases, including one that took effect on Sept. 1. We count down to the state with the highest minimum wage of all.
15. Hawaii
Hawaii's minimum wage has held steady since early 2018.
Minimum wage: $10.10 per hour
Hawaii makes this list, even though the state hasn't said "Aloha" to a minimum wage increase in a couple of years. The rate has stood at $10.10 an hour since Jan. 2018.
While that's higher than in most states, it doesn't go far in an island paradise where prices are steeper than anywhere else in the U.S., according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Hawaii legislators in 2020 are expected to take a fresh look at a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024.
The proposal stalled in 2019 as lawmakers disagreed over whether there should be a lower rate for workers who get health benefits through their jobs.
14. Alaska
Alaska's minimum wage is adjusted every year.
Minimum wage: $10.19 per hour
The minimum wage in the state nicknamed "the Last Frontier" goes up automatically each New Year's Day to keep pace with inflation, thanks to a ballot measure voters approved in 2014.
Alaskans in the lowest-paying jobs got a raise of 30 cents for 2020. The previous minimum was $9.89 an hour.
Like everyone else in Alaska, minimum-wage workers also receive annual payouts from the state's oil wealth fund. In 2019, every adult and child received a check for $1,606 — $6 more than in 2018 — to spend, save or invest.
School bus drivers in Alaska have their own pay floor: They're required to receive at least double the usual minimum wage.
13. Rhode Island
Rhode Island is debating whether to raise the minimum wage again.
Minimum wage: $10.50 per hour
America's smallest state by area has one of the highest minimum pay levels. But some leaders in Rhode Island say the state's $10.50 minimum wage needs to be even higher, to stay competitive with neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts.
An estimated 20,000 workers in the Ocean State make the minimum. The state Senate passed legislation in June 2019 that would have raised their pay to $11.50 an hour at the start of 2020.
But the bill didn't make it to the governor's desk.
Rhode Island employers not only must obey the state's minimum wage law, but they're also required to pay workers time and a half for Sundays and holidays. A similar rule in Massachusetts is being phased out.
12. Vermont
Vermont's minimum wage increases with inflation.
Minimum wage: $10.96 per hour
Though next-door New Hampshire has stuck with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, Vermont has been lifting its rate by up to 5% per year to keep up with the cost of living.
Low-paid workers in the Green Mountain State got an 18-cent increase for 2020, up from the previous minimum wage of $10.78 an hour.
But state lawmakers want to see the rate rise more quickly. In February 2020, they overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Phil Scott to increase the minimum to $11.75 in 2021 and $12.55 in 2022.
A state study found Vermont's minimum wage isn't enough to live on in. For a working couple to get by in the state, each partner needs to earn at least $13.34 per hour, the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office reported.
10. (tie) New Jersey
New Jersey is moving toward a $15 minimum.
Minimum wage: $11 per hour
Minimum wage increases have become part of the fabric of New Jersey — like the state's unique law that doesn't let motorists pump their own gas.
A bill that the governor signed into law in early 2019 calls for annual $1 raises every January until 2024. That's when the Garden State's minimum will hit $15 for most workers.
The latest increase — from $10 to $11 as of Jan. 1, 2020 — put New Jersey among the 21 states raising the minimum wage for 2020.
The route to $15 per hour "will grow our economy, uplift working families, make our state more affordable, and ensure fairness for future generations," Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy wrote last July, on Twitter.
10. (tie) Maryland
Maryland's minimum wage is going up every year.
Minimum wage: $11 an hour
In Maryland, the state with the highest median household income ($83,242 in 2018, according to census data), the poorest workers have begun getting annual New Year's Day raises.
Like several other states on this list, Maryland is raising its minimum wage in stages, on the way to an eventual $15 an hour. That level will be reached in 2025, under a bill that became law last year.
For 2020, the minimum increased from $10.10 to $11. In wealthy Montgomery County outside Washington, D.C., minimum-wage workers can make $13 hourly.
Maryland restaurant servers and other workers who earn tips may continue to receive base pay as low as $3.63 per hour.
9. New York
New York is heading toward a $15 minimum wage.
Minimum wage: $11.80 per hour
In New York, where subway fares, State Thruway tolls and upstate snowfall totals seem to go up routinely, the minimum wage is making regular increases, too.
Thanks to a New Year's Eve raise, workers across the Empire State are now earning a minimum of $11.80 an hour in 2020, up from $11.10 in 2019. The state is aiming to get to the $15-an-hour level in mid-2021.
Some areas are arriving there faster. New York City is already at $15, and suburban Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties are scheduled to join the Big Apple at $15 by the end of 2021.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the wage hikes give more New York families "the opportunity to live a decent life."
4. (tie) Oregon
Oregon's minimum wage rises in the summer.
Minimum wage: $12 per hour
Minimum-wage workers in Oregon are getting raises every summer, under a 2016 law.
The latest increase went into effect on July 1 and took take the Beaver State's minimum to an even $12 an hour, from $11.25. The final hike in the series is scheduled for 2022, and will require that workers be paid at least $13.50 an hour.
After that, Oregon will make annual increases in line with inflation.
But here's something quirky: The state's standard minimum wage applies in fewer than half of Oregon's counties. The Portland metro area has a higher rate than $12 (now $13.25 an hour) and the rest of the state is called "nonurban" and has a lower one ($11.50).
4. (tie) Maine
Maine's minimum wage has been rising annually.
Minimum wage: $12 per hour
In Maine — where you find more than 65 lighthouses, over 60,000 moose and a lobster industry worth $1.5 billion a year — the minimum wage has been rising steadily from $7.50 an hour, where it sat in 2016.
The last in a series of $1 New Year's Day raises lifted the rate to $12 for 2020, from $11 last year.
Starting in 2021, the Pine Tree State's minimum will see smaller yearly increases, to keep in step with inflation.
Maine also has a new overtime rule making workers eligible for time and a half if they earn less than $36,000 annually. The old threshold was $33,000. Officials say the change means an additional 1,600 people will qualify for O.T.
4. (tie) Colorado
Denver and other Colorado cities are now able to have their own separate minimum wage.
Minimum wage: $12 per hour
The Centennial State's minimum wage went up to $12 for 2020 on New Year's Day, from $11.10 in 2019.
And, for the first time, you can earn an even higher rate if you live in Denver. Taking advantage of a new law that allows Colorado cities to set their own minimums, the Mile High City in 2020 is requiring employers to pay at least $12.85 an hour.
Local officials said they needed the power to set their own pay floors, because many businesses in Colorado's urban areas have discovered it's tough to find employees willing to work for low wages.
Denver's minimum wage is set to hit $15.87 in two years.
4. (tie) Arizona
Arizona voters decided to raise the state's minimum wage.
Minimum wage: $12 per hour
The one they call the Grand Canyon State — which also is known for its Wild West history, college football's Fiesta Bowl and "dry heat" — has been steadily pushing up its minimum wage, under a ballot measure voters approved in 2016.
A New Year's hike raised the rate to $12 for 2020, from $11 last year. Starting in Jan. 2021, annual increases will be pegged to the cost of living.
Flagstaff, Arizona, had a local ballot initiative in 2016 that gave the city its very own minimum wage, which just went up from $12 to $13.
Low-paid workers in Flagstaff can look forward to making a minimum of $15 an hour when a $2 increase takes effect in 2021.
4. (tie) Connecticut
Connecticut expects to have a $15-an-hour minimum wage in 2023.
Minimum wage: $12 per hour
Connecticut is marching its way toward a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
The latest raise went into effect on Sept. 1, when the rate got bumped from $11 to $12 hourly. It will keep climbing by $1 every 11 months until the magic level of $15 is achieved in June 2023.
Gov. Ned Lamont and fellow Democrats in the Connecticut legislature say a higher minimum wage will make the Nutmeg State more appealing for workers and stop people from leaving.
Connecticut's population shrank by more than 6,000 from July 2018 through June 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest estimates.
3. Massachusetts
Massachusetts has been phasing in a $15 minimum wage.
Minimum wage: $12.75 per hour
Massachusetts is yet another state driving toward a minimum wage of $15 an hour; the goal is to get there in 2023.
The latest step has given the Bay State's lowest-paid workers a 75-cent raise for 2020. The previous minimum was $12.
Massachusetts workers who receive tips got a raise in their base pay from $4.35 to $4.95 hourly. They'll be getting $6.75 by 2023, but some members of the state legislature have argued that it's time to do away with the low "tipped wage."
2. California
The Golden State is yet another one headed toward a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
Minimum wage: $13 per hour
In the heavily populated and pricey Golden State, the minimum wage has been going up by $1 a year, so that by 2022 California workers will be required to earn at least — you guessed it — $15 an hour.
The latest increase took the state's minimum from $12 to $13 for 2020.
But a number of California communities aren't waiting and are already at or above the $15 mark, especially in Silicon Valley. In 2020, San Jose is at $15.25, Apple's hometown of Cupertino is paying $15.35, and Palo Alto has a minimum of $15.40.
The state's leader is Emeryville, the San Francisco suburb that's home to the Toy Story animation studio Pixar. The minimum wage there jumped on July 1 from $16.30 to $16.84 an hour.
1. Washington
Washington's minimum wage is tall like the Seattle Space Needle and high like Mount Rainier.
Minimum wage: $13.50 per hour
In Washington, a state known for soaring mountain peaks and skyscraping man-made wonders like the Seattle Space Needle, the minimum wage has gone to heights no other state has seen before.
A New Year's increase raised the Evergreen State's minimum by $1.50 an hour for 2020, from the old rate of $12. Future statewide increases will be tied to inflation.
Meanwhile, two Washington cities have already reached the popular $15-an-hour level — and then some.
Since the start of this year, large employers in Seattle have been required pay at least $16.39 an hour. And in SeaTac, which is home to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, hospitality and transportation workers now have a minimum wage of $16.34.
