These states will raise the minimum wage in 2026
Nearly 20 U.S. states are set to raise their minimum wage in 2026, boosting pay for millions of workers spanning from Arizona to New Jersey.
A mix of Republican- and Democrat-controlled states will raise their wage floors on Jan. 1 in keeping with inflation-adjusted increases or as part of scheduled hikes that take effect at the beginning of each calendar year.
The pay increases will affect about 8.3 million workers, who will gain a combined $5 billion over the course of 2026, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, or EPI.
Beginning next year, the number of workers living in a state that guarantees a $15 minimum wage will exceed the number living in a state that offers the federal wage floor of $7.25 per hour, the EPI found.
After the wave of wage hikes, Washington will become the state with the highest minimum wage, offering workers $17.13 per hour.
Workers in New York will enjoy the second-highest wage floor, as the state implements a minimum hourly wage of $17 for workers in New York City, Long Island and Westchester. Outside those areas, workers in New York will receive at least $16 per hour.
Overall, the 19 states set to raise their minimum wage on Thursday include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
The nation's highest wage floors will take effect in some of the nearly 50 cities and other localities that will impose minimum pay hikes.
Twenty-nine localities in California will see pay hikes, including a $20.25 an hour wage floor that will take effect in West Hollywood. Eight localities in Washington will increase their minimum wage, among them the country's highest wage floor: $21.65 an hour in Tukwila.
The latest round of pay increases, however, will not affect 20 states concentrated in the South that lack a minimum wage or offer a minimum wage that does not exceed the federal minimum.
The last federal minimum wage hike took place in 2009, when Congress raised the pay floor to its current level. Since then, the federal minimum wage has lost more than 30% of its value due to inflation, EPI found.
