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The Official Federal Record of State Minimum Wage Rates
Where to find the DOL's official state minimum wage table, dated July 1, 2026, and how it signals each state's own rate-setting method.
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What matters now
- The DOL Wage and Hour Division table is dated "Updated July 1, 2026."
- State rates appear as flat dollar figures such as $16.90, $17.13, and $15.00.
- States without their own rate must pay the federal FLSA minimum of $7.25 per hour.
- Some states adopt the federal rate by reference whenever it exceeds the state rate.
- Entries can carry conditions, such as coverage limited to employers with 4+ employees.
The official federal record of every U.S. state’s minimum wage is the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division “State Minimum Wage Laws” table, which the page itself marks as “Updated July 1, 2026” (dol.gov). That freshness stamp is only part of the story: the table does not record one uniform number for the whole country. Instead, each state’s entry shows the mechanism that produced its rate — a flat dollar figure the state set on its own, a note that the state simply relies on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rate, or a clause that adopts the federal rate by reference whenever it is higher than the state’s own.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- The DOL Wage and Hour Division’s “State Minimum Wage Laws” table carries the date stamp “Updated July 1, 2026” (dol.gov).
- The table lists flat state-set rates, including figures such as “$16.90,” “$17.13,” and “$15.00” (dol.gov).
- For states that rely on federal law instead of a state-set figure, the table states: “Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour” (dol.gov).
- Some state entries carry an adopt-by-reference clause: “The State adopts the federal minimum wage rate by reference if the federal rate is greater than the State rate” (dol.gov).
- Individual entries can also carry their own qualifying conditions, such as “Applicable to employers of 4 or more employees, excluding family members” (dol.gov).
DOL wage-rate table
The single federal source for state-by-state minimum wage rates is the Wage and Hour Division’s “State Minimum Wage Laws” table, hosted at dol.gov. The page states it was “Updated July 1, 2026” (dol.gov), giving readers a direct, dated point of reference rather than a secondhand summary. Because the table carries its own update date, a reader can check that date against the day they are reading it to judge how current the listed rates are.
State entry methods
The table does not present a single format for every state. Reading the entries closely shows three distinct mechanisms recorded on the page itself.
A flat state-set rate. Many states simply list a dollar figure the state has set on its own. The table includes flat rates such as “$16.90,” “$17.13,” and “$15.00” (dol.gov) among the figures it records for states that set their own number.
Reliance on the federal FLSA rate. For states that do not set a separate figure, the table instead states: “Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour” (dol.gov). Here, “$7.25” (dol.gov) is the federal floor itself, not a state-specific number.
An adopt-by-reference clause. A third pattern ties a state’s rate to the federal rate going forward. The table records this as: “The State adopts the federal minimum wage rate by reference if the federal rate is greater than the State rate” (dol.gov). A related clause spells out how future changes would flow through automatically: “If the highest federal minimum wage is increased in excess of the State minimum wage in effect, then the State minimum wage will increase to the same amount, effective on the same date as the increase in the federal minimum wage” (dol.gov).
Why some entries carry extra conditions
Beyond the three mechanisms, individual entries in the table can attach their own qualifying language rather than a bare number. For example, the table records a condition reading: “Applicable to employers of 4 or more employees, excluding family members” (dol.gov). A note like this is part of the official record for the state it accompanies, and it is exactly the kind of detail that a single “50-state number” summary would flatten out.
What this table does not answer
This table is a state-level record; it does not list city or county minimum wage rates, so a reader in a jurisdiction with a local ordinance needs a separate local source for that number. It also does not specify which figure applies to a tipped worker, a youth worker, or an employee of a smaller employer within a given state — those distinctions require reading the state’s own wage rules beyond what this federal table records. The table reflects rates as of its stated update date and does not capture any rate change enacted after that date. It does not determine whether a specific reader’s employer or job is covered by a given state’s rate. And it is a snapshot of current rates, not a history of past rulemaking or a prediction of future changes to any state or federal rate.