The minimum wage for workers will increase in 19 states and 49 cities and counties next month, with the wage floor reaching $15 per hour in dozens of localities, a new report found.
Though the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not increased since 2009, many state and local governments continue to increase minimums through legislation or scheduled increases tied to inflation.
An annual report from the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit advocating for workers’ rights, found that 88 jurisdictions will raise their minimum wages by the end of 2026.
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Rising costs of housing, food, and utilities are pinching more workers across the country.
The increases come as rising costs of housing, food and utilities are pinching more workers across the country, said Yannet Lathrop, senior researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project who authored the report. Those costs are particularly challenging for lower-income workers, who are most likely to be affected by minimum wage changes.
“They are really struggling right now,” she said. “These wages basically mitigate the effects of inflation, the effects of the rising cost of living, and the difficulties so many people are having paying for basics, for food, for housing, for medicine — just the basics of life.”
Lathrop said research increasingly finds that higher wages improve educational outcomes, mental and physical health.
“Things that are going to benefit not just the workers, but also the communities and society as a whole,” she said. “I think that’s an important thing to keep in mind.”
Inflation has significantly eroded the buying power of the federal minimum wage since 2009.
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