Raises From Coast to Coast in 2023

64 Cities, Counties, and States Will Raise Minimum Wages on January 1^st—Many Reaching or Exceeding $15—With 27 Additional Jurisdictions Lifting Pay Later in 2023

In 2023, a record number of states and localities will increase their minimum wages, 10 years after fast-food workers first went on strike to demand $15 and a union. These record increases are the result of underpaid workers organizing, demanding, and winning higher wages. This movement has not only led to the adoption of higher state and local minimum wages—it has also helped seed new worker activism and mobilization across our economy and led to greater equity for workers of color.[1]

Summary of Wage Increases in 2023

On January 1, 2023 (December 31, 2022, for workers in New York), the minimum wage will increase in 23 states and 41 cities and counties. In 40 of those jurisdictions, the wage floor will reach or exceed $15 per hour for some or all employees.

Later in 2023, 5 states and 22 local jurisdictions will likewise lift their wage floors—21 of them to $15 or more.

In total, 86 jurisdictions—27 states and 59 cities and counties—will have raised their minimum wage floors by the end of 2023.[i] Of those 86 jurisdictions, 57 (6 states and 51 cities and counties) will meet or exceed a $15 minimum wage for some or all employees. The 6 states that will have minimum wages at or above $15 as of 2023 are California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York,[ii] Oregon,[iii] and Washington.

In total, 86 jurisdictions—27 states and 59 cities and counties—will have raised their minimum wage floors by the end of 2023.

Below is a summary of what to expect:

• Minimum wages will increase in 23 states and 41 cities and counties on or about New Year’s Day, for a total of 64 jurisdictions (Table 1).
  • In 4 states and 36 cities and counties, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15 per hour for some or all employees—including Howard County, MD; Minneapolis, MN; and Saint Paul, MN, which will allow small employers to pay lower minimum wages; as well as the state of New York, which previously reached a $15 minimum wage for workers in New York City in 2019 and Long Island and Westchester County in 2021 as part of a statewide wage order enacted in 2016.

• In 11 states and 31 cities and counties, the minimum wage will increase due to cost-of-living adjustments—including California, which is both implementing the last step wage increase for small employers and aligning it with the inflation-adjusted rate for large employers; and Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN, both of which are adjusting the wage floor for larger employers based on the rate of inflation while continuing to raise the minimum wage for smaller employers according to scheduled step increases.
• Later in 2023, 5 states and 22 cities and counties will follow with additional minimum wage increases, for a total of 27 jurisdictions (Table 2).
  • Among these jurisdictions are Michigan; West Hollywood, CA; Washington, DC; and Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN, which are expected to raise their wage floors twice in the year.
  • In 2 states and 19 cities and counties, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15 per hour—including the District of Columbia and 11 California localities, which have already reached or surpassed a $15 minimum wage and are expected to raise wages further to account for inflation; Oregon and four localities in Illinois, Maryland, and Minnesota, which will allow lower minimum wages for certain employers; and Tukwila, WA, whose minimum wage will be calculated as the sum of the 2022 SeaTac, WA minimum wage ($17.54) plus inflation. (See footnotes xiv and xv at the end of Table 2).
  • In 2 states and 17 cities and counties, the minimum wage will increase due to cost-of-living adjustments. This includes Michigan, which is expected to raise its minimum wage by the rate of inflation under the original provisions of the 2018 ballot measure; Washington, DC, which will raise its standard minimum wage by the rate of inflation while phasing out its tipped wage through step increases; and Chicago, IL and Montgomery County, MD, which reached a $15 minimum wage for large employers in previous years and will adjust this rate in 2023 to account for inflation while they continue to raise the wage floor for small employers through step increases.
• 54 cities, counties, and states will have surpassed a $15 minimum wage for some or all employees by the end of 2023.

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Endnotes

[1]. Yannet Lathrop, Matthew D. Wilson, and T. Willian Lester, “Ten-Year Legacy of the Fight for $15 and a Union Movement: Reducing the Racial Wealth Gap and Generating Tens of Billions in Additional Economic Activity,” National Employment Law Project, November 2022, 2, https://s27147.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/Ten-Year-Legacy-of-the-Fight-for-15-and-a-Union-Movement-Reducing-the-Racial-Wealth-Gap-and-Generating-Tens-of-Billions-in-Additional-Economic-Activity-FINAL.pdf.

[i] Michigan; West Hollywood, CA; Washington, DC; Minneapolis, MN; and Saint Paul, MN are expected to increase their minimum wages twice in 2023 but are counted only once in the year’s grand total.

[ii] In New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, which previously reached a $15 minimum wage.

[iii] In Portland, once adjusted for inflation.