- Four states are voting on minimum wage increases this Election Day.
- The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but many states have higher rates.
- Proposals include raising wages in Alaska, California, and Missouri and tweaks in Massachusetts and Arizona.
This Election Day, minimum wage workers in four states are waiting to learn if they’ll get a raise.
Though the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009, many municipalities have moved to boost it. The Department of Labor said that 20 states either default to the federal minimum or have minimum wages that equal $7.25. Washington, DC, has the highest minimum wage at $17.50 an hour.
Even with Democrats historically leading the charge for a higher federal minimum, it’s a proposition that often gets bipartisan support: In 2020, Florida voted to reelect Donald Trump as president — and also voted to gradually bump the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Here’s where the minimum wage stands across the country and where it might change.
Alaska
This Election Day, Alaskans — who historically lean red — are voting on a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027 and then peg it to inflation. The minimum wage in Alaska rose to $11.73 at the start of 2024, meaning the new measure would provide another boost.
Ballot Measure No. 1 would also mandate that employers offer paid sick leave, with smaller employers required to provide at least 40 hours and larger employers made to offer at least 56 hours. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimates that the hike would directly affect 16,000 workers in Alaska, and, in total, directly and indirectly affect 30,800 workers across the state.
California
In blue stalwart California, where the minimum wage rose to $16 an hour at the start of 2024, voters are also weighing another boost. Proposition 32, if passed, would bring the minimum wage for all workers to $18 an hour by 2026 — and, for larger businesses, the minimum wage would reach $18 by 2025.
Missouri
Voters in Missouri, which has voted Republican over the last two decades, are weighing in on whether to boost their minimum wage after another gradual bump at the start of 2024. Missouri’s minimum wage is $12.30 an hour. If Proposition A passes, the minimum wage in Missouri will rise to $15 by 2026.
Massachusetts
In Massachusetts — a historically “deep blue” state — voters are weighing in on a more niche aspect of the minimum wage: what tipped workers should receive.
The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $15 an hour, and the tipped minimum wage is $6.75. When tips are included in their wages, tipped workers are meant to reach $15 an hour. Prominent progressives have criticized the practice of the tipped wage, pointing to findings that show women make up a larger share of the tipped wage force — and wage gaps are smaller for restaurant workers in states with one set minimum wage.
If Massachusetts’ question 5 passes, the tipped wage would slowly increase to become level with the state minimum wage, reaching full parity by 2029.
Arizona
Conversely, voters in the swing state of Arizona are weighing whether to reduce the amount employers are obligated to pay tipped workers. As it stands, Arizona employers are able to pay tipped workers up to $3 less than the standing minimum wage — as long as workers’ tips still bring them to the minimum wage.
Under Proposition 138, employers would be able to pay their tipped workers up to 25% less than the state’s minimum wage, which would put such workers at $10.77 an hour, according to Ballotpedia. That would only be allowed, the proposition said, if the employer can “establish that the employee is paid at least the minimum wage plus $2.00 per hour for all hours worked” after including tips.
Are you a worker earning at or near the minimum wage in your state? Share your story with these reporters at jkaplan@businessinsider.com or mhoff@businessinsider.com.
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