22 States To Raise Minimum Wage On New Year's Day

The wage floor is meeting or surpassing $15 per hour in more and more places.

Workers in 22 states and dozens of localities will see a wage hike on New Year’s thanks to cost-of-living adjustments baked into minimum wage laws.

In all, 65 cities, counties and states will hike their wage floors at the start of 2024, the majority of them hitting at least $15 per hour, according to an analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a group that advocates for higher minimum wages.

Another three states and 22 local jurisdictions will boost their minimums later in the year, including 15 that will set a floor of at least $17 for some workers.

The near-record number of increases is the result of years of organizing by workers and labor groups pushing state and local governments on the issue, particularly through the union-backed Fight for $15 campaign that began in fast food in 2012.

Although Congress hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage in well over a decade, activists have succeeded in raising base wages around the country through ballot referendums and state legislation. Most recent measures included scheduled increases or tied the rates to an inflation index so that they adjust each year as consumer prices rise.