Minimum wage in Florida will rise again in 2024. How much will you make?

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

Florida's minimum wage will be rising again this year.

That's per the amendment Floridians approved in 2020 to raise the wage incrementally, first from $8.65 to $10 in 2021 and then another dollar every year until it reaches $15 an hour for non-tipped employees and $10.98 for tipped employees.

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has been since 2009.

What will Florida's minimum wage be in 2024?

Florida's minimum wage will become $13 an hour for non-tipped employees and $9.98 for tipped employees.

When will Florida's minimum wage rise again?

The minimum wage rates for both tipped and non-tipped employees will rise on Sept. 30, 2024, and will rise again in 2025 and 2026.

Which states have the highest minimum wage?

Several states have passed minimum wage increases in recent years. The current highest minimum wages in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, are:

  • Washington D.C.: $17 an hour

  • Washington state: $16.28 an hour

  • California: $16 an hour

  • New York (New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, & Westchester County): $16 an hour

  • New Jersey: $15.13 an hour

  • Maryland, Massachusetts, rest of New York: $15 an hour

Twenty states pay the federal minimum rate of $7.25.

Which states are raising minimum wage in 2024?

Twenty-two states raised minimum wages as of Jan. 1, 2024 and Florida, Nevada and Oregon will raise theirs sometimes this year.

Where workers are getting a raise: 25 states are raising the minimum wage in 2024

What happens after Florida's minimum wage hits the $15 cap?

The amendment was intended to get minimum wages more in line with current costs of living. After it reaches $15, the state will return to the previous method of calculating cost-of-living adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index.

What is the living wage in Florida?

The minimum wage is different from a living wage, however, which tries to calculate how much a person needs to earn per hour to afford the necessities — housing, childcare, health care, food, etc. — where they live.

In 2023, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) living wage calculator found that the living wage in Florida is $17.72 for one adult with no children, $35.98 for an adult with one child, $45.96 for an adult with two children and $60.66 for an adult with three children.

How is the minimum wage for tipped employees calculated in Florida?

Employers of tipped employees must pay their employees minimum wage, but they can count the tips the employees receive toward it up to the maximum of $3.02, the allowable Fair Labor Standards Act tip credit of 2003. So the direct wage they must pay is the minimum wage minus $3.02.

The current minimum wage in Florida is $12 an hour, so the tipped minimum wage is $8.98. Both will go up a dollar each until they reach $15 an hour for non-tipped employees and $11.98 for tipped employees.

Do minimum wage laws in Florida apply to all employers?

No, there are certain occupations and situations where the Department of Labor allowed exemptions to the federal minimum wage law where employees may be paid less. These include, among others:

  • Executive, administrative and professional employees

  • Commissioned sales employees

  • Farm workers

  • Seasonal or recreational establishment workers

  • Newspaper delivery people

  • Federal criminal investigators

  • Informal workers such as babysitters

  • Minors under certain circumstances

  • Student workers

  • Employees with disabilities if the employer has a certificate from the Department of Labor allowing it (a measure to encourage more employers to hire people with disabilities)

  • Nonprofit or educational organizations that have applied for an exemption, and others.

  • Employees of enterprises with an annual gross income of less than $500,00

What was the minimum wage in Florida before?

Florida's minimum wage was tied to the federal minimum wage created in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 which set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, banned oppressive child labor and capped the maximum workweek at 44 hours. But in 2005, Florida voters approved Amendment 5 to establish a state minimum wage over the federal standard. Florida has paid its minimum wage workers more than the federal minimum ever since.

Amendment 5 brought the hourly wage for non-tipped employees to $6.15, a dollar more than the federal minimum at the time, and required the Department of Economic Opportunity to calculate an adjusted state minimum wage rate based on the rate of inflation for the 12 months prior to Sept. 1, based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. New adjustments were to take effect the following Jan. 1.

There have been several increases since:

  • 2005: Raised to $6.15 an hour

  • 2006: Raised to $6.40 an hour

  • 2009: Raised to $7.21 an hour

  • 2010: Raised to $7.25 an hour

  • 2016: After 6 years, raised to $8.05 an hour

  • 2017: Raised to $8.10 an hour

  • 2018: Raised to $8.25 an hour

  • 2019: Raised to $8.45 an hour

  • 2021: Raised to $10 an hour to meet requirements from the 2020 amendment

  • 2022: Raised to $11 an hour

  • 2023: Raised to $12 an hour

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida minimum wage 2024 to rise again but still below living wage

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