Florida Minimum Wage Hits $15

Published: September 16, 2026 | By LocalJobPage Team

FLORIDA — On Wednesday, September 30, Florida's minimum wage goes to $15.00 an hour. It is the sixth and final dollar in the schedule voters wrote into the state constitution in November 2020, and the last one that lands on a fixed date.

The state floor rises from $14.00 to $15.00 on September 30, 2026. The cash wage for tipped workers rises from $10.98 to $11.98. And the next increase after that does not arrive until January 1, 2028.

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What changed	State minimum wage rises from $14.00 to $15.00 per hour
Tipped cash wage	Rises from $10.98 to $11.98 per hour
Effective date	Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Who it covers	Employers statewide, with no employee-count threshold
Next increase	January 1, 2028, then annually, indexed to inflation
Federal minimum wage	$7.25 per hour, unchanged since July 24, 2009
Where to read the rule	Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24

🏛️ What the Florida Minimum Wage Increase Changes

Florida voters approved Amendment 2 in November 2020. The text sits in Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution, and it is unusually specific: the wage went to $10.00 on September 30, 2021, then rose $1.00 every September 30 until it reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026. This is that last step.

There is no employer size threshold. The amendment borrows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's definitions of employer, employee and wage, so a worker at a two-person shop is owed the same floor as one at a resort chain. The raise is automatic and applies to the first pay period that includes September 30. Florida's new floor is more than double the federal minimum wage, which the U.S. Department of Labor still lists at $7.25.

💵 Tipped Workers Get $11.98 in Cash

Florida allows a tip credit, but it is frozen. The constitution lets employers credit tips toward the minimum wage only up to the FLSA tip credit allowable in 2003, which the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division lists for Florida as $3.02. It does not move when the wage does.

The required cash wage is the state minimum minus $3.02: $10.98 today, $11.98 on September 30. If cash plus tips does not reach $15.00 an hour, the employer owes the difference.

📅 The Last Dollar, and Why 2027 Brings Nothing

The $1.00 steps end here, and the switch to inflation indexing creates a long gap. Under Section 24(c), on September 30, 2027 and each September 30 after, the state calculates an adjusted rate from the change in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, CPI-W, over the twelve months before that September 1. Each adjusted rate is then published and takes effect the following January 1. Florida Statutes section 448.110 adds the mechanics: the Department of Commerce uses the CPI-W for the South Region, not seasonally adjusted, and posts the new rate by October 15.

So the first indexed rate is calculated September 30, 2027 and takes effect January 1, 2028. $15.00 is the number for the next fifteen months. If you were budgeting around a raise in 2027, there isn't one.

💼 Which Florida Jobs This Actually Moves

Florida had 10,037,300 nonfarm jobs in July 2026, seasonally adjusted and preliminary, and a 4.6 percent unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Two sectors carry most of the state's hourly work: trade, transportation and utilities at 1,992,700 jobs, and leisure and hospitality at 1,344,100.

Leisure and hospitality is where the floor bites hardest. Nationally, BLS put the May 2025 median annual wage for food and beverage serving and related workers at $31,710, cashiers at $32,880, waiters and waitresses at $35,230 and retail sales workers at $35,560, against $50,980 for all occupations. Those are national figures, not Florida ones, and BLS builds annual wages for hourly occupations off a 2,080-hour year, which puts the food and beverage serving median near $15.25 an hour. A median is a median: half the people in that occupation earned less. So $15.00 is no longer an outlier for this work, and the increase lands on the lowest-paying corners of restaurants, retail, hotels, home care and light warehousing.

⚠️ Read This First

The address where the work is performed decides the floor, not where you live or where the employer is based. A Georgia resident working a Jacksonville shift is owed Florida's rate.

No Florida city can go higher. Florida Statutes section 218.077 bars a political subdivision from requiring a minimum wage other than the state or federal one, apart from two narrow carve-outs: a local government's own employees, and employees of an employer taking a direct tax abatement or subsidy from that government. There is no Miami or Tampa rate stacked on the state number.

There is also no opt-out. A 2026 bill, CS/HB 221, would have let some workers sign away the state minimum during work-based learning. It died in the House Commerce Committee on March 13, 2026, per the Legislature's own bill history.

This is not legal advice.

🔎 Where to Aim Right Now

These searches cover the sectors the new rate moves most.

Start here:

🗺️ Where to Look in Your City

Three Florida metros have their own site on this network. These go straight to local listings in the sectors the floor touches.

Not on the list? Find your city.

Common Questions

What is Florida's minimum wage right now?

$14.00 an hour, and $10.98 for tipped employees, both in effect since September 30, 2025.

Does the $15.00 rate apply to tipped work?

Yes, as a total. An employer can pay $11.98 in cash and count up to $3.02 of your tips toward the floor, but cash and tips together must reach $15.00.

Can a Florida city set a higher minimum wage?

Generally no. State law bars local governments from setting a different minimum wage for private employers.

When does Florida's minimum wage go up again?

January 1, 2028. The state calculates an inflation-adjusted rate on September 30, 2027, effective the following January 1.

What if I am paid less than $15.00 after September 30?

Article X, Section 24 allows a civil action for the back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages and attorney's fees, and prohibits retaliation for raising it.

🧭 What to Do Next

If the raise is why you are finally switching jobs, move while seasonal hiring is open. Create a free job seeker account to save searches and apply faster, or browse every open job now.

Employers: September 30 is a payroll deadline, and it lands mid peak-season hiring. Post your openings with the new rate on them, and check pricing if you are hiring more than one this fall.

Florida Minimum Wage Hits $15 on September 30, 2026