Good news! A ton of states are raising their minimum wage for 2017. These wage bumps differ from state to state, with some states getting a meager five cent boost, and others seeing raises of over a dollar per hour.
Here’s a state-by-state guide to wage increases you can expect in your state this year.
$0.05-0.10 per hour
Four states are raising their wage only by a nickel an hour. Those states are Alaska, Florida, Missouri, and Ohio. New Jersey is raising its wage by 6 cents per hour. Montana and South Dakota are doing slightly better with their full 10 cent increase. Most of these increases have to do with changes in the rate of inflation, usually rounding to the nearest nickel (except, of course, New Jersey, who rounds to the nearest penny).
$0.10-0.50 per hour
Two states, Michigan and Vermont, are raising their wage by 40 cents an hour. It gets better in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Oregon, where that increase is an even 50 cents.
< $1 dollar per hour
Hawaii’s wage raise amounts to 75 cents per hour for 2017. New York couldn’t quite keep up, with only 70 cents of a bump this year. And Colorado raised its wage 99 cents per hour—just shy of a dollar.
$1 dollar or more
If you happen to lucky enough to live in one of these states, you’ll see an increase of a dollar or more in the minimum wage for 2017: Massachusetts ($1), Maine ($1.50) Washington ($1.53), and Arizona (a whopping $1.95).
Even better, states like Arizona, California, and New York are raising their wages incrementally, hoping to continue raising by large margins through the 2020s to get closer to $12 or $12.50 total per hour.
That said, there are still many states with no minimum wage laws at all. These rely on the federal minimum wage. And another 15 states are below or at the bare federal minimum of $7.25.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders continues to promote the #FightFor15 movement, which would raise the federally mandated minimum wage to $15 per hour. For all you hourly workers, here’s hoping!
