US States With the Lowest Effective Minimum Wages

51 US states ranked by effective minimum wage, from lowest to highest. First are Georgia (7.25), Idaho (7.25) and Indiana (7.25). The middle one of the 51 has 10.6.

What this measures

The lowest hourly pay most workers in the state were owed on 1 January of the year: the state's minimum wage or the federal one, whichever was higher. Where the state had no minimum wage, or one below the federal rate, this is the federal minimum. Where the state set more than one rate, the highest is used, which is usually the rate for larger employers. For the whole country it is the federal minimum, from the US Department of Labor. Source: US Department of Labor, state minimum wage history.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

Every state

Rank	State	US$ per hour
1	Georgia	7.25
2	Idaho	7.25
3	Indiana	7.25
4	Iowa	7.25
5	Kansas	7.25
6	Kentucky	7.25
7	Louisiana	7.25
8	Mississippi	7.25
9	New Hampshire	7.25
10	North Carolina	7.25
11	North Dakota	7.25
12	Oklahoma	7.25
13	Pennsylvania	7.25
14	South Carolina	7.25
15	Tennessee	7.25
16	Texas	7.25
17	Utah	7.25
18	Wisconsin	7.25
19	Wyoming	7.25
20	Alabama	7.25
21	West Virginia	8.75
22	Montana	9.95
23	Michigan	10.1
24	Ohio	10.1
25	Nebraska	10.5
26	Minnesota	10.6
27	South Dakota	10.8
28	Alaska	10.8
29	Arkansas	11
30	Nevada	11.3
31	Delaware	11.8
32	Florida	12
33	Hawaii	12
34	Missouri	12
35	New Mexico	12
36	Virginia	12
37	Illinois	13
38	Rhode Island	13
39	Vermont	13.2
40	Maryland	13.3
41	Colorado	13.7
42	Maine	13.8
43	Arizona	13.8
44	New Jersey	14.1
45	New York	14.2
46	Oregon	14.2
47	Massachusetts	15
48	Connecticut	15
49	California	15.5
50	Washington	15.7
51	District of Columbia	17

More on effective minimum wage

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.