US States With the Lowest State Minimum Wages

46 US states ranked by state minimum wage, from lowest to highest. First are Georgia (5.15), Wyoming (5.15) and Idaho (7.25). The middle one of the 46 has 11.

What this measures

The lowest hourly pay the state's own law allowed on 1 January of the year (in February for 1968 and 1972), from the US Department of Labor. Where the law set more than one rate, such as a lower one for small businesses, the highest rate is shown. It is blank where the state had no minimum wage law, or set only a weekly or daily one. Some states' rates are below the federal minimum, which then applies instead. 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	5.15
2	Wyoming	5.15
3	Idaho	7.25
4	Indiana	7.25
5	Iowa	7.25
6	Kansas	7.25
7	Kentucky	7.25
8	New Hampshire	7.25
9	North Carolina	7.25
10	North Dakota	7.25
11	Oklahoma	7.25
12	Pennsylvania	7.25
13	Texas	7.25
14	Utah	7.25
15	Wisconsin	7.25
16	West Virginia	8.75
17	Montana	9.95
18	Michigan	10.1
19	Ohio	10.1
20	Nebraska	10.5
21	Minnesota	10.6
22	South Dakota	10.8
23	Alaska	10.8
24	Arkansas	11
25	Nevada	11.3
26	Delaware	11.8
27	Florida	12
28	Hawaii	12
29	Missouri	12
30	New Mexico	12
31	Virginia	12
32	Illinois	13
33	Rhode Island	13
34	Vermont	13.2
35	Maryland	13.3
36	Colorado	13.7
37	Maine	13.8
38	Arizona	13.8
39	New Jersey	14.1
40	New York	14.2
41	Oregon	14.2
42	Massachusetts	15
43	Connecticut	15
44	California	15.5
45	Washington	15.7
46	District of Columbia	17

More on state 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.