Minimum Wage Calculator

On state minimum wage, the gap between the highest and lowest state is $17.13/hr (Washington) versus $7.25/hr (Wyoming) — a 2.4x spread. The median state sits at $11.41/hr, and the middle half of states falls between $7.25/hr and $15.00/hr.

That spread is the reason this site publishes per-state answers instead of one national average: an average of $11.41/hr describes 5 of 50 states well and materially misstates the rest.

At $11.85 an hour, full-time work in U.S. yields about $24,648 a year before tax, or $2,054 a month. Median two-bedroom rent is $1,551, which is 76% of that income — against the 30% figure commonly used as an affordability benchmark.

U.S. sets its own rate above the federal floor of $7.25.

U.S. permits a tip credit. The cash wage can be as low as $3.89, with tips expected to make up the $7.96 difference. If they do not in a given pay period, the employer is legally required to cover the shortfall — an obligation frequently unmet in practice.

Minimum wage is one of the few figures that genuinely differs in EVERY state and changes most years: 22 distinct base rates from $7.25 to $17.13, and 35 distinct tipped-wage rates from $2.13 to full parity. Tipped treatment is a structural fork, not a rate tweak — some states allow a tip credit against a much lower cash wage, others require the full minimum before tips, which changes the calculation itself.

Most calculator sites publish one page per state that repeats the same text with the name swapped. This one publishes a page only where the answer actually changes: 16 pages cover all 50 states, because 34 states produce an answer identical to another state's. The build measures every page against its siblings and fails if any two converge, so that property is enforced rather than intended.

Calculations run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is transmitted or stored. See methodology for the formulas and sources for provenance and vintages.