Record Number of Jurisdictions Set to Increase Minimum Wage in 2025

A new analysis from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) finds close to 70 cities, counties and states set to increase their minimum wage in 2025.

In a recent summary of 2025 wage increases, Yannet Lathrop, senior researcher and policy analyst at NELP, broke down what the nonprofit advocacy organization says is a record number of jurisdictions poised to raise their minimum wage floor in the year ahead.

On Jan. 1, 2025, for instance, 21 states and 48 cities and counties increased the minimum wage. In 55 of those jurisdictions, the wage floor will reach or exceed $15 per hour for some or all employers, according to NELP, which notes that the wage floor in two states and 38 localities will reach or exceed $17 per hour for some or all employers.

Later in 2025, five states and 23 local jurisdictions will raise the minimum wage, the report said. In total, “a record” 88 jurisdictions—23 states and 65 cities and counties—will bump up their minimum wage by the end of the year, according to the DELP report, which adds that 70 of those jurisdictions will reach or exceed a $15 minimum wage for some or all employers in 2025. More than 50 (two states and 51 cities and counties) will reach or exceed a $17 minimum wage, according to DELP.

Among these jurisdictions are Alaska, California and Michigan, as well as West Hollywood, Calif., Saint Paul, Minn., and the Washington cities of Bellingham, Burien, Renton and Tukwila. These jurisdictions will raise their minimum wages twice (on Jan. 1 and later in the year) for some or all employers.

In two states and 20 cities and counties, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15 per hour for some or all employers, including California, which will increase the wage floor to between $18.63 and $24 for some healthcare workers, the report pointed out.

The report also finds seven states—Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia—with no plans to increase their minimum wage above the federal rate of $7.25. With the exception of Hawaii—which skips a step increase in 2025, before resuming increases in 2026—all of these states “have failed to adopt provisions that index their minimum wages to inflation,” according to DELP.