Florida's Minimum Wage Reaches $15.00 on September 30

Florida's minimum wage increases to $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026. This is the final step in the schedule voters approved in 2020, which has raised the wage by a dollar each year since. After this one, future changes work differently, and there is more on that below.

If you employ anyone in Florida at or near the minimum, this is a date worth putting on the calendar now rather than discovering it on a pay run.

What actually changes

• Standard minimum wage: $15.00 an hour, up from $14.00.
• Tipped employees: the direct cash wage rises to $11.98 an hour, up from $10.98.
• Tip credit: Florida lets an employer count up to $3.02 an hour in tips toward the minimum. That figure is fixed, so the tipped cash wage is always the standard minimum minus $3.02.

One point that catches people: the tip credit only holds if tips actually get the employee to the full minimum. If cash wage plus tips does not reach $15.00 in a given period, the employer makes up the difference. The credit is a floor on what you pay directly, not a cap on what the employee is owed.

What to check before September 30

This is descriptive, not a directive. Every operation is set up differently. But the items that tend to need attention are consistent:

• Payroll rates. Update both the standard and tipped rates so the new figures take effect for hours worked on and after September 30.
• The posted notice. Florida employers must display the current minimum wage notice. A new rate means the posted version changes too.
• Tipped reconciliation. If you take the tip credit, confirm your process still trues up anyone whose tips fall short in a pay period. A higher minimum raises that bar.
• Anyone sitting just above the old floor. A raise to the bottom can compress pay for people who were a little above it. Worth a look before it becomes a morale conversation.

What happens after 2026

September 30, 2026 is the last of the fixed dollar increases. Going forward, Florida's minimum wage adjusts annually for inflation, with the state announcing the new rate ahead of each September 30. So this is the point where the wage stops climbing on a known schedule and starts tracking the cost of living instead. Practically, that means smaller, less predictable changes each year, and a yearly habit of checking the announced figure.

For the official numbers, the state publishes an annual minimum wage notice, and the U.S. Department of Labor maintains a current breakdown of tipped-employee minimums by state. When a date and a dollar figure drive payroll, it is worth confirming against the source.