Washington’s minimum wage will rise 2.8% next year to $17.13 per hour.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced the increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.
State law requires L&I to calculate the minimum wage for the coming year using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. L&I compares the CPI-W from August of the previous year to August of the current year and adjusts the minimum wage based on the percentage increase in the CPI-W.
Washington’s current minimum wage of $16.66 is the highest in the nation, according to L&I. Local governments can set minimum wages higher than the state. Seattle, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham, Everett, Burien, and unincorporated King County all have higher minimum wages. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
L&I also uses changes in the CPI-W to calculate the minimum salary for certain types of employees to be considered exempt workers who do not receive overtime. This affects executive, administrative, and professional workers, plus computer professionals.
For 2026, employers must pay overtime exempt workers at least 2.25-times the minimum wage, which means an exempt employee must earn at least $1,541.70 a week.
L&I is using an eight-year implementation schedule to incrementally raise how much more than the minimum wage a salaried employee must earn to be exempt from overtime. The increases will continue until 2028, when the threshold reaches 2.5-times the minimum.
The same rules allow exempt computer professionals to be paid an hourly rate rather than a minimum salary. That hourly rate is 3.5 times the minimum wage. For 2026, that will be $59.96 per hour.
Washington employers are allowed to pay 85% of the minimum wage to workers ages 14-15, so the minimum wage for those workers will be $14.56 an hour in 2026.
The minimum pay rideshare drivers will earn is also going up on Jan. 1. For trips within Seattle in 2026, drivers will earn 70 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.63 per passenger platform mile, or $6.12, whichever is greater. For trips outside of Seattle in 2026, drivers will earn 40 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.38 per passenger platform mile, or $3.55, whichever is greater.
Topics Washington
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