SeaTac minimum wage 2026

What to know about the SeaTac minimum wage

SeaTac's minimum wage is an industry wage, not a citywide one, and the law that created it is narrow by design. Proposition 1, passed by SeaTac voters in November 2013, set minimum employment standards for hospitality and transportation employers around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.⁠² When it took effect on January 1, 2014 at $15.00, it was the first $15 minimum wage in the country.⁠³

The covered workforce is the airport economy: housekeepers, cooks and servers at hotels with at least 100 rooms, staff of airport concessions and institutional cafeterias, baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, aircraft cleaners and fuelers, and workers at large rental car, shuttle and parking operations. Supervisors and managers are excluded, as are small shops and restaurants that are not part of a hotel or covered facility.⁠² After the initiative passed, its reach onto airport property was challenged; in Filo Foods v. City of SeaTac, decided on August 20, 2015, the Washington Supreme Court held that it can be enforced at the airport.⁠³

The wage rises each January 1 by the inflation percentage the state uses for its own minimum wage. The city's notice of October 1, 2025 applied a 2.81% increase to reach $20.74 from January 1, 2026.⁠¹ Tips and service charges cannot count toward it, and service charges collected at hotels and food service operations belong to the workers who performed the service.⁠²

Workers at other SeaTac businesses are paid the Washington State minimum wage, $17.13 in 2026.⁠⁷

Rates and changes

Two groups of employers are covered. Hospitality employers are hotels in SeaTac with at least 100 guest rooms and 30 workers, including the restaurants, bars and spas connected to them, and institutional food service or retail operations with at least 10 nonmanagerial workers. Transportation employers provide airport-related services such as baggage handling, wheelchair escort, cargo, aircraft cleaning and fueling, or run larger rental car, shuttle or parking operations, with at least 25 nonmanagerial workers in that service.

Standalone restaurants and shops outside a hotel or these facilities are not covered and follow the state minimum wage.

Compared with Washington

When a local minimum wage, the state minimum wage and the federal minimum wage differ, the employer must pay the highest one that applies to the work. For most covered work in SeaTac, that is the local rate.

Tipped employees

Tips, service charges and commissions cannot be counted toward the SeaTac rate. Service charges and tips at hotels and food service operations must go to the nonmanagerial workers who did the work.

How the rate changes

The rate rises every January 1 by the same inflation percentage that the Washington Department of Labor and Industries declares on September 30 for the state minimum wage, based on the CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers). The city must publish the new rate by October 15.

SeaTac published the January 1, 2027 rate, $21.47, on October 8, 2026, a 3.52% inflation increase.

Rate history

Who is covered

Nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees of covered hospitality and transportation employers in SeaTac, including temporary agency and subcontracted staff working on hotel or food service premises. Airlines serving themselves and airline in-flight catering are excluded, and an explicit waiver in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement can set the rules aside.

• The rate was created by SeaTac's Proposition 1, a voter initiative passed in November 2013, and started at $15.00 on January 1, 2014.
• In Filo Foods v. City of SeaTac (August 20, 2015) the Washington Supreme Court held that the ordinance can be enforced at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
• The same chapter of the municipal code requires paid sick and safe time of one hour per 40 hours worked, with unused time cashed out at year end, and requires employers to offer extra hours to existing part-time workers before hiring.
• When a contractor changes, the new contractor must retain the existing workers.
• The 2026 rate of $20.74 followed a 2.81% inflation increase announced by the city on October 1, 2025.

Other local rates in Washington

• Burien$21.78
• Tukwila$21.65
• Renton$21.57
• Seattle$21.30
• King County (unincorporated areas)$20.82
• Everett$20.77
• Bellingham$19.13

Everywhere else in Washington, the state rate applies.

Get help or file a claim

If you are paid less than the minimum wage that applies to your job, you can file a wage claim with the agency below. Federal law prohibits firing or otherwise retaliating against a worker for complaining about federal minimum wage rights.

Sources

1. 1
   City of SeaTac, City of SeaTac Announces 2026 Minimum Wage Adjustments (2025-10-01) Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Port of Seattle (text of City of SeaTac ordinance), Ordinance Setting Minimum Employment Standards for Hospitality and Transportation Industry Employers (SMC 7.45 text, Proposition 1) - copy attached to Port of Seattle Commission meeting 2015-09-22 Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   City of SeaTac, Employment Standards Ordinance (city page; Internet Archive capture 2026-09-13) Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   State of Washington (business.wa.gov), Minimum Wage - SeaTac (Washington Business Licensing/Business.wa.gov; page updated 2026-02-10 still listed $20.17) Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Local minimum wage rates Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   City of SeaTac, 2027 hospitality and transportation minimum wage notice Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Minimum wage Checked Oct 9, 2026 · Back to text ↑

Is a rate wrong or out of date? Report an error