MinimumWageRates

US minimum wage by state, city and county

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Federal minimum wage history: every rate since 1938

The federal minimum wage started at 25 cents an hour in October 1938 and has been raised 22 times since, each time by an act of Congress. The last increase, to $7.25, took effect on July 24, 2009.

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Contents5 sections

Key takeaways

  • The Fair Labor Standards Act set the first federal minimum wage, 25 cents an hour, from October 24, 1938.⁠1
  • Congress has raised the rate 22 times; there is no automatic adjustment for inflation.⁠1⁠2
  • $7.25 has applied since July 24, 2009.⁠1

Every federal rate

The table lists the basic federal minimum wage on the date each change took effect, as published by the U.S. Department of Labor.⁠1 Over the years some amendments also set separate, lower rates for groups of workers newly brought under the law, such as farm workers, until those rates caught up with the basic rate; the Department of Labor’s history chart shows those separate rates.

Every federal minimum wage rate since 1938
EffectiveNotePer hour
July 24, 2009$7.25
July 24, 2008$6.55
July 24, 2007$5.85
September 1, 1997$5.15
October 1, 1996$4.75
April 1, 1991$4.25
April 1, 1990$3.80
January 1, 1981$3.35
January 1, 1980$3.10
January 1, 1979$2.90
January 1, 1978$2.65
January 1, 1976$2.30
January 1, 1975$2.10
May 1, 1974$2.00
February 1, 1968$1.60
February 1, 1967$1.40
September 3, 1963$1.25
September 3, 1961$1.15
March 1, 1956$1.00
January 25, 1950$0.75
October 24, 1945$0.40
October 24, 1939$0.30
October 24, 1938$0.25

How increases happen

The federal rate is written into section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, so every increase has required Congress to pass an amendment and the President to sign it.⁠2 Amendments have usually raised the rate in steps over two or three years. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, the most recent, raised the rate from $5.15 to $5.85 in 2007, to $6.55 in 2008 and to $7.25 in 2009.⁠1 Unlike many state minimum wages, the federal rate is not adjusted for inflation, so it stays the same until Congress acts.

The states since 2009

Because the federal rate has not changed since 2009, most of the growth in minimum wages since then has come from the states and from cities and counties. On October 28, 2026, 30 states and the District of Columbia set a rate above $7.25,⁠3 and many of them adjust it every year for inflation. The state list shows the rate in effect in each state, and each state page shows that state’s own history next to the federal rate.

Sources

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

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