New York minimum wage goes up on January 1

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — On January 1, minimum wage in New York raises by $0.50. It will hit $16.50 per hour on Long Island and in New York City and Westchester County, and $15.50 in the rest of the state.

State minimum wage varies by region and industry. At the beginning of 2024, in that downstate region, it rose to $16 from $15 last year, while it hit $15 upstate, up from $14.20 in 2023.

According to MIT's living wage calculator—last updated in February—a single New Yorker with no kids needs to make $26.86 per hour for 40 hours a week, on average, to survive.

Minimum wage will increase by another $0.50 on Jan. 1, 2026. On Jan. 1, 2027, pay in New York gets tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), a measure meant to keep pace with inflation. An “off-ramp” can freeze indexed increases if there are economic downturns or budget crises.

But according to the Economic Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project, that's a dangerous off-ramp. Two conditions can freeze raises:

• The three-month average unemployment rate from May to July increases by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year
• Non-farm employment in New York drops between July to January or April to July.

They said that unemployment rising and job numbers dropping in these specific ways are common, happening in roughly one out of every four years since 2000. Such a freeze could mean $609 million in lost wages for about 1.5 million workers.

The increases apply to most hourly workers, but home health aides and industries where tipping is common—like restaurants and hospitality, carwashes, hairdressers, aestheticians, or valet parking—have specific rates. Depending on location, home health aides will get at least $18.10 under the Home Care Worker Wage Parity Law. Tipped workers will make at least $10.35—also depending on location—plus tips. Employers have to make up the difference if their staff don't make at least minimum wage in tips and hourly compensation combined.

Employers have to pay at least minimum wage for every single hour an employee works. Overtime pay at one-and-a-half times the regular rate kicks in at 40 hours a week. To prove that they're complying, employers are supposed to keep and provide detailed, accurate records of hours and payments. The State Department of Labor (DOL) offers training for businesses to make sure they're following the law.

Not following the law is wage theft—larceny in New York, a felony if the value is over $1,000. Individuals and companies who don't comply can face criminal charges and civil penalties, like interest, back pay, and fines. Report your employer if they haven't paid you or are breaking the law by calling the DOL at (833) 910-4378 or filing an online complaint.

An October ruling from New York State Supreme Court Judge Gerald Connolly addressed wage theft investigations that DOL had closed, citing union contracts and binding arbitration clauses. Connolly said that DOL jurisdiction in wage theft couldn't be limited by such agreements, and directed the department to reopen those investigations.

A 2023 ProPublica analysis showed over 13,000 cases of wage theft in New York between 2017 and 2021. During those five years, employers stole over $203 million from roughly 127,000 workers. Their findings from state and federal DOL data tallied:

• $52 million stolen from restaurant workers
• $28.4 million stolen from healthcare industry workers
• $27.6 million stolen from construction workers
• $5.9 million stolen from janitorial workers
• $5.9 million stolen from retail workers
• $5.8 million stolen from supermarket and convenience store workers

In July 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York had recovered over $63 million in stolen wages for nearly 65,000 workers between 2022 and 2024.

The wage hike aims to benefit hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and strengthen local economies. Hochul's office has consistently pointed to economic research that outlines how raising wages benefits low-income households and working-class New Yorkers—especially women and people of color—and local industries. Fair compensation reduces poverty, cuts social welfare costs, makes workers more productive, and can help address soaring costs of living.

In January 2023, Data for Progress published a poll of over 700 Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, Western New York, Long Island, and New York City residents about minimum wage. At the time, about 80% supported a $20 minimum wage indexed to inflation, and about 70% said that $20 an hour represented how much you need to make "to live at a decent level" in the state.

New York established its minimum wage in 1960: $1 per hour. In 1968, it hit $1.60, and it reached $3.10 by 1980. As of 2009, it lined up with the federal minimum of $7.25.