Nineteen states raised their minimum wage on January 1, 2026, giving an estimated 8.3 million workers a pay bump without their employer having to do anything — the increase is state law, automatic and mandatory. * Here's where the new wage floor landed: Arizona $15.15, California $16.90, Colorado $15.16, Connecticut $16.94, Hawaii $16.00, Maine $15.10, Michigan $13.73, Minnesota $11.41, Missouri $15.00, Montana $10.85, Nebraska $15.00, New Jersey $15.92, Ohio $11.00, Rhode Island $16.00, South Dakota $11.85, Vermont $14.42, Virginia $12.77, and Washington state $17.13 — currently the highest state minimum wage in the country. * New York is more complicated: $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, but $16.00 for the rest of the state. * Six of these states — Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, and Nebraska — crossed the $15-an-hour line for the first time in 2026, bringing the total number of states (plus Washington, D.C.) at or above $15 to 17. * Not every state moved on January 1. Florida, Alaska, and Oregon raise their minimum wages later in 2026, on their own separate schedules tied to their state laws rather than the calendar year. The federal minimum wage, which sets the floor for states without their own higher rate, has stayed at $7.25 an hour since 2009.