SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced on Wednesday the state's minimum wage will raise to $16.66 an hour in 2025, a 2.35% increase. The increase will take effect January 1, 2025.
L&I calculates the minimum wage for the coming year using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). L&I compares the CPI-W from August of the previous year to August of the current year — in this case, comparing August 2023 to August 2024.
According to the bureau, housing and food costs increased over the last 12 months, leading to the need for an increase.
In 2024, Washington state has the highest state-level minimum wage in the country. The federal minimum wage is still set at $7.25 an hour.
Individual cities can set minimum wages higher than the state. For example, Seattle, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham and Burien all will have higher wages in 2025.
The state minimum wage applies to workers aged 16 and older. Under state law, employers can pay 85 percent of the minimum wage to workers ages 14-15. For 2025, the wage for younger workers will be $14.16 per hour.
The increase in the state minimum wage also affects the pay for some specific types of workers and employment situations, including overtime-exempt employees and drivers for rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber. That’s one of the new rights and protections granted to these drivers by legislation passed in 2022.
L&I also updated the minimum salary thresholds for overtime-exempt employees. Starting next year, small employers with up to 50 employees must pay overtime-exempt workers at least 2 times the minimum wage. For large employers, with 51 or more employees, overtime-exempt workers must make at least 2.25 times the minimum wage. This is part of an eight-year implementation schedule that slowly raises how much more than minimum wage salaried employees must be paid to be exempt from overtime until it reaches 2.5 times the minimum wage in 2028.
For more information about the minimum wage, details about overtime, rest breaks, meal periods, and how to file a wage complaint, go to the L&I website.
