TL;DR: The Florida minimum wage 2026 rate is $15.00 an hour as of September 30, 2026, and the cash wage for tipped employees is $11.98. This is the last of the $1 steps voters approved in 2020. The next change is calculated on September 30, 2027 and takes effect January 1, 2028. Update your pay rates, tip credit notices, posters and overtime math for hours worked from September 30 on.
September 30 is the date every Florida employer has circled this year. The minimum wage in Florida reaches $15.00 an hour, and if you run your own payroll it is on you to make sure every hourly rate, tipped rate and overtime calculation moves with it. I spent nine years inside one of the largest payroll companies in the country before starting Entrust, and I can tell you the raise itself is the easy part. The mistakes happen in the pay period that straddles the change. If you would rather have someone else own that, our small business payroll service in Fort Myers handles it as part of every run.
What is the minimum wage in Florida in 2026?
Florida’s minimum wage is $15.00 per hour for hours worked on or after September 30, 2026. From January 1 through September 29, 2026, the rate was $14.00. The $15.00 rate applies statewide, so it is the floor for every employer in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples and the rest of Southwest Florida.
Florida Commerce, the state agency that publishes the rate, confirms on its official Florida minimum wage page that the constitutional amendment voters passed on November 3, 2020 raised the wage by $1.00 each year until it reached $15.00 on September 30, 2026. That schedule is now complete.
Florida’s rate is roughly double the federal minimum of $7.25, and when the two differ the higher one controls. For Florida employers, that has meant the state rate for years.
| Effective date | Florida minimum wage | Tipped cash wage |
|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2024 | $13.00 | $9.98 |
| September 30, 2025 | $14.00 | $10.98 |
| September 30, 2026 | $15.00 | $11.98 |
| January 1, 2028 | Inflation adjusted, set in 2027 | Inflation adjusted, less $3.02 |
What is the tipped (server) minimum wage in Florida?
The tipped minimum wage in Florida is $11.98 per hour as of September 30, 2026. Employers may take a tip credit of $3.02 toward the $15.00 minimum, but only if the employee’s tips bring total pay to at least $15.00 an hour. If tips fall short in a workweek, the employer makes up the difference.
The $3.02 tip credit has not moved, which means the cash wage rises by the full dollar along with the regular minimum. The employment law firm Lowndes lays out the same figures in its September 2026 employer alert on the $15 increase, and adds a step many restaurants miss: tipped employees need an updated tip credit notice on or before September 30, 2026. Without a valid notice, you cannot claim the credit at all.
Restaurants carry more of this risk than anyone else, which is why we wrote a separate guide to restaurant payroll in Fort Myers that covers dual jobs, tip reporting and the 8/80 overtime rule in detail. If you run a restaurant, bar or salon, read that next.
What the increase changes in your payroll
The Florida minimum wage increase reaches further than the base hourly rate. Here is what needs to move on or before September 30:
Hourly rates below $15.00. Any employee earning less than $15.00 an hour needs a raise for all hours worked from September 30 on. If your pay period runs, say, September 25 through October 1, the hours on September 25 through 29 can still be paid at $14.00, but everything from the 30th forward must be paid at $15.00. It is the easiest step to miss, because most payroll software applies one rate to the whole period unless someone splits it.
Tipped employees. The cash wage moves to $11.98, and the tip credit notice needs updating, as above.
Overtime. Overtime is time and a half of the regular rate, so a minimum wage employee’s overtime rate rises from $21.00 to $22.50 an hour. Any overtime rate hard coded into your system at the old figure is now wrong.
Posters. Florida requires the state minimum wage poster to be displayed where employees can see it. Florida Commerce publishes the poster in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
Wage compression. This one is not a legal requirement, it is a people problem. The employee you hired at $15.50 last year now earns 50 cents more than someone on day one. Decide before September 30 whether you are adjusting the rest of your scale, and tell your team what you decided.
Does the $15 minimum wage affect salaried employees?
Florida’s $15.00 rate applies to hours worked, so it matters for salaried employees who are classified as non exempt. A non exempt salaried employee must still average at least $15.00 for every hour worked in the week. Exempt status is a separate federal test with its own salary floor.
Under federal rules, most exempt executive, administrative and professional employees must be paid at least $684 per week on a salary basis and pass a duties test. That threshold did not change on September 30. But the minimum wage increase is a good prompt to review who is classified as exempt and why. Our post on exempt vs. non exempt classification walks through the three questions that decide it, and our guide to 1099 vs. W2 worker classification in Florida covers the contractor side.
When does minimum wage go up in Florida again?
After reaching $15.00 on September 30, 2026, Florida’s minimum wage switches to annual inflation adjustments. The state calculates the first adjusted rate on September 30, 2027, using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, and that new rate takes effect on January 1, 2028. There is no increase on September 30, 2027.
This is worth getting right, because a lot of guides simply say “adjusted every year starting in 2027” and leave employers to assume another September raise. It will not happen that way. Florida’s minimum wage statute has always put inflation adjustments into effect on the following January 1, and the 2020 amendment returns to that formula once the $15.00 target is reached.
For budgeting, that gives you more than a year at $15.00 before the next change. Plan your 2028 labor costs knowing a rise is coming, but do not guess the number. It depends on inflation over the twelve months before September 1, 2027. If you want to see what a full employee actually costs you once taxes and benefits are added, our payroll cost calculator breaks it down.
A September 30 checklist for Southwest Florida employers
- Pull a list of every employee paid under $15.00 an hour, including part time and seasonal staff.
- Update their rates effective September 30, and split any pay period that crosses that date.
- Update tipped employees to $11.98 and issue a new tip credit notice.
- Recheck any hard coded overtime rates.
- Replace the minimum wage poster.
- Review exempt classifications against the federal salary test.
- Decide how you are handling wage compression, and communicate it.
Most of this is a one time setup. The risk is that it lands in the middle of a busy week and one step gets skipped. When we run your payroll, rate changes like this one are applied on our side, and your payroll tax filings stay in step with the new wages.
Frequently asked questions about the Florida minimum wage
Is the minimum wage $15 in Florida?
Yes. Florida’s minimum wage is $15.00 an hour for all hours worked on or after September 30, 2026. The rate applies statewide to employers covered by the Florida minimum wage law.
What is the minimum wage in Florida for servers in 2026?
The cash wage for tipped employees such as servers is $11.98 an hour as of September 30, 2026. The employer can count $3.02 in tips toward the $15.00 minimum, but must make up any shortfall if tips do not cover it.
When does the Florida minimum wage go up in 2027?
It does not go up in 2027. The state calculates an inflation adjustment on September 30, 2027, and the new rate takes effect January 1, 2028.
Do I have to pay $15 for hours worked before September 30?
No. Hours worked through September 29, 2026 can be paid at $14.00. Hours worked from September 30 on must be paid at $15.00, even if they fall in the same pay period.
Get your September 30 payroll right the first time
If you run payroll yourself and this list just got longer than you wanted, that is exactly what we are here for. We are a local payroll company in Fort Myers serving businesses from Cape Coral to Naples. Get a free quote or contact me at 239-208-8788. When you call, you get me, not a ticket.