Connecticut Minimum Wage 2026: $16.94, Rising to $17.48 on January 1, 2027

Connecticut’s minimum wage is $16.94 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. It rises to $17.48 on January 1, 2027, an increase announced on August 5, 2026 under the state’s annual adjustment to the federal employment cost index. Tipped hotel and restaurant staff can be paid a cash wage of $6.38 and bartenders $8.23, as long as tips make up the rest. There are no city or county minimum wages; the state rate applies everywhere in Connecticut.

Connecticut at a glance

How the Connecticut minimum wage is set

The rate is written into C.G.S. 31-58(i). The statute stepped the wage up to $15.00 on June 1, 2023, and since January 1, 2024 it has been adjusted every January 1 by the percentage change in the U.S. Department of Labor’s employment cost index for wages and salaries of all civilian workers, over the 12 months ending the previous June 30, rounded to the nearest cent. The Labor Commissioner must announce the new rate by October 15 each year.

For 2027 the announcement came early. On August 5, 2026, the Governor announced that the rate rises by $0.54, from $16.94 to $17.48 an hour on January 1, 2027, reflecting a 3.2% increase in the index for the year ending June 30, 2026. One floor sits under the indexing: if the federal minimum wage ever rises, Connecticut’s must stay at least 0.5% above it. The statute also lets the Labor Commissioner recommend suspending an increase after two consecutive quarters of negative growth in state GDP.

Tipped employees

Connecticut fixes the employer’s share of a tipped worker’s wage in dollars, not as a percentage (C.G.S. 31-60(d)). Hotel and restaurant staff who customarily receive tips, other than bartenders, must be paid at least $6.38 an hour in cash. Bartenders must be paid at least $8.23. Tips can count toward the rest of the $16.94 minimum, and the employer must make up any shortfall. The U.S. Department of Labor’s tipped table lists the resulting maximum tip credits as $10.56 for wait staff and $8.71 for bartenders.

The Connecticut Department of Labor’s 2026 tip statement adds the working conditions: a service employee claimed at the tip credit should spend no more than two hours, and no more than 20% of the shift, on non-service duties. Because the cash wages are fixed while the minimum rises, the tip credit an employer can claim grows each January. The credit only applies in the hotel and restaurant industry; in any other industry, gratuities can count for no more than 35 cents an hour.

Exceptions and special rates

• Minors and learners. Workers under 18, other than emancipated minors, can be paid 85% of the minimum wage for their first 90 days, or $10.10 an hour if that is higher, then the full rate. An employer may not cut an adult’s hours or pay in order to hire minors at the lower rate (C.G.S. 31-58(i)(5) and 31-60(e)).
• Public and farm employment. Minors employed by the state or a town, and minors in agriculture, have separate percentage rates under C.G.S. 31-58a.
• Who is not covered. The definition of employee excludes, among others, bona fide executive, administrative and professional staff, outside salespeople, babysitters, and workers at camps or resorts open six months a year or less.
• No local rates. We found no Connecticut city with its own private-sector minimum wage; $16.94 applies statewide.

What this means for hiring

At $16.94, and $17.48 from January, the Connecticut floor is well above the $7.25 federal minimum, so most employers compete on the amount above it rather than on the floor itself. Two other changes land around the same time. From October 1, 2026, every Connecticut job posting must show the wage or wage range and a general description of benefits under Public Act 26-12, so the number you pay will be visible in every ad. And from January 1, 2027, paid sick leave covers every employer with one or more employees in the state. To see what a hire costs at the rate you actually pay, including payroll taxes and benefits, use our employee cost calculator. Breaks, overtime, final pay and the rest of the state’s rules are on our Connecticut labor laws guide.

Frequently asked questions

Part of Boostpoint’s minimum wage by state series.