Minnesota Minimum Wage 2026: $11.41, Rising to $11.87 on January 1, 2027

Minnesota’s minimum wage is $11.41 an hour for all employers, effective January 1, 2026, and it rises to $11.87 on January 1, 2027, an increase the Department of Labor and Industry has already announced. The rate is adjusted every year for inflation, capped at 5 percent. Minnesota allows no tip credit, so tipped employees get the full rate before tips. Minneapolis and St. Paul set higher local rates of $16.37 for most employers.

Minnesota at a glance

How Minnesota sets its minimum wage

The current statute sets a single statewide rate for all employers; the separate small-employer and youth rates were removed by 2024 legislation. The rate is set by Minnesota Statutes 177.24, which ties it to inflation. No later than August 31 each year, the commissioner of labor and industry measures inflation using the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, over the preceding 12 months. The rate then rises by that percentage or by 5 percent, whichever is less, rounded to the nearest cent. The statute says the rate “shall not be reduced” under this formula, and the new rate takes effect the next January 1.

For 2027 the Department of Labor and Industry has already done that calculation. Its minimum wage page says: “Effective Jan. 1, 2027, Minnesota’s minimum-wage rate will be adjusted for inflation to $11.87 an hour for all employers in the state.” Because Minnesota announces by August 31, employers here get about four months of notice.

Tipped employees: no tip credit in Minnesota

Minnesota is one of the states that allows no tip credit. Subdivision 2 of the statute says no employer “may directly or indirectly credit, apply, or utilize gratuities toward payment of the minimum wage set by this section or federal law.” A server, bartender or delivery driver must be paid at least $11.41 an hour in 2026 before tips, and $11.87 from January 1, 2027.

Tips belong to the employee. An employer may not require an employee to share tips with the employer or with other employees, or to pay into a pool the employer runs. Employees may agree among themselves to share, without employer coercion. Tips paid by card must be credited to the pay period in which they are received and paid out no later than the next scheduled pay period (subdivision 3a).

Minneapolis and St. Paul minimum wages

Two Minnesota cities set their own rates above the state floor, and in both the city rate applies based on where the work is physically done.

St. Paul has posted its 2027 rates for businesses with more than 100 employees (city page updated August 31, 2026), and Minneapolis adjusts its rate for inflation each January 1. Neither city’s 2027 figure is repeated here; check the city page before you price a role that starts in 2027. DLI names only Minneapolis and St. Paul as cities with their own minimum wage ordinances.

Exceptions: the 90-day training wage

Minnesota keeps one lower rate. For the first 90 consecutive days of employment, an employer may pay an employee under age 20 a training wage of $9.31 an hour in 2026, rising to $9.68 on January 1, 2027, per DLI. The statute forbids displacing an existing employee, including by cutting hours, wages or benefits, to hire someone at the training wage. After 90 days the employee must be paid the full state rate, and in Minneapolis the city rate applies regardless of age.

Minnesota also limits what you can deduct: deductions for uniforms, equipment, supplies or travel may not bring pay below the minimum wage, and uniform or equipment deductions are capped at $50 and must be reimbursed when employment ends (subdivisions 4 and 5).

What this means for hiring

The state floor of $11.41 is only the starting point. The city rates are the ones that catch people: a role based in Minneapolis or at a larger St. Paul employer must pay at least $16.37 an hour, nearly $5 more than the state rate, and a job ad priced off the state minimum would be unlawful there. With no tip credit anywhere in Minnesota, tipped roles should be advertised at the full applicable hourly rate plus tips.

If you have 30 or more employees, Minnesota also requires the pay range or fixed rate in the posting itself, which is good advertising practice anyway: pay in the first line of the ad is what gets a scroll to stop. To see what a Minnesota hire costs at the wage you actually pay, including taxes and paid leave premiums, use our employee cost calculator. Breaks, overtime, sick time and hiring rules are on our Minnesota labor laws page.

Frequently asked questions

Part of Boostpoint’s minimum wage by state series.