Washington Minimum Wage 2026: $17.13, the Highest State Rate in the Country

Washington’s minimum wage is $17.13 an hour, effective January 1, 2026, a 2.8% increase from $16.66 in 2025 under the state’s CPI-based annual adjustment. It's the highest statewide minimum wage in the country, and Washington allows no tip credit at all — tipped employees receive the full $17.13 in direct wages before any tips.

Washington at a glance

Local rates that run well above the state minimum

Several Washington cities, mostly in the Seattle metro area, set their own minimum wage above the state’s already-highest-in-the-nation rate. Verified 2026 local rates:

Several of these cities scale the rate down for smaller employers — Renton, Everett, Burien, and King County all pay smaller companies a lower rate than the figures above, which are the top tier. Check the specific city’s employer-size thresholds before setting pay.

What this means for hiring

Washington already sets the highest statewide wage floor in the country, and a role inside Seattle, Tukwila, or one of the other listed cities pushes that floor $2–4 higher still — a job ad priced at the $17.13 state rate for a Seattle-based role would already be below the legal minimum. Because there’s no tip credit anywhere in the state, tipped roles here should be priced and advertised at the full applicable rate, state or local, with no lower cash-wage figure to plan around.

Part of Boostpoint’s minimum wage by state series, covering the states where Boostpoint runs the most hiring campaigns.