Twenty-one states are raising minimum wage this year, which is set to affect over nine million employees across the country.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank that put this research together, the pay raises will contribute to a $5.7 billion pay increase for minimum wage workers nationwide.
The organization explained that more than half of these wage increases came as a result of states automatically adjusting their minimum wage with inflation. However, other states are raising wages due to voting decisions or policy decisions made by legislators.
Here's a look at the numbers
It’s also important to note that several cities and counties across the country increased the minimum wage for 2025, too. Nearly 30 cities and counties in California, seven cities in Washington, and four cities in Colorado, among many others, will be increasing wages this year for minimum wage and tipped workers.
Tipped workers make under the minimum wage in many states, as it’s believed that tips balance out their income. However, this thinking often leaves tipped workers with less money, and many of the states that have increased minimum wage for this year didn’t do the same for their tipped workers.
“These increases will provide more economic security for millions of workers in 2025, but there are still tens of millions of workers in states with unchanging minimum wages that are being paid exceptionally low wages,” the report states.
“Even in states where increases are taking place, there is still a need to deliberately secure living wages for low-wage workers and eliminate harmful carve-outs like the tipped minimum wage.”