Georgia Minimum Wage: Rates and Rules for Employers
Georgia’s state minimum wage is $5.15, but employers covered by the FLSA pay the federal $7.25. Tip credit, local preemption and poster rules explained.
Georgia Minimum Wage
A $5.15 state rate almost nobody pays, the federal $7.25 nearly everybody does, and the narrow gap between the two
A founder in Marietta once sent me a screenshot of a state statute and asked whether he could really pay $5.15 an hour. The statute was real. The answer was no. Georgia keeps a minimum wage law on the books that almost never applies to the employer reading it.
That gap between what the code says and what you owe is the single thing to get right about wages in this state. Two numbers exist. One is printed in Georgia law and one is printed on a federal poster, and the federal one is what lands in nearly every payroll run in the state.
This page covers what a Georgia employer pays per hour and what moves that number. For hiring paperwork, workers compensation, separation notices and the rest of the state picture, use the Georgia HR compliance guide.
The Current Georgia Minimum Wage
The rate almost every Georgia employer pays is $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum in effect since July 24, 2009. Georgia's own statutory rate is $5.15 per hour, and it applies only to the narrow set of employers that federal law does not reach.
O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3 sets the $5.15 figure and then disables it in the same breath: the chapter does not apply to any employer subject to a federal minimum wage act as to employees covered by that act, if the federal act sets a higher rate. Since the federal rate has been higher than $5.15 since July 2007, the state number has been dormant for most of the state ever since.
The US Department of Labor says the same thing in its state minimum wage laws table, last revised July 1, 2026. It lists Georgia at $5.15, notes that the rate applies to employers of six or more employees, and adds that employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
| Rate | Amount per hour | In effect since | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia state minimum wage | $5.15 | Amount last set by the General Assembly in 2001 | O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3 |
| Rate paid by FLSA-covered employers | $7.25 | July 24, 2009 | 29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)(C) |
| Tipped employee cash wage | $2.13 | Fixed at the 1996 federal cash wage | FLSA section 3(m)(2)(A). Georgia law does not cover tipped employees |
| Maximum tip credit | $5.12 | July 24, 2009 | $7.25 minus the $2.13 cash wage |
| Youth wage, under 20, first 90 consecutive calendar days | $4.25 | 1996 FLSA amendments | 29 U.S.C. 206(g)(1). No Georgia equivalent |
| Full-time student certificate rate | At least 85 percent of the applicable minimum | Advance federal certificate required | 29 CFR part 519 |
| Student-learner certificate rate | At least 75 percent of the applicable minimum | Advance federal certificate required | 29 CFR 520.506 |
Is Another Increase Scheduled?
No increase is scheduled in Georgia, at either level. The $5.15 state figure carries no inflation adjustment and no future step, and the federal $7.25 that most employers actually pay carries none either.
Georgia last changed the dollar amount in section 34-4-3 in 2001, when $5.15 matched the federal rate of the day. The federal rate moved past it in three steps between 2007 and 2009 and has not moved since. Nothing in Georgia law tracks that drift or closes it automatically. If you employ people across state lines, our tracker of state minimum wage increases covers the states that do index.
Tipped Employees and the Tip Credit
A tip credit is allowed in Georgia, on federal terms only. You may pay a direct cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour and count tips toward the remaining $5.12, provided the employee actually reaches $7.25 for every hour worked in the workweek.
Georgia removes itself from this question twice. Its minimum wage chapter excludes any employee whose compensation consists wholly or partially of gratuities, and the Department of Labor tipped employee wage table states outright that Georgia has a state minimum wage law but it does not apply to tipped employees. There is no state notice form and no state cap that differs from the federal one.
Three conditions travel with the credit. You have to tell the employee you are taking it before you take it. The employee keeps all tips except through a valid tip pool. And you make up the shortfall in any workweek where tips came in light. The mechanics are worked through in our guide to minimum wage for tipped employees.
City and County Rates in Georgia
There are no city or county minimum wage rates in Georgia, and there legally cannot be. O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3.1 preempts every wage or employment benefit mandate adopted by a local government entity and bars any of them from adopting, maintaining or enforcing one.
The statute defines a local government entity broadly enough to cover counties, municipalities, consolidated governments, authorities and boards of education. It was added in 2004 and amended three times since, most recently in 2022, and it now reaches local rules on hours and scheduling as well as on pay. Subsection (c) closes the procurement route too: a local government may not use contracts, bidder qualification or evaluation preferences to control what its vendors pay.
| Jurisdiction | Local minimum wage | Status for employers |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | None in force for private employers | Preempted by O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3.1. Federal $7.25 applies |
| Savannah, Augusta, Columbus | None adopted | No local rate. Federal $7.25 applies |
| Macon-Bibb, Athens-Clarke, Sandy Springs, Roswell | None adopted | No local rate. Federal $7.25 applies |
| Every Georgia county | None adopted | Counties are named local government entities under the preemption statute |
| Statewide result | $7.25 per hour | One floor everywhere. No local ordinance lookup and no split-rate payroll |
For a multi-site employer this is genuinely simplifying. A crew that moves between a Savannah warehouse and a job site in Gwinnett County is on one wage floor, with no local rate to check. That is not true in several states with local wage authority, where the same employee can cross into a higher rate mid-shift.
Industry Carve-Outs and Excluded Work
Georgia has no industry-specific minimum wage. There is no fast food council rate, no healthcare minimum and no agricultural state rate, because the state has never built a schedule to carve anything out of.
What Georgia does have is a list of employers and employees its own chapter never reached in the first place. That list matters only for the small group outside federal coverage, since anyone covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act is owed $7.25 regardless of where they land in the state exclusions.
| Excluded from the Georgia $5.15 rate | Statutory basis | What actually applies |
|---|---|---|
| Employers with sales of $40,000 per year or less | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(1) | FLSA $7.25 if the employee is individually covered |
| Employers with five employees or less | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(2) | FLSA $7.25 if enterprise or individual coverage applies |
| Employers of domestic employees | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(3) | FLSA reaches most domestic service workers directly |
| Farm owners, sharecroppers and land renters | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(4) | FLSA $7.25 unless the federal small farm exemption applies |
| Employees paid wholly or partly in gratuities | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(5) | Federal tip credit: $2.13 cash wage plus up to $5.12 in tips |
| High school and college students | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(6) | FLSA $7.25 unless a federal certificate rate is in force |
| Newspaper carriers | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(b)(7) | Federal carve-outs for delivery and newspaper work may apply |
| Employers subject to a federal act with a higher rate | O.C.G.A. 34-4-3(c) | The federal rate, currently $7.25 |
Georgia also lets the Commissioner of Labor grant exemptions from the chapter under O.C.G.A. section 34-4-4, which is another reason the state rate is rarely the operative number. Exempt status under the federal white collar rules is a separate question decided employee by employee. Work through exempt versus non-exempt classification before you set a salary rather than after.
Youth and Training Wages
Georgia has no youth wage and no training wage. The federal youth minimum of $4.25 per hour is the only one available, and it applies to employees under 20 years old during their first 90 consecutive calendar days with you, under 29 U.S.C. 206(g)(1).
Three limits are easy to miss. The 90 days are calendar days, not worked days, so the clock runs through slow weeks and seasonal gaps. The rate ends on the employee's twentieth birthday even if fewer than 90 days have passed. And you may not displace an existing employee, including by cutting hours, in order to hire someone at the youth rate.
Two other subminimum rates exist, at 85 percent of the applicable minimum for full-time students under 29 CFR part 519 and 75 percent for student-learners under 29 CFR 520.506. Both require a certificate issued in advance by the Department of Labor, so neither is something you can simply start paying. Georgia's own chapter excludes high school and college students from the $5.15 rate, but that is an exclusion rather than a lower wage, and it does nothing for a student whose job is federally covered.
The Poster Requirement
Georgia employers post the federal Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage notice, WH-1088. There is no Georgia minimum wage poster to add, because the state has no active rate to publish.
Every employer of employees subject to the FLSA minimum wage provisions must display the notice in a conspicuous place where employees can readily read it. The current version was revised in April 2023, and the Wage and Hour Division poster page states that earlier versions, including the August 2016 one, no longer fulfill the requirement. Download it free rather than buying a laminated bundle.
Georgia requires three of its own postings, and none of them carries a wage rate: unemployment insurance for employees on Form DOL-810, the employer vacation notice on Form DOL-154, and the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act notice on Form DOL-4107. All three are free from the Georgia Department of Labor poster page. Because they carry no rate, they do not need replacing when a wage changes.
Where the $5.15 State Rate Still Bites
The $5.15 rate is live for an employer that has six or more employees, has sales above $40,000 a year, is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, and employs someone who is not individually covered either and does not fall into one of the state exclusions. That is a small window, but it is a real one.
Federal coverage comes two ways. Enterprise coverage reaches businesses with at least $500,000 in annual gross volume of sales or business done, plus hospitals, residential care providers, schools and government regardless of revenue. Individual coverage reaches employees whose own work regularly involves interstate commerce, which sweeps in most staff who handle out-of-state orders, card transactions or shipments.
Between the two tests, the overwhelming majority of Georgia employees are covered even at small companies. Assuming you are outside the FLSA because you are under $500,000 in revenue is a common and expensive mistake. The mechanics sit in our FLSA overview, and the national rate picture is in the federal minimum wage guide.
Enforcement follows the same split. The Georgia Department of Labor tells employers and workers that the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division enforces minimum wage, overtime and hours under the FLSA. Georgia's own chapter is administered by the state Commissioner of Labor, requires employers to keep records of hours worked and wages paid, and gives an underpaid employee a direct action to recover the difference.
What to Do When a Rate Rises
When the federal rate moves, a Georgia employer has a short and specific list of work to do, and no state wage-notice statute forcing a deadline on any of it. That cuts both ways: nothing is legally due on a set date, so nothing prompts you either.
FirstHR keeps pay rates, offer letters and acknowledgements in one employee record, so a rate change updates in one place instead of five spreadsheets. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider, so the wage calculation itself still happens in your payroll system.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in Georgia?
$7.25 per hour for almost every employer, the federal rate in effect since July 24, 2009. Georgia's own statute sets $5.15, but it does not apply where a federal minimum wage act covers the employee and pays more. The Department of Labor state table lists Georgia at $5.15 for employers of six or more employees and directs FLSA-covered employers to $7.25.
Is the Georgia minimum wage going up?
No increase is scheduled. Georgia last changed the dollar amount in its statute in 2001, and the statute has no indexation. The federal rate most employers pay has held since July 2009 and has no automatic adjustment either. Watch legislation rather than a rate calendar.
What do I have to pay tipped employees in Georgia?
At least $2.13 per hour in cash wages, with tips covering the rest of $7.25 and a maximum tip credit of $5.12. Georgia excludes gratuity-paid employees from its chapter, and federal rules apply without a state overlay: advance notice, employee retention of tips, and an employer top-up in any workweek that falls short.
Can a city or county in Georgia set a higher minimum wage?
No. O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3.1 preempts local wage and benefit mandates and bars counties, cities, consolidated governments, authorities and boards of education from enforcing one. It also blocks the procurement route, so a local government cannot require higher wages through contracts or bidder preferences.
Can I pay a teenager less than $7.25 in Georgia?
Yes, but only $4.25 per hour for employees under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days, under federal law. The rate ends at the 90-day mark or the twentieth birthday, whichever comes first, and you may not displace an existing worker to use it. Georgia adds no youth or training rate of its own.
Which minimum wage poster do Georgia employers display?
The federal notice WH-1088, last revised April 2023, posted where employees can readily read it. There is no Georgia minimum wage poster. Georgia requires Forms DOL-810, DOL-154 and DOL-4107 instead, and none of the three carries a wage rate.
Overtime is the companion question and follows federal rules in Georgia as well. If you need the calculation, start with our overtime pay guide, then come back to the Georgia compliance hub for the rest of the state picture.