Idaho Minimum Wage: Rate, Tip Credit, Exemptions
Idaho’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, tied by statute to the federal rate. Tipped cash wage $3.35, the local ordinance ban, exemptions and posters.
Idaho Minimum Wage
$7.25 an hour statewide, written into state law to track the federal rate, with a $3.35 tipped cash wage and no local ordinances
The first Idaho payroll I ever pulled apart belonged to a coffee shop owner in Boise who had done everything by the book, except that his book was a national article about tipped pay. He had set his baristas at the federal $2.13 cash wage. Idaho requires $3.35. Across four people and two years, that gap had quietly turned into real money he owed.
Idaho is one of the simplest states in the country on the headline number and one of the easiest to get wrong on the line beneath it. The state floor is $7.25 because the statute says it tracks the federal rate. The tipped floor is not federal at all. It sits in Idaho Code, more than a dollar above the federal cash wage.
This page covers the Idaho figures only: what the rate is, what the tipped math looks like, who is exempt, and what you do the day a rate moves.
The Current Idaho Rate
The Idaho minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and it has been at that level since July 24, 2009. Idaho Code section 44-1502(1) puts it plainly: no employer shall pay any employee wages computed at a rate of less than seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) per hour for employment. The same subsection adds that the amount of the minimum wage shall conform to, and track with, the federal minimum wage.
That tracking clause is why Idaho never appears on a January list of states raising pay floors, and why the state rate is not really an independent number at all. The text of section 44-1502 carries no effective date line of its own. Idaho employers have been at $7.25 since the federal rate reached that level on July 24, 2009 under 29 U.S.C. section 206(a)(1)(C), and the statute has not been amended to change the figure since.
| Item | Idaho rule | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Standard minimum wage | $7.25 per hour | Idaho Code § 44-1502(1), federal rate since July 24, 2009 |
| Next scheduled increase | None | No step schedule anywhere in Title 44, Chapter 15 |
| Tipped cash wage | $3.35 per hour | Idaho Code § 44-1502(2) |
| Maximum tip credit | $3.90 per hour | US DOL tipped employee table, as of July 1, 2026 |
| City or county rates | None permitted anywhere in the state | Idaho Code § 44-1502(4), effective July 1, 2016 |
| Youth wage | $4.25 per hour, first 90 consecutive calendar days, under 20 | Idaho Code § 44-1502(3) |
| Apprentice or learner | Below the minimum with a special license | Idaho Code § 44-1506 |
| Poster | Summary of the act, supplied free by the state labor department | Idaho Code § 44-1507 |
The federal rate has not moved since 2009, the longest freeze in the history of the Fair Labor Standards Act. For the national picture and the mechanics behind that number, the federal minimum wage guide covers it in full. This page stays on Idaho.
Is an Increase Scheduled?
No increase is scheduled in Idaho. Title 44, Chapter 15 contains a single rate, no phase-in steps, and no annual inflation adjustment. There is nothing on a future calendar date to budget for.
Two things could change the number. Congress could raise the federal minimum wage, in which case the tracking clause in section 44-1502(1) lifts the Idaho floor without any action by the Legislature. Or the Legislature could amend the statute directly. The most recent amendment to section 44-1502 was House Bill 463, chapter 145 of the 2016 session laws, which revised obsolete language and banned local minimum wage ordinances without touching the rate.
Bills to raise the Idaho figure have been introduced and none has been enacted. Since the practical trigger for most Idaho employers is a federal change, the federal minimum wage increase tracker is the page to watch.
Tipped Employees and the Tip Credit
Idaho sets its own tipped cash wage at $3.35 an hour, not the federal $2.13. Idaho Code section 44-1502(2) requires direct wages of not less than three dollars and thirty-five cents an hour for tipped employees, with the employer making up any shortfall. The maximum tip credit is therefore $3.90.
The US Department of Labor lists the same three figures for Idaho in its table of minimum wages for tipped employees, current as of July 1, 2026: a combined cash and tip rate of $7.25, a maximum tip credit of $3.90, and a minimum cash wage of $3.35. A tipped employee is one who customarily receives more than $30 a month in tips.
| Scenario | Cash wage you pay | Tip credit | Employee must reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tips cover the gap | $3.35 | $3.90 maximum | $7.25 per hour |
| Tips fall short in a given workweek | You pay the shortfall in cash | Reduced to tips actually received | $7.25 per hour |
| Employee gets $30 or less a month in tips | $7.25 | No credit available | $7.25 per hour |
| Overtime hour for a tipped employee | $6.98 | $3.90 is still the cap | $10.88 per overtime hour |
Overtime for tipped staff trips up more restaurants than the base rate does. The overtime rate is built on $7.25, not on $3.35, so an overtime hour is $10.88 before the tip credit and $6.98 in cash after it. Our guide to tipped minimum wage works through the arithmetic pay period by pay period.
City and County Rates
There are no city or county minimum wages in Idaho, and there cannot be. Idaho Code section 44-1502(4) says no political subdivision of the state shall establish by ordinance or other action minimum wages higher than the minimum wages provided in that section. House Bill 463 added that clause effective July 1, 2016.
| Jurisdiction | Local ordinance | Rate that applies |
|---|---|---|
| Boise | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
| Meridian | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
| Nampa | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
| Idaho Falls | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
| Coeur d’Alene | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
| Every other city or county | None permitted | $7.25, tipped $3.35 |
Who Is Exempt
Idaho Code section 44-1504 lists the employees excepted from the state minimum wage law. Read it as a description of what state law declines to add, not as permission to pay less, because the Fair Labor Standards Act reaches most of the same workers through its own narrower tests.
| Category | What Idaho Code § 44-1504 covers |
|---|---|
| Executive, administrative, professional | Anyone employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity |
| Domestic service | Anyone engaged in domestic service |
| Outside sales | Any individual employed as an outside salesman |
| Seasonal camp staff | Seasonal employees of a nonprofit camping program |
| Children under 16 | Part-time or odd jobs of no more than four hours a day with any one employer |
| Family employment | Employees under 18 hired by immediate family members or a family business |
| Agriculture | Family members of the employer, certain piece-rate harvest laborers, and workers principally engaged in range production of livestock |
The agricultural exception is the most detailed one in the statute. It reaches harvest laborers over 16 who are paid on a piece rate, commute daily from their permanent residence, and worked in agriculture fewer than 13 weeks in the preceding calendar year, plus workers 16 and under paid the same piece rate as adults on the same farm where a parent is employed. The full exception list is worth reading before you rely on any line of it.
Two absences matter. Idaho has no fast food wage council and no separate healthcare minimum wage, so those industries pay the same $7.25 as everyone else. And workers with disabilities are handled by cross-reference: section 44-1505 waives the state minimum only where the employer holds a special certificate issued under the federal act. Classification questions that decide whether someone is owed the minimum at all belong in the exempt versus non-exempt guide.
Youth and Training Wage
Idaho writes the youth wage into its own statute rather than leaning on federal law. Section 44-1502(3) allows $4.25 an hour for employees under 20 years old during the first 90 consecutive calendar days after they are first employed, and it forbids displacing existing workers to create a slot at that rate. The figure and the conditions mirror 29 U.S.C. section 206(g).
The 90 days are calendar days, not days worked, and they run from the first day of employment rather than from the end of a training program. When the 90 days expire or the employee turns 20, whichever comes first, the rate becomes $7.25. Put the expiry date in your calendar on the day you hire, because it will not announce itself.
Idaho also keeps a separate training route. Section 44-1506 lets the director of the Department of Labor issue an apprentice or learner a special license authorizing employment below the minimum wage, for the time and under the conditions the director sets, including students in accredited secondary school work-training programs. That license is a document you apply for, not a rate you can simply adopt.
The Poster Requirement
Idaho Code section 44-1507 requires every employer subject to the act to keep a summary of the act posted in a conspicuous place, in or about the premises where a covered employee works, or in a place accessible to employees. The Department of Labor furnishes that summary without charge, so there is no reason to buy it.
The Idaho Department of Labor publishes the free required posters on its labor laws page, alongside links to the wage statutes themselves. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act poster is a separate obligation, and the Idaho summary does not stand in for it.
Remote and hybrid employees need electronic access to both notices, in a location they open rather than a shared drive nobody visits. If you run several sites, each one needs its own physical set.
What to Do When a Rate Rises
Because Idaho tracks the federal rate, the trigger for action is usually a change in federal law rather than a state announcement. When one arrives, the sequence below is short enough to finish in an afternoon, and skipping any step is how an old rate survives an increase.
Keep the paperwork behind those changes. Idaho Code section 45-610 requires employment records to be kept at least three years from the last date of service, and a minimum wage action under section 44-1508 has a two-year limitation period, so a clean record of what you paid and when is the cheapest defense available. The Idaho HR compliance guide covers the rest of the state picture: final paychecks, workers’ compensation, the five-employee discrimination threshold and payroll tax basics.
It helps to know how a shortfall surfaces. Under section 44-1508 the director of the Department of Labor may go to court to enjoin a violation and force compliance, and an employee may sue for unpaid minimum wages within two years of the day the claim arose. Wage claims can also run administratively through the wage statutes in Title 45, Chapter 6. Section 44-1509 separately prohibits discharging or discriminating against an employee for asserting rights under the minimum wage law, so a retaliation claim can outlive the underpayment that started it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in Idaho?
It is $7.25 an hour. Idaho Code section 44-1502(1) forbids paying less than seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour and states that the minimum wage shall conform to, and track with, the federal minimum wage. The federal rate reached $7.25 on July 24, 2009, and the US Department of Labor lists Idaho at $7.25 with no footnote.
Is Idaho’s minimum wage going up?
No increase is scheduled. There is no phase-in and no inflation index in Title 44, Chapter 15. The rate would rise automatically if Congress raised the federal floor, thanks to the tracking clause, or if the Legislature amended the statute. Its last amendment, in 2016, added the local ordinance ban rather than changing the number.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Idaho?
The cash wage is $3.35 an hour under section 44-1502(2), with a maximum tip credit of $3.90. That is $1.22 above the federal $2.13 cash wage, which is where national payroll advice misleads Idaho employers. Tips plus cash must reach $7.25 for the workweek, and overtime is computed on $7.25 rather than on the cash wage.
Can a city or county in Idaho set a higher minimum wage?
No. Section 44-1502(4) bars any political subdivision from establishing minimum wages higher than the state figure by ordinance or other action. Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Coeur d’Alene and every county operate at the same $7.25 floor, which keeps multi-site payroll simple.
Who is exempt from Idaho’s minimum wage?
Section 44-1504 excepts executive, administrative and professional employees, domestic service, outside salesmen, seasonal nonprofit camp staff, children under 16 in short odd jobs, employees under 18 working for immediate family, and several agricultural categories. Federal coverage usually still applies, so confirm it before paying anyone below $7.25.
Do I have to post a minimum wage notice in Idaho?
Yes. Section 44-1507 requires a summary of the act, furnished free by the director of the Department of Labor, posted in a conspicuous or accessible place wherever covered employees work. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act poster is a separate requirement, and remote staff need electronic access to both.