Maine Minimum Wage: Rates, Tip Credit, City Rules
Maine minimum wage is $15.10 since January 1, 2026. Service wage $7.55, Portland $16.75, Rockland $16.00, plus the exemptions that still apply.
Maine Minimum Wage
$15.10 statewide, $16.75 in Portland, $16.00 in Rockland, and a tip credit capped at half the rate
The payroll mistake I remember best was not one I missed. I read the announcement, told myself I would handle it before the holidays, and then let December go by. The rate changed on a Thursday, and I found out in February when an hourly employee asked a perfectly reasonable question.
Maine is built for that failure mode. The rate moves every January 1 without a legislative vote, two cities sit above it on their own schedules, and a 2025 law pulled farm workers under a wage floor for the first time. Three separate calendars, one payroll file.
This page covers the Maine numbers and nothing else. Overtime, leave, final paychecks and the rest of the state picture live in the Maine HR compliance guide.
The Current Rate
Maine's minimum wage is $15.10 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. It rose from $14.65 after the CPI-W for the Northeast Region increased 3.1 percent between August 2024 and August 2025, the measure the state is required to use.
The Legislature does not vote on this. Title 26, Section 664 obliges the Maine Department of Labor to recalculate the rate every January 1 by that August over August change, rounded to the nearest 5 cents. Voters wrote the mechanism into law by referendum in 2016.
The rate applies to hours worked in Maine, whoever signs the paycheck and wherever the business is headquartered. It also drags a second number with it. Maine sets the exempt salary threshold at 3,000 times the hourly rate, which puts it at $871.16 per week, or $45,300.32 a year, for 2026.
Here is what the last four adjustments looked like, using the Department's own published figures. The pattern is worth internalizing: the increase has landed between 35 and 50 cents in each of the last three years.
| Effective date | State minimum wage | Service employee direct wage | Maximum tip credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 2023 | $13.80 | $6.90 | $6.90 |
| January 1, 2024 | $14.15 | $7.08 | $7.07 |
| January 1, 2025 | $14.65 | $7.33 | $7.32 |
| January 1, 2026 | $15.10 | $7.55 | $7.55 |
When the Rate Changes Next
The next statewide change lands January 1, 2027, and the dollar figure is not published yet. The Department calculates it once the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the August CPI-W, then announces it in September. The 2026 rate was announced on September 11, 2025.
The formula only moves in one direction. Section 664 raises the rate by the increase in the cost of living, if any, so a flat or falling index leaves the wage where it is. It never steps down.
Portland is the exception to the wait. Its schedule is written into the ordinance through 2028, so a Portland employer can budget the next two increases today rather than waiting for a September announcement.
| Jurisdiction | Next change | Amount | How it is set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine statewide | January 1, 2027 | Not published yet | CPI-W Northeast, August over August, rounded to 5 cents |
| Maine agricultural wage | January 1, 2027 | Not published yet | Same CPI-W formula under Title 26, Section 652 |
| Portland | January 1, 2027 | $17.75 | Fixed in Chapter 33 of the city code |
| Portland | January 1, 2028 | $19.00 | Fixed in Chapter 33, then CPI-U Northeast from January 1, 2029 |
| Rockland | January 1, 2027 | Not published yet | CPI-U Northeast, August over August, rounded to 5 cents |
Tipped Employees and the Tip Credit
Maine allows a tip credit, and caps it at 50 percent of the minimum wage. For 2026 that means a direct cash wage of at least $7.55 per hour and a maximum credit of $7.55. State law sets no separate restaurant rate and no lower figure for small employers.
The credit only applies to a service employee, defined in Title 26, Section 663 as someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $191 a month in tips. That threshold is indexed the same way the wage is, so it moved up from $185 for 2026. A busser who clears $150 a month is not a service employee and is owed the full $15.10.
The true-up runs weekly. Direct wages plus actual tips must average at least $15.10 across the established seven day workweek, and the employer pays the difference whenever they do not. Averaging over a month or a pay period does not satisfy the statute.
Three more rules catch small operators regularly. Tips are the property of the employee and cannot be shared with the employer. Credit card tips must reach the employee by the next regular payday, and the processing fee cannot be deducted from them. Service charges added in a banquet or private club setting are not tips, and the customer has to be told so.
Tip pooling is allowed in two shapes. If you take the credit, the pool can only include service employees. If you pay everyone the full minimum wage and take no credit, the pool can be broader, but no employer, supervisor or manager may draw from it. Overtime, when it applies, is calculated on the full minimum wage rather than the direct wage, and the credit cannot grow for overtime hours. The tipped wage mechanics work the same way in most states, but the Maine cap of 50 percent is more generous to employees than the federal structure.
Portland and Rockland Rates
Two Maine municipalities set their own minimum wage: Portland and Rockland. The Maine Department of Labor lists both and no others, so anywhere else in the state the statewide rate is the floor. Where a local rate exists, the employer pays the higher of the two for the hours worked inside that city.
| Jurisdiction | Minimum wage | Service employee direct wage | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine statewide | $15.10 | $7.55 | All covered employers, for work performed in Maine |
| Portland | $16.75 | $8.38 | Any employer with a place of business in the city, for hours worked inside city limits |
| Portland city government | $16.75 from July 1, 2026 | Same 50 percent cap | Employees of the City of Portland |
| Rockland | $16.00 | $8.00 | Employers with more than 25 employees, for hours worked inside city limits |
| Rest of Maine | $15.10 | $7.55 | No other municipality has enacted an ordinance |
Both ordinances borrow the state exemption list, so anyone excluded from the definition of employee in Title 26, Section 663 is outside the local rate too. Both also measure by where the work happens, not where the employee lives or where payroll is processed. A remote employee working from a Portland apartment for a Bangor company is owed the Portland rate for those hours.
Carve-Outs and Exemptions
Maine has no fast food wage, no healthcare wage, and no small business rate. What it has instead is a list of jobs excluded from the wage law entirely, plus a separate statute that now covers agriculture. The exclusions are old and specific, and most small employers never touch them.
Agriculture is the change worth knowing. The Legislature enacted and the Governor signed An Act to Establish a State Minimum Hourly Wage for Agricultural Workers in June 2025, creating Sections 651 to 655 of Title 26. Farm workers came under a wage floor on January 1, 2026 at the same $15.10, indexed the same way from 2027 onward.
| Category | What applies |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | $15.10 under the separate agricultural wage law. Family members who live with and depend on the employer are exempt |
| Farms over 300,000 laying birds | Carved back into the general minimum wage law at Title 26, Section 663, and into the overtime rule for egg processing |
| Fishing and shellfish work | Exempt, including first processing, canning or packing at sea |
| Taxicab drivers | Exempt |
| Camp staff | Counselors, junior counselors and counselors in training at licensed camps are exempt, as are under-18 staff at nonprofit seasonal recreation programs |
| Outside commission sales | Exempt when hours and places of work are not substantially controlled by the employer |
| Independent home workers | Exempt when they buy their own materials and sell the finished article |
| Executive, administrative, professional | Exempt when annualized salary exceeds 3,000 times the hourly rate, $45,300.32 for 2026 |
| Workers with disabilities | No subminimum. Special certificates issued under state or federal law have no effect in Maine |
| Fast food, healthcare, retail | No industry rate. The statewide floor applies |
The agricultural statute carries its own paperwork. Farm employers must furnish an itemized statement with every payment of wages showing the pay period, hours, total earnings and deductions, and keep those records for at least three years. Unpaid wages carry liquidated damages equal to the shortfall plus costs and attorney fees, and the Department of Labor holds exclusive authority to sue on an employee's behalf.
One line deserves emphasis because it differs from federal practice. Maine does not permit a subminimum wage for a worker with a disability. The director cannot issue a special certificate, and a certificate issued under any other law is without effect here.
Youth, Student, and Training Wages
Maine has none of the three. The Department of Labor puts it in one sentence in its 2026 Employers Guide to Youth Employment: Maine does not have a training or student wage below the minimum. A 16 year old scooping ice cream in July earns $15.10, the same as everyone else on the schedule.
That extends to the arrangements employers often assume are cheaper. Interns at for profit businesses are normally owed at least the minimum wage and overtime, and the more a program is built around academic oversight the less likely it is to be employment at all. Students placed through a cooperative education program are employees and must be paid the minimum wage.
The federal youth rate of $4.25 for the first 90 days does not rescue the math. Where federal and state standards differ, the one more protective of the employee governs, and Maine simply sets no youth rate. What does differ for minors is hours, permits and prohibited occupations, which the state compliance guide covers alongside the rest of the child labor rules.
Poster and Notice Requirements
Post the Maine minimum wage poster where employees can easily see it, and replace it every January when the rate changes. The Department of Labor publishes it free at maine.gov/labor/posters in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Somali, Arabic, Chinese and Lingala, and will mail printed copies on request.
The minimum wage poster is one of a set. Maine also requires the child labor poster, the regulation of employment poster, the whistleblower poster, the workers compensation notice from the Workers Compensation Board, and the paid family and medical leave poster. Ordering them once and dating the folder saves an annual scramble.
City obligations sit on top of the state ones. Portland requires a posted notice of current city rates plus a copy of the ordinance at every workplace, and a separate notice handed to each employee with the first paycheck. Rockland requires the same posted notice and ordinance copy under Section 2-116.
Maine Against the Federal Floor
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not moved since 2009. Maine sits $7.85 above it, so the federal figure never decides a Maine paycheck. Where a state and federal standard both apply, the employee gets the more favorable one.
Section 664 keeps a catch-up clause anyway. If the federal rate is ever raised above Maine's, the state rate rises to match on the same effective date and resumes indexing from there. The same clause appears in the agricultural statute and in both city ordinances.
The federal tipped cash wage of $2.13 is likewise irrelevant here. Maine's floor of $7.55 governs, and a national payroll template built around $2.13 will underpay a Maine server by more than five dollars an hour. For how the state map fits together, see the state by state overview and the running list of scheduled increases.
What to Do When a Rate Rises
A rate change is a five step job, and four of the steps have nothing to do with the hourly employees you immediately think of. Run it as a December checklist rather than a January reaction, because the new rate applies to hours worked on January 1 whether or not the file is updated.
The rhythm is predictable once you have done it once. September brings the state announcement, October and November are the budget conversation, December is the file update, and January 1 is the deadline you already met. Employers hiring their first Maine staff will find the rest of the sequence in the Maine hiring guide.
Getting it wrong is expensive in a specific way. Title 26, Section 670 makes an employer liable for the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, together with costs and a reasonable attorney fee. Section 671 adds a fine of $50 to $200, and the same range applies to retaliating against an employee who complains. Tracking pay data and start dates in one place is exactly the kind of thing FirstHR was built to hold, so a rate change becomes a filter rather than an archaeology project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in Maine?
$15.10 per hour, effective January 1, 2026, up from $14.65. The Maine Department of Labor set it on September 11, 2025 after the CPI-W for the Northeast Region rose 3.1 percent between August 2024 and August 2025. Title 26, Section 664 requires that adjustment every January 1, rounded to the nearest 5 cents, so no legislative vote is involved. Portland at $16.75 and Rockland at $16.00 sit above the state floor, and the higher rate governs the hours worked in those cities.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Maine?
Service employees must receive a direct cash wage of at least $7.55 per hour, because Maine caps the tip credit at 50 percent of the minimum wage. Someone counts as a service employee only when tips customarily exceed $191 a month. Direct wages plus tips must average $15.10 across the workweek, and the employer covers any gap. The credit also depends on advance notice covering the direct wage, the credit amount and any tip pool.
Which Maine cities have their own minimum wage?
Portland and Rockland, and no others. Portland requires $16.75 per hour with a service employee wage of $8.38, and its own employees moved to the same rate on July 1, 2026. Rockland requires $16.00 with a service employee wage of $8.00, and its ordinance reaches only employers with more than 25 employees. Both ordinances apply to hours worked inside city limits, whatever the employer's home address.
Does Maine allow a training, student, or youth wage?
No. The Department of Labor states that Maine does not have a training or student wage below the minimum, so minors and new hires are owed the full $15.10. Interns at for profit businesses are normally owed the minimum wage and overtime, and co-op students placed through a school program must be paid it as well. Maine also bars subminimum wages for workers with disabilities and voids any special certificate purporting to allow one.
Are farm workers covered by the Maine minimum wage?
Yes, starting January 1, 2026. A law signed in June 2025 created Sections 651 to 655 of Title 26, setting an agricultural wage floor that indexes to $15.10 for 2026 and adjusts each January thereafter. Family members who live with and depend on the employer are exempt. Farm employers owe an itemized pay statement with each payment of wages and three years of records, and unpaid wages carry liquidated damages plus costs and attorney fees.
What happens if I underpay the Maine minimum wage?
Title 26, Section 670 makes the employer liable for the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, together with costs of suit and a reasonable attorney fee. Section 671 adds a fine of $50 to $200 per violation and the same penalty for retaliation, and the Attorney General may seek an injunction. Portland can order back wages plus at least $100 per day per employee, and Rockland can impose $100 per day for the duration of the violation. The statutory text sits in Title 26, Section 664 and the sections that follow it.