Massachusetts Minimum Wage: Rate, Service Rate, Waivers
Massachusetts minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, unchanged since January 1, 2023. The $6.75 service rate, the $8.00 farm rate, waivers, and poster rules.
Massachusetts Minimum Wage
The statewide rate, the service rate for tipped staff, the farm rate, the waivers that allow anything lower, and what to change the day a rate moves
A cafe owner in Somerville told me she had the Massachusetts wage question solved. One number, $15.00, no county maze, no size tiers. Then her bookkeeper found that her two counter staff had been paid the service rate on mornings when they scrubbed the espresso machine and took no tips at all, and that their overtime had been built off $6.75 instead of $15.00.
That is the Massachusetts pattern. The headline rate is the easiest in the country to remember, and everything expensive lives underneath it: what the service rate requires in writing, which hours it can be applied to, what a farm rate covers, and which sub-minimum rates need a signed waiver before you pay them.
So this page is a rate sheet, not an essay. Every state rate below comes from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards (DLS), the state minimum wage regulation, or the statute, with the effective date attached. For sick time, pay transparency, final paychecks, and the rest of employing people here, use the Massachusetts HR compliance guide.
What You Owe Per Hour Right Now
The Massachusetts minimum wage is $15.00 an hour for every employer in the Commonwealth, whatever your headcount, and it has been since January 1, 2023. The Department of Labor Standards states it in one line on its minimum wage and overtime page, and its topical outline of the wage law, dated December 16, 2025, repeats the same figure.
There is no small-employer track and no phase-in still running. The Minimum Fair Wage Law, part of the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.), also draws no line between full-time and part-time employment, so a person working six hours a week is owed the same rate as a person working forty. Two separate state rates sit alongside the headline number, and both trip employers up.
| Rate | Amount per hour | In effect since | Next change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic minimum wage, every employer size | $15.00 | January 1, 2023 | None scheduled |
| Service rate for tipped employees | $6.75 | January 1, 2023 | None scheduled |
| Agricultural and farm work | $8.00 | Set by M.G.L. c. 151, § 2A | None scheduled |
| Sub-minimum student rate, waiver required | $12.00 (80 percent of the basic rate) | Only while a written waiver is in force | Moves with the basic rate |
| Federal minimum wage, for comparison | $7.25 | July 24, 2009 | None scheduled |
The $8.00 agricultural rate and the $6.75 service rate are not discounts you can elect. Each applies only to a defined kind of work, and the service rate also needs paperwork before the first shift. The student rate in the table is not a standing rate: it exists only while a written waiver is in force. Everything else in Massachusetts is $15.00.
When the Next Increase Lands
No increase is scheduled. The step to $15.00 on January 1, 2023 was the final one in a five-year schedule written into Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2018, the law commonly called the Grand Bargain, and no replacement schedule was enacted. Massachusetts does not index the wage to inflation either, so the number does not drift upward on its own.
The Trial Court Law Libraries put it in plain words on their summary of the wage law: there are no additional increases planned, and further increases must be approved either by the legislature or by the people through a ballot question. Budget on $15.00 until one of those two things happens.
| Step date | Basic minimum wage | Service rate | Retail Sunday and holiday premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 2019 | $12.00 | $4.35 | 1.4 times the regular rate |
| January 1, 2020 | $12.75 | $4.95 | 1.3 times the regular rate |
| January 1, 2021 | $13.50 | $5.55 | 1.2 times the regular rate |
| January 1, 2022 | $14.25 | $6.15 | 1.1 times the regular rate |
| January 1, 2023 | $15.00 | $6.75 | 1.0, premium pay gone |
That last row matters beyond the wage. The same 2018 law phased out premium pay for retail work on Sundays and holidays, and the multiplier reached 1.0 on January 1, 2023, which retired the premium entirely. The rule that keeps Sunday and holiday work voluntary for retail staff survived the change.
One automatic trigger sits outside the legislature and the ballot box. Massachusetts General Laws chapter 151, section 1 provides that the state minimum can never be less than 50 cents higher than the effective federal rate, so a federal increase past $14.50 would pull the Massachusetts rate up without a state vote.
The Service Rate and the Tip Credit
Massachusetts allows a tip credit, meaning tips can cover part of the minimum wage, and it calls the cash portion you pay the service rate. You may pay a tipped employee $6.75 an hour in cash, which makes the maximum credit $8.25 an hour. A tipped employee is someone who regularly receives more than $20 a month in gratuities.
The state minimum wage regulation permits the service rate only when three conditions hold together. First, you informed the employee of the tip provisions of chapter 151, section 7, in writing. Second, the tips actually received bring the employee to at least the basic minimum wage. Third, the employee retains all tips or receives them through a tip pool that meets the state tip statute. Unless all three are met, the regulation says you must pay the full basic minimum wage.
| Item | Amount or rule |
|---|---|
| Cash wage you must pay (service rate) | $6.75 an hour |
| Maximum tip credit | $8.25 an hour |
| Rate an employee must reach with tips included | $15.00 an hour |
| Threshold to count as a tipped employee | More than $20 a month in gratuities |
| Overtime for a tipped employee | $22.50 an hour, which is 1.5 times the basic minimum wage |
| Cash floor for a restaurant overtime hour | $14.25 under federal law ($22.50 minus the $8.25 credit), only when tips cover the credit |
| Rate for hours of non-tipped work | $15.00 an hour, tips from other hours do not count |
Two of those rows are where the money is lost. Hours of non-tipped work get $15.00, and tips earned during tipped hours cannot be borrowed to cover them. Overtime for a tipped employee is computed at one and one half times the basic minimum wage, so $22.50, never one and one half times $6.75.
Restaurants reach that $22.50 through federal law rather than state law. Chapter 151, section 1A exempts restaurant employees from state overtime, and the regulation's tipped overtime rule excludes anyone that section exempts. The Department of Labor Standards notes that federal law still requires overtime for them. For tipped staff who stay under state overtime, the regulation does not say how much of the $22.50 tips may cover, so confirm that split with the department.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the regular rate can never fall below the $15.00 state minimum (29 CFR 778.5), so a restaurant overtime hour is worth $22.50 in total. The federal Field Operations Handbook lets the employer count the full $8.25 state tip credit toward that hour, which leaves a cash floor of $14.25, and only when the employee's tips actually cover the credit.
The make-up test, which checks that the service rate plus tips reaches the full minimum wage, runs per shift, not per week. Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2018 amended chapter 151, section 7 to require that the top-up be calculated at the completion of each shift the employee works, so a strong Friday cannot subsidize a thin Tuesday.
State materials describe the same test at different intervals. The department's topical outline talks about weekly earnings, while its minimum wage page talks about tips and wages combined for the hours worked each day. The statute settles the question, and a shift-by-shift check is the only version that survives an audit.
New hires in training are a separate trap. Wait staff who are not yet receiving tips are not tipped employees at all, because they do not customarily and regularly receive more than $20 a month. They are owed $15.00 for the whole training period and for any later stretch when tips dry up.
City and County Rates
No Massachusetts city or county sets its own minimum wage, and the UC Berkeley Labor Center inventory of local wage ordinances lists none here. The rate comes from state statute, the Department of Labor Standards publishes one figure for the entire Commonwealth, and $15.00 is what an employer owes in Boston, Worcester, and every town in between.
Do not confuse that with a living wage ordinance. Several Massachusetts cities require a higher hourly rate from their own departments and from businesses that hold city contracts. Those ordinances attach to public money rather than setting a floor for private employers, and the rates and coverage differ by city.
Public construction work is its own world as well. The Massachusetts prevailing wage law sets job-classification rates for public works that sit far above the minimum wage, and a schedule is issued for each awarding authority (the public body that awards the contract) and project. If you bid on municipal or state work, ask the awarding authority which schedule applies before you price the labor.
Industry Carve-Outs and Exemptions
Massachusetts has no fast food minimum wage and no healthcare minimum wage. The carve-outs here run in the opposite direction from those models: instead of lifting the floor for one industry, they place certain work outside the state wage law or assign it a lower statutory rate.
| Category | How the state wage law treats it |
|---|---|
| Agricultural and farm workers | Paid $8.00 an hour instead of $15.00, with an exception for children 17 or under and the employer’s immediate family |
| Members of a religious order | Outside the state minimum wage law |
| People being trained or rehabilitated in a charitable, educational, or religious institution | Outside the state minimum wage law, though a program that displaces paid staff can lose the exclusion |
| Outside salespeople | Outside the state minimum wage law |
| Co-op students placed by an educational institution | Treated as training, not an occupation covered by the wage law |
| Municipal employees | Excluded from the state wage law, covered instead by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act |
Farming, Fast Food, and Healthcare
Agriculture has the one true industry rate. Chapter 151, section 2A sets the minimum for people employed in agriculture and farming at $8.00 an hour. The statute carves out an exception to that rate for a child 17 years of age or under, and for a parent, spouse, child, or other immediate family member of the employer.
Farm employers answer to federal law as well. The department publishes a topical outline of the wage law noting that virtually all agricultural employees are also covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which runs its own tests.
Fast food has no separate Massachusetts rate. The industry-specific wage that turns up in national coverage belongs to California, and the fast food wage rules written about there do not apply in this state. A quick-service restaurant in Massachusetts pays the same $15.00 as the bookstore next door.
Healthcare works the same way, with one detail worth knowing. There is no state healthcare minimum wage, and department guidance confirms that a live-in home health aide working in a private residence must be paid at least the statutory minimum wage plus time and a half beyond 40 hours in a week. Hospitals and laboratories appear in the wage rules only through the student training waiver described in the next section.
Youth and Training Wage
Massachusetts has no youth wage, no learner wage, and no probationary training rate. A 16-year-old on a first shift earns $15.00 an hour, exactly like everyone else. Age alone never lowers the rate in this state.
Every sub-minimum rate that does exist runs through the Department of Labor Standards: either a waiver signed by its Director under the waiver section of the minimum wage regulation, or a special certificate under chapter 151. Either document has to be in hand before the lower rate is paid, and each is granted for a fixed period rather than indefinitely.
| Who | Lowest rate allowed | What you need before paying it |
|---|---|---|
| Students in a hospital or laboratory formal training program | Not less than 80 percent of the basic minimum wage, $12.00 | Written waiver from the DLS Director |
| Students enrolled in and employed by a bona fide educational institution | Not less than 80 percent of the basic minimum wage, $12.00 | Written waiver from the DLS Director |
| Secondary school students working part time in a nonprofit hospital ward, dining room, or dormitory | Not less than 80 percent of the basic minimum wage, with one minor per five adults in the area | Written waiver from the DLS Director |
| Seasonal camp counselors and counselor trainees | An amount below the minimum wage set by the Director in the waiver | Waiver applied for every year, and never for kitchen, maintenance, or lifeguard staff |
| A worker whose earning capacity is impaired | Set by the special certificate | Special certificate under M.G.L. c. 151, § 9, up to 24 months, per work site, and a current federal certificate first |
The pattern is consistent: the paperwork comes first, the rate follows. An employer who pays 80 percent of the minimum to a student worker without a waiver on file has simply underpaid. The federal youth opportunity wage of $4.25 for the first 90 days is no help either, because the higher state floor applies wherever both laws cover the job.
Poster Requirements
Every Massachusetts employer must post a workplace notice issued by the Commonwealth showing the basic minimum wage rates, in a place conspicuous to employees. That obligation sits in the state minimum wage regulation itself, and the Fair Labor Division of the Attorney General publishes the notice as the Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws poster, free to download.
Language coverage is part of the rule rather than a nicety. The notice must be posted in English and in any other language spoken by 5 percent or more of your workforce, whenever the Commonwealth publishes a translated version in that language.
The Attorney General's office lists the poster on its workplace rights publications page in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Haitian Creole, and Vietnamese. If enough of your staff speak one of those languages to cross the threshold, post that version beside the English one.
The same regulation sets the records that go with it. For each employee you keep name, address, occupation, amount paid each pay period, hours worked each day, rate of pay, and deductions, for at least three years, held at the workplace, at an office of the employer, or with a bank or accountant inside Massachusetts.
How Massachusetts Sits Against the Federal Rate
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and has not moved since July 24, 2009, as the US Department of Labor state wage tables show. Massachusetts sits $7.75 above it. Where both laws cover an employee, the higher rate wins, so $7.25 is not a figure a Massachusetts employer pays on an ordinary shift.
Federal law still matters in two places. The first is the exemption table above: a category carved out of the Massachusetts wage law is not automatically carved out of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and municipal employees are the clearest example, excluded from chapter 151 and covered federally instead. Agricultural workers sit in the same overlap.
The second is the floor rule in chapter 151, section 1, which keeps the state rate at least 50 cents above the effective federal rate. It is dormant at $7.25 and would only bite if Congress moved the federal wage past $14.50.
What to Do the Day a Rate Rises
A rate change is a payroll project, not a memo. Massachusetts gives you no annual calendar to plan against, which cuts both ways: nothing sneaks up on you, and nothing reminds you either. When the rate does move, run it in this order.
The step employers skip is the last one. A poster showing a stale rate is the first thing an investigator photographs, and it turns a payroll question into a documented notice failure. Keeping rate changes, written notices, and employee acknowledgments together in one system is the kind of small recurring task FirstHR was built to hold for teams without a dedicated HR person. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Massachusetts minimum wage right now?
It is $15.00 an hour for every employer, regardless of size, effective January 1, 2023. The wage law makes no distinction between full-time and part-time staff. Two other state rates sit beside it: $6.75 for tipped employees paid the service rate, and $8.00 for agricultural and farm work. There are no city or county rates anywhere in the Commonwealth.
Is the rate going up next year?
Nothing is scheduled. The 2023 step was the last one under the 2018 Grand Bargain law, and Massachusetts does not index the wage to inflation, so a raise normally needs the legislature or a ballot question. The one automatic exception is the statutory rule that the state rate stays at least 50 cents above the federal rate, which is dormant while the federal wage sits at $7.25.
How does the service rate work?
You may pay $6.75 an hour in cash to an employee who regularly receives more than $20 a month in tips, taking a maximum credit of $8.25. Three conditions apply together: written notice of the tip statute, tips that actually carry the employee to $15.00, and tips retained by the employee or paid through a valid tip pool. Miss one and the full $15.00 is owed. The shortfall is measured shift by shift, not across the week.
What overtime rate do tipped employees get?
One and one half times the basic minimum wage, which is $22.50 an hour, not one and one half times the service rate. The state minimum wage regulation says so for tipped employees under state overtime. Restaurant employees are exempt from state overtime but not from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which reaches the same $22.50 and lets you count up to the $8.25 tip credit against it, for a cash floor of $14.25 when tips cover the credit.
Do any Massachusetts cities have their own minimum wage?
No. The rate is statewide, so a Boston employer and a Springfield employer owe the same $15.00. Several cities do run living wage ordinances covering their own employees and their contractors, and public construction falls under the state prevailing wage law, but neither one sets a general floor for private employers.
Can I pay a teenager or a trainee less?
Only with a waiver or special certificate in hand. Massachusetts has no youth wage and no training wage, so age and tenure alone never lower the rate. The Department of Labor Standards can authorize 80 percent of the minimum for certain student workers, a lower rate for seasonal camp counselors, and a special certificate for a worker whose earning capacity is impaired. Newly hired wait staff who are not yet earning tips get the full $15.00.
Which poster do I have to hang?
The Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws poster from the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, in a place conspicuous to employees. It has to appear in English and in any other language spoken by 5 percent or more of your workforce where the Commonwealth publishes that version. Keep the underlying pay records for at least three years, at the workplace, at one of your offices, or with a bank or accountant inside Massachusetts.