Pennsylvania Minimum Wage: Rates and Rules
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, unchanged since July 24, 2009. Tipped cash wage, exemptions, posters, and local contract rates.
Pennsylvania Minimum Wage
The current rate, the tipped math, and the exceptions that actually apply
The first payroll question I hear from a Pennsylvania owner is rarely about overtime. It is blunter than that: what is the lowest hourly rate I can legally put on an offer letter. Owners who moved a team over from New Jersey or New York usually ask twice, because the answer sounds too low to be current.
It is current. Pennsylvania pays the federal floor, the number has not moved since 2009, and the state has no mechanism that moves it on a schedule. That makes this a short page, and short is the honest answer.
The real traps here are not in the headline rate. They sit in the tipped math, in the special certificates, and in contracts that quietly carry a higher wage standard with them.
I run FirstHR for owners who handle payroll, onboarding and compliance with no HR department behind them, so what follows is the number, the date it took effect, and the official source for each figure.
The Rate You Pay Today
Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, effective July 24, 2009. The state regulation at 34 Pa. Code section 231.101a states the figure directly, and the Minimum Wage Law poster the Department of Labor and Industry hands to employers prints the rate and that effective date side by side. Details sit on the department's Minimum Wage Act page.
The date matters more than it looks. Pennsylvania did not vote for $7.25. Act 112 of 2006 raised the state rate to $6.25 and then $7.15, and it also added Section 4(a.1). That section says that when the federal minimum rises above the state figure, the state rate rises to match the federal minimum on the same day, and the state's own schedule is suspended to the extent it differs. The federal increase to $7.25 in July 2009 pulled Pennsylvania up automatically.
| Effective date | Pennsylvania rate | What set it |
|---|---|---|
| September 1, 1997 | $5.15 | Minimum Wage Act of 1968, Section 4(a)(6) |
| January 1, 2007 | $6.25 | Act 112 of 2006 |
| July 1, 2007 | $7.15 | Act 112 of 2006 |
| July 24, 2009 | $7.25 | Federal increase, adopted automatically under Section 4(a.1) |
This page was last checked on September 25, 2026. Minimum wage figures change annually in many states, and tipped wages and local contract rates move even where the headline number does not, so re-check the state source before each new payroll year rather than trusting a page you bookmarked.
Is Another Increase Scheduled?
No. There is no scheduled increase in Pennsylvania, and there is no indexing formula tying the rate to inflation, so nothing rises automatically on January 1. The Minimum Wage Act contains no future rate, and the regulations name only $7.25.
Legislation comes up often. The Governor's office announced on March 24, 2026 that the House had passed House Bill 2189, which would move the rate to $15, and noted that the House had passed minimum wage legislation three times without the Senate acting. The Senate referred the bill to its Labor and Industry Committee on March 30, 2026. A resolution to discharge it from that committee was presented on June 10, 2026, and as of September 2026 the General Assembly's bill history still shows it in committee. The 2026-27 budget proposal asked the legislature for $15 an hour again. None of that changes what you pay until a bill is signed.
Tipped Employees: $2.83 and the $135 Test
Pennsylvania allows a tip credit, which lets you count part of an employee's tips toward the minimum wage. The cash wage for a tipped employee is $2.83 an hour and the maximum credit is $4.42, so the two together reach the $7.25 floor. The credit is conditional: you may take it only for an employee who receives more than $135 in tips in a month.
The rules around that arithmetic were rewritten effective August 5, 2022. The department explains them on its overtime and tipped worker rules page, and the underlying text sits at 34 Pa. Code sections 231.111 through 231.114.
| Item | Pennsylvania rule |
|---|---|
| Cash wage for tipped employees | $2.83 per hour |
| Maximum tip credit | $4.42 per hour |
| Combined floor | $7.25 per hour, with the employer covering any shortfall |
| Tip credit threshold | More than $135 in tips in a month |
| Non-tip-generating duties | No more than 20 percent of weekly hours |
| Tip pooling | If any pool member is paid a tip-credited wage below $7.25, only occupations that customarily and regularly receive tips may share; managers and supervisors can never draw from the pool |
| Tip pool notice | Written, at the job offer or at least one pay period before the pool starts |
| Credit card and processing fees | Cannot be deducted from tips, before or after pooling |
| Service charges | Banquet and special-function charges are not tips. Any amount paid out to staff counts in the regular rate, and bills need separate lines for service charges and tips. |
City and County Rates
No Pennsylvania city or county sets its own minimum wage for private employers. Section 14.1 of the Minimum Wage Act, added by Act 112 of 2006, preempts (overrides) local ordinances on the subject. It spares only ordinances adopted before January 1, 2006 that were still in effect on that date. An employer in Pittsburgh, Erie or Allentown pays the same $7.25 floor as everyone else.
Two higher floors do exist, and both attach to public money rather than to a map: City of Philadelphia contracts and Commonwealth contracts. Philadelphia sets its wage standard under Chapter 17-1300 of its code for City contracts, leases, concessions, franchises and financial aid, including subcontracts at every level.
Philadelphia's Director of Finance publishes the figure each year, and the June 24, 2026 letter on the city's minimum wage standard page sets it at $17.63 from July 1, 2026. Some older City contracts still run at the lower figures in the table below.
| Where | Rate | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Every Pennsylvania city and county | $7.25 | All private employers. Local minimum wage ordinances are preempted. |
| Philadelphia city contracts | $17.63 from July 1, 2026 | Contracts, leases, concessions, franchises and financial aid that are new, renewed or amended on or after that date, plus subcontracts and subleases |
| Philadelphia short contracts already running | $16.82 | Contracts, amendments and renewals effective before July 1, 2026 with a term of a year or less, through the end of that term |
| Philadelphia contracts untouched since April 18, 2019 | Higher of 150 percent of the federal minimum wage or $12.40 | The $12.40 figure is the calendar 2026 amount and is revised each January 1 |
| Commonwealth contracts and leases | $17.88 from July 1, 2026 (the $15.00 base plus annual cost-of-living adjustments) | Commonwealth employees and covered contractors and lessors, under 4 Pa. Code section 1.841 |
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
The minimum wage in Philadelphia is $7.25 an hour for a private employer holding no City contract, and the minimum wage in Pittsburgh is the same $7.25. Neither city may set a figure of its own, so the two cities employers ask about most often run on the identical statewide floor.
What catches Philadelphia employers is the contract standard rather than the address. A caterer with no City business pays $7.25. The same caterer, once it signs a City contract or a subcontract under one, comes under the City contract standard instead.
A Commonwealth contract can reach employers in either city, or anywhere else in the state, and its figure deserves one caution. The executive order behind 4 Pa. Code section 1.841 set $15 and then added a yearly cost-of-living adjustment that is published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin by March 1 to take effect the following July 1.
The current figure is $17.88 an hour from July 1, 2026, set by the Governor's Office in a Pennsylvania Bulletin notice published February 28, 2026. It reaches employees who directly perform the work under a Commonwealth service or construction contract, or a lease, above the small purchase threshold, plus anyone who spends at least 20 percent of a workweek on ancillary services for it. If you hold a state contract, budget from that figure rather than from $15, and check the Bulletin again each spring for the next adjustment.
Who Is Exempt in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has no fast food wage, no healthcare wage and no separate agricultural rate. What it has instead is a list of classifications in Section 5(a) of the Minimum Wage Act that fall outside the state minimum wage and state overtime entirely.
| Exempt classification | Note |
|---|---|
| Labor on a farm | Federal rules still reach most covered farms |
| Domestic service in or about a private home | Household employers remain subject to federal wage rules |
| Delivery of newspapers to the consumer | Exempt from state minimum wage and state overtime |
| Work for a newspaper circulating under 4,000 copies, mostly locally | Narrow, and read literally |
| Executive, administrative, professional and outside sales | Salary and duties tests apply |
| Service to a nonprofit, charitable, religious or educational organization | Where no employment relationship exists or service is given gratuitously |
| Seasonal work by employees under 18, or students under 24 at qualifying nonprofit camps | Camp must run under three months in a year |
| Public amusement or recreational establishments, organized camps and nonprofit conference centers | Seven-month test, or the one-third receipts test |
| Golf caddies | Listed by name in the act |
| Switchboard operators at independent telephone companies with 750 stations or fewer | Listed by name in the act |
Read that table as a routing instruction, not as permission. A classification that is exempt from the state act is usually still covered by the federal minimum wage, which carries the same $7.25 rate, so the practical effect is that federal rules govern instead of state rules.
One industry point cuts the other way. Federal regulators proposed in July 2025 to strip home care workers of federal minimum wage and overtime coverage. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry led a multi-state comment opposing it and noted that agency-employed home care workers in Pennsylvania are covered by state minimum wage and overtime protections regardless. If you run a direct care business, assume state coverage applies.
Youth, Student, and Learner Wages
Pennsylvania has no youth minimum wage. The act once allowed a 60-day training wage for employees under 20, but the regulation at 34 Pa. Code section 231.103 is explicit that the training wage could not be used after July 23, 2009 and that employers must pay $7.25 to all covered employees from July 24, 2009 forward.
The federal youth rate of $4.25 for the first 90 days gives you no headroom here. Three subminimum routes survive, and each needs a certificate or license rather than your own judgment.
Students and learners each have their own route: a special certificate the department issues on application, at a rate the certificate names that can never fall below 85 percent of the applicable minimum wage. A student certificate covering six or fewer students limits them to part-time work outside vacation periods.
The third route covers a worker whose earning capacity is impaired. That worker may be paid a commensurate rate, meaning one in proportion to the reduced capacity, under a state license or a federal certificate.
The Poster You Have to Hang
Every Pennsylvania business governed by the Minimum Wage Act must post the Minimum Wage Law poster, form LLC-1, in a conspicuous place where employees can read it. The state publishes it free in two sizes and in Spanish, and the current version prints $7.25 and the July 24, 2009 effective date on its face along with the tipped rules and record-keeping duties.
The minimum wage poster is one item in a set. The department lists roughly eleven state postings for employers, including the child labor abstract, the equal pay abstract, unemployment compensation and workers’ compensation notices, and it says plainly that missing posters can lead to fines. The full set is on the mandatory postings page, and federal postings apply on top of it.
How Pennsylvania Tracks the Federal Floor
Same number, different plumbing. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since July 24, 2009, and Pennsylvania arrived at that figure not by legislating it but through Section 4(a.1), which suspends the state's own rate schedule whenever the federal rate is higher and adopts the federal increase on its effective date.
The practical consequence is simple. If Congress raises the federal minimum, Pennsylvania employers owe the new rate on the same day, with no vote in Harrisburg and no notice period.
What to Do When a Rate Changes
A rate change is a payroll project, not a checkbox. Work it in this order the moment a new figure is confirmed, whether it comes from Harrisburg or from a federal increase Pennsylvania adopts automatically.
None of those steps is due until a new figure is confirmed. Until then, your standing job is smaller: pay at least the current floor, run the tipped make-up test every week, and keep the current poster where employees can read it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in Pennsylvania?
$7.25 an hour, the same as the federal rate, in effect since July 24, 2009. The figure is written into 34 Pa. Code section 231.101a and printed on the state Minimum Wage Law poster. Pennsylvania is one of the states sitting exactly at the federal floor rather than setting a higher rate of its own.
Is the Pennsylvania minimum wage going up?
No increase is scheduled, and the rate is not tied to inflation. The Governor's office announced on March 24, 2026 that the House passed House Bill 2189 to move the rate to $15, and the same announcement noted the House had passed similar bills three times without Senate action. The bill has sat in the Senate Labor and Industry Committee since March 30, 2026, and was still there as of September 2026. What you pay does not change until a bill becomes law.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Pennsylvania?
The cash wage is $2.83 an hour with a maximum tip credit of $4.42, and the credit applies only to an employee who receives more than $135 in tips in a month. If tips plus cash wage come in under $7.25 for the workweek, you owe the difference. Since August 2022, the 20 percent limit on non-tip-generating duties and the ban on deducting processing fees from tips also apply.
Can a Pennsylvania city or county set a higher minimum wage?
No. Section 14.1 of the Minimum Wage Act preempts local ordinances, with a narrow exception for ordinances adopted before January 1, 2006. Higher floors that do exist attach to public contracts rather than to geography, so a Philadelphia restaurant with no City contract pays $7.25 while a City vendor across the street pays the contract standard.
Can I pay a teenager or a new hire less than $7.25 in Pennsylvania?
No. The 60-day training wage for employees under 20 could not be used after July 23, 2009, and the state regulation directs employers to pay $7.25 to all covered employees from the following day forward. The federal youth wage of $4.25 for a new hire under 20 in the first 90 days of the job does not help you here. The only routes to a lower rate are student and learner certificates, which cannot go below 85 percent of the minimum, and a license or certificate for a worker whose earning capacity is impaired.
Which minimum wage poster do Pennsylvania employers have to display?
The Minimum Wage Law poster, form LLC-1, posted in a conspicuous place in every business the act covers. The state supplies it free in two sizes and in Spanish, and it is one of roughly eleven state postings the department lists for employers. Federal posting duties, including the Fair Labor Standards Act poster, sit on top of the state set.
Do farm workers and household employees get the Pennsylvania minimum wage?
Not under the state act, which exempts labor on a farm and domestic service in a private home from both state minimum wage and state overtime. Federal law usually still applies to those workers at the same $7.25 rate, so a state exemption is a signal to check the federal rules for the job rather than a license to pay less.