DC Minimum Wage: Rates, Tipped Pay, Employer Rules

A restaurant owner near Shaw called me the first week of July because his payroll system had quietly kept paying the old District rate. Eleven employees, four shifts, one stale number in a spreadsheet. Fixing the pay run took ten minutes. The conversation with his staff took the rest of the afternoon.

The District raises its minimum wage every July 1, not January 1 like most of the country. If you set payroll in January and think of wage floors as a New Year task, you will miss it. That is the single most common District wage mistake I see at small companies, and it is entirely avoidable.

This page is the numbers and nothing else: the current rate, the tipped cash wage, the two District rules that sit above the ordinary floor, and the short list of things to change when the rate moves. For hiring, leave, termination and the rest of the picture, use the D.C. HR compliance guide.

The Current DC Minimum Wage

The minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $18.40 per hour, effective July 1, 2026. It applies to every private employer in the District, at any headcount, with no small business tier and no phase-in.

The rate rose from $17.95 on that date. The Department of Employment Services set the figure from the annual average increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in the Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area for the previous calendar year, which was 2.4 percent, rounded to the nearest 5 cents as the statute requires.

Coverage is broader than a District street address. Under D.C. Code section 32-1003, the rate reaches an employee who regularly spends more than half of their working time in the District, and an employee whose job is based in the District who spends a substantial amount of working time there and not more than half in any one state.

There is also a two hour rule that catches employers across the line in Bethesda or Arlington. An employee who performs at least two hours of work in the District for the same employer within one workweek must be paid the District rate for each hour worked in the District, even when the rest of the week happens elsewhere.

The Next Scheduled Increase

The next increase takes effect July 1, 2027. The amount is not published yet, and nobody can tell you what it will be, because it depends on the Washington area Consumer Price Index for calendar year 2026.

That is not a gap in this page. It is how the statute works: the rate is adjusted each July in proportion to the previous calendar year index change, so the number only exists once the index closes. Treat any figure you see for July 2027 as a forecast, not a rate.

Tipped Employees and the Tip Credit

The cash wage for tipped employees is $10.30 per hour as of July 1, 2026, and the largest tip credit is the $8.10 difference between that and $18.40. The credit is only available to the extent the employee actually earns it in tips.

If cash wage plus tips, averaged weekly, does not reach the full minimum wage for every hour worked, you pay the shortfall in that pay period. The mechanics are the same as the federal tip credit, which I walk through in the tipped minimum wage guide.

The tipped rate is no longer a fixed dollar figure. It is now a percentage of the full minimum wage, on a schedule that runs to 2034, which means it rises every July even in years when the percentage itself does not change.

The percentage steps come from D.C. Code section 32-1003(f), as amended in December 2025. In the years between steps the cash wage still moves, because the percentage is applied to a minimum wage that has itself been adjusted for inflation.

If you pool or share tips, the policy has to be written, posted and disclosed before you take a credit against it. The rules on what a lawful pool looks like are in the tip pooling guide.

City and County Rates Inside the District

There are none. The District of Columbia is a single jurisdiction with no counties and no incorporated cities inside it, so one rate covers the whole city and there is nothing local to layer on top.

What does exist is two District-wide floors that sit above the ordinary minimum wage for specific work. Neither is a local ordinance, and neither applies to an ordinary retail or restaurant job.

Industry Carve-Outs

The District sets no separate minimum wage for fast food, healthcare or agriculture. There is no franchise headcount test and no sector schedule of the kind California runs. Two carve-outs do exist, and one of them is easy to miss.

The first is security officers. An employer must pay a security officer working in an office building in the District at least the combined wage and fringe benefit rate for the federal guard 1 classification that was in effect the previous September.

The current figures are in the District of Columbia Security Officer Minimum Wage notice published by the Office of Wage and Hour (DOES security officer rate notice). The rate moves each July with the federal wage determination, on a different clock from the CPI adjustment.

The second is the living wage for District government work. Recipients of a District contract or of government assistance of $100,000 or more, and their subcontractors receiving $15,000 or more on a contract or $50,000 or more on assistance, must pay affiliated employees the living wage. It was $17.95 from January 1 to June 30, 2026, and it tracks the minimum wage to $18.40 from July 1 (DOES living wage notice). By statute the living wage can never fall below the minimum wage.

Two more points on District contract work. The percentage schedule for the tipped wage does not apply to District employees or to employees performing services under District contracts, and the living wage carries its own exemptions, including nonprofits with 50 or fewer employees and students working under 25 hours a week.

Beyond that, the exceptions list is short. The minimum wage and overtime provisions do not reach bona fide executive, administrative, professional, computer or outside sales employees, or anyone delivering newspapers to consumer homes (D.C. Code section 32-1004). Getting that classification right is a separate exercise, covered in the exempt vs. non-exempt guide.

Youth and Training Wages

The District has no youth minimum wage and no training or probationary wage. A 16 year old working their first summer job is entitled to $18.40 per hour, the same as a 20 year veteran of the same shift.

The federal youth opportunity wage of $4.25 for the first 90 days does not rescue a District employer either. When a District rate is higher than the federal rate, the higher standard governs, and the District exceptions list has no age based entry at all.

Three narrow situations sit outside the ordinary rate, and none of them is a general teen wage. A subminimum wage for a worker with a disability is lawful only where the US Department of Labor has issued a certificate. Students employed by institutions of higher education may be paid the federal rate. Participants in the District summer youth jobs program are paid under that program rather than under the minimum wage act.

The Poster Requirement

Every covered employer must keep a copy or summary of the minimum wage law, in the form the Mayor prescribes, posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the premises where covered employees work. In practice that means the current Department of Employment Services minimum wage poster, refreshed each July.

The consequence of skipping it is unusually sharp. The three year limitations period for an unpaid wage action does not begin until the employer posts the required notice, and it is separately tolled for any period the employer failed to give the employee actual or constructive notice of their rights (D.C. Code section 32-1009). A missing poster can turn a claim you thought was stale into a live one.

The current poster carries both rates and the exceptions list, and the District publishes it free in seven languages (DOES minimum wage poster). It is one of a stack of District notices, which I list alongside the federal set in the workplace poster guide.

How the District Rate Relates to the Federal $7.25

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and has not moved since 2009. It never controls the pay of a District employee, because where two wage floors apply the higher one governs, and the District floor is $11.15 above it.

District law also carries a backstop against a federal rate that overtakes it. Section 32-1003 provides that where the federal minimum wage is greater than the District wage set by the statute schedule, the District rate becomes the federal rate plus one dollar.

The federal picture, including which employers the FLSA covers and how state and local floors interact, sits in the federal minimum wage guide. For the calendar of rate changes across other states, see the minimum wage increases tracker.

What to Do When the Rate Rises

Work the July increase as a short checklist rather than a payroll edit. Every item below has bitten a District employer I have worked with.

One detail people get wrong on the first pass: a pay period that straddles July 1 is not paid at one rate. Hours worked on and after the effective date are paid at the new rate, even when the period opened in June, so the pay stub should show the split. If your pay stubs cannot show it, that is worth fixing before the next increase, and the pay stub guide covers what the line items should say.

Two of these steps are simply record keeping, and both are easier when onboarding paperwork, wage notices and acknowledgements live in one system rather than in a folder someone maintains by hand. That is the part of this I built FirstHR to carry for small teams without an HR department.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum wage in Washington, D.C.?

It is $18.40 per hour, effective July 1, 2026, up from $17.95. Every private employer in the District pays it regardless of size, with no small business rate and no phase-in for new businesses. The figure comes from the annual Washington area CPI adjustment, rounded to the nearest 5 cents.

When does the DC minimum wage go up again?

July 1, 2027. The amount is not knowable yet because it depends on the Washington area index for calendar year 2026. The District must publish the adjusted rate at least 30 days before it takes effect, so expect the official number around the start of June.

What do I have to pay tipped employees?

A cash wage of $10.30 per hour, with tips making up the rest. The maximum tip credit is $8.10, and it only counts to the extent tips actually cover it. If cash plus tips averaged weekly falls short of $18.40 per hour, you pay the difference in that period.

Does any city or county in DC set its own minimum wage?

No. There are no counties or incorporated cities inside the District, so a single rate covers the whole city. The living wage for District contracts and the security officer wage can raise the floor for particular work, but neither is a local ordinance.

Can I pay a teenager or a trainee less?

No. The District has no youth wage and no training wage, and its exceptions list has no age based entry. The federal youth rate of $4.25 for the first 90 days does not apply where the District rate is higher, which it always is.

Do I have to pay the DC rate if my business is in Maryland or Virginia?

Frequently, yes. The District rate reaches employees who spend more than half their working time there, employees based in the District, and anyone who works at least two hours in the District in a single workweek for the same employer.

What happens if I do not post the minimum wage poster?

The three year limitations clock on an unpaid wage claim does not start until you post it, and it is tolled for any period an employee lacked notice of their rights. The District publishes a free poster every year, so this is an avoidable exposure.