West Virginia Minimum Wage: Rates and Employer Rules
West Virginia’s minimum wage is $8.75 an hour, but only where six or more employees work at one location. Tip credit, training wage and exemptions.
West Virginia Minimum Wage
The current rate, the six employee test that decides whether it applies to you, tip credit math, and the credits the state allows
An owner with two coffee shops in West Virginia once asked me to settle an argument with his bookkeeper. One shop ran eight people, the other ran five. The bookkeeper had put everyone on the same hourly rate for the sake of fairness, and he wanted to know whether the law actually required it.
It does not. West Virginia is one of the few states where the wage floor depends on how many people work at each individual location, not on the size of the company. The eight person shop owed the state rate. The five person shop did not, and fell back to federal rules instead.
That single quirk causes more West Virginia payroll confusion than the rate itself. This page covers the wage floor only, in the order the questions tend to arrive: the rate, who it applies to, tips, exemptions, credits and posters. For hiring paperwork, breaks, leave and everything else the state requires, the West Virginia HR compliance guide is the broader reference.
That is a lot for one owner to keep straight. FirstHR exists because small teams carry all of it without an HR department.
The Current West Virginia Rate
The West Virginia minimum wage is $8.75 per hour, effective January 1, 2016. The Division of Labor states the rate plainly in its minimum wage guidance and cites WV Code section 21-5C-2(a)(5) as the source.
Ten years at one number is unusual, and it changes how you should think about this page. In most states the job is tracking the next increase. In West Virginia the job is tracking coverage, because the rate itself has been static since the day it took effect.
How you calculate pay does not affect the obligation. The Division of Labor is explicit that piece rate and unit rate workers are entitled to the same floor: divide total wages earned by hours actually worked, and if the result is below $8.75 the employer must top it up.
| Item | West Virginia | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum wage | $8.75 per hour | WV Code 21-5C-2(a)(5) |
| Effective date | January 1, 2016 | Division of Labor fact sheet 1 |
| Coverage test | Six or more non-exempt employees at one work location | WV Code 21-5C-1(e) |
| Rate below that threshold | Federal rules may apply, at $7.25 | Division of Labor minimum wage FAQ |
| Tipped cash wage | $2.62 per hour, 70 percent credit | WV Code 21-5C-4 |
| Training wage | $6.40 per hour, first 90 days, under age 20 | Division of Labor minimum wage poster |
| Next scheduled increase | None | No future step in the statute |
The Six Employee Test
State minimum wage requirements apply only when an employer has six or more non-exempt employees working at the same separate, distinct and permanent work location. Fall below six at a given site and that site is outside state coverage, where federal rules may apply instead.
The Division of Labor applies the test per location rather than per company. Its guidance says so directly: it is possible for some employees of the same employer to be covered by state requirements while others are not. That is the answer to the coffee shop argument, and it surprises most owners the first time they hear it.
Two details decide the outcome in practice. First, only non-exempt employees count toward the six, so a location staffed largely by exempt managers may not reach the threshold. Second, the count is measured during any calendar week, so a site that crosses six during a busy stretch is covered for that stretch.
| Situation | Does the state rate apply? | What governs |
|---|---|---|
| Six or more non-exempt employees at one permanent location | Yes | $8.75 state rate |
| Five or fewer non-exempt employees at that location | No | Federal rules may apply at $7.25 |
| Company has 30 employees across six small sites | Tested site by site | Each location stands on its own count |
| Employer based outside West Virginia | Yes, if a WV location meets the count | $8.75 state rate at that location |
| Employee works from home | Yes, if the home site meets the count | Work location is where work is performed |
| Staff rotating among temporary sites | Tested where assignments are issued | That location is the work location |
Home based and client based work follows the same logic. The Division of Labor treats the location of work as the place where the employee actually performs it, including the employee’s own home or the residence of a patient or client, which matters for home health and personal care agencies more than for anyone else.
The Next Scheduled Increase
No increase is scheduled. West Virginia has no annual inflation adjustment, no indexing formula and no future rate steps sitting in the statute, which is exactly why $8.75 has held since January 1, 2016.
One automatic mechanism does exist. The Division of Labor’s fact sheet guidance states that the state requirement is set by law to increase along with any future federal increase, so West Virginia will always remain equal to or higher than the federal minimum wage. Your next West Virginia rate change is therefore most likely to originate in Washington.
Bills to raise the state rate get introduced regularly and have not become law. In the 2026 regular session, House Bill 5485 (a rate increase) and House Bill 5671 (increases tied to the consumer price index) both stayed in committee.
Until a bill is signed, treat its figure as a proposal. Applying an unenacted rate early is expensive, and applying an enacted one late is worse.
Tipped Employees and the Tip Credit
West Virginia allows a tip credit of up to 70 percent of the minimum wage. Against $8.75 that is a maximum credit of $6.13 per hour and a minimum cash wage of $2.62, set out in WV Code section 21-5C-4 and in the Division of Labor fact sheet on tipped employees.
The credit is conditional every single week. If cash wage plus reported tips does not reach $8.75 per hour in a workweek of seven consecutive 24 hour periods, the employer must raise that individual’s wage by whatever amount closes the gap.
| Rule | What it requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum credit | 70 percent of the minimum wage, $6.13 per hour | WV Code 21-5C-4 |
| Minimum cash wage | $2.62 per hour | WV Code 21-5C-4 |
| Weekly true up | Cash plus tips must reach $8.75 for the workweek | Division of Labor fact sheet 3 |
| 20 percent rule | Full $8.75 for time spent on non-tipped duties beyond 20 percent of the week | 42CSR 8-12.1.b |
| Dual job employees | Full $8.75 for all hours worked in the non-tipped role | 42CSR 8-12.1.d |
| Tip records | Written report signed and dated by the employee each period | 42CSR 8-12.1.e |
| Tip pooling | Only tipped and dual job employees may share; employer may not | 42CSR 8-12.1.7 and 8-12.1.8 |
The records rule is where employers get caught. Without written tip reports from the employee, the employer cannot take the credit at all and owes the full $8.75 for every hour.
Each report must be completed by the employee, show the period, cash tips, card tips, tips paid out and net tips retained, and be signed and dated. IRS Form 4070 and Form 4070A are accepted, as is any form carrying the same information.
The 20 percent rule deserves a second read if your servers open or close the restaurant. Time spent on side work that does not generate tips is paid at the full rate once it passes a fifth of the workweek. Dual job employees, who hold both a tipped and a non-tipped role, earn the full rate for every non-tipped hour.
City and County Rates
No West Virginia city or county sets its own minimum wage. There is one statewide floor, and the only local variable is the employee count at each site.
That is worth appreciating if you have operated elsewhere. An employer running locations in Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling and Morgantown applies the same $8.75 test at every one of them, with no municipal ordinance stacking on top and no separate local poster to hang.
Public works and federally funded projects can still carry prevailing wage terms, but those come from the contract rather than from a city wage law.
Who Is Exempt From the State Rate
West Virginia’s exemptions run by occupation and by worker category, listed in the definition of employee in WV Code section 21-5C-1(f) and summarized in the Division of Labor minimum wage fact sheets. There is no fast food carve-out and no healthcare carve-out.
Agriculture is the one broad industry exclusion, defined by reference to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Two seasonal exclusions are narrower than they look: commercial whitewater outfitter staff and amusement park staff working under seven months in a calendar year are excluded only from the maximum hour provisions (the state overtime rules), not from the wage floor.
| Category | Status under the state act | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural workers | Excluded | Agriculture as defined in the Fair Labor Standards Act |
| Professional, executive and administrative employees | Excluded | Conditions apply, including a minimum salary |
| Employees of the United States | Excluded | Federal employment rules govern |
| Volunteers at charitable, religious and nonprofit organizations | Excluded | Only where no employment relationship exists |
| Work performed for a parent, child or spouse | Excluded | Immediate family employment |
| Traveling and outside salesmen | Excluded | Occupational exclusion |
| Golf caddies, shoeshine boys, newsboys, bowling pin chasers | Excluded | Named occupations in the statute |
| Summer camp staff at a boys or girls camp | Excluded | Occupational exclusion |
| Theater ushers | Excluded | Occupational exclusion |
| Part time students at a recognized school or college | Excluded | Fact sheet describes 24 hours or less |
| Anyone 62 or older receiving Social Security old age or survivors benefits | Excluded | Age and benefit based exclusion |
| On the job trainees | Excluded | Employment for the purpose of vocational training |
| Sheltered workshop employees | Excluded | Nonprofit sheltered workshop setting |
| State employed firefighters | Excluded | Public employment exclusion |
| Local and interurban motorbus carrier employees | Excluded | Occupational exclusion |
| Drivers under Department of Transportation authority | Excluded | Federal hours of service authority |
| Auto, truck, farm implement and aircraft salesmen, parts men and mechanics | Overtime only | Excluded from maximum hours, not from the wage floor |
| Seasonal whitewater outfitter staff under seven months | Overtime only | Excluded from section 21-5C-3 maximum hours |
| Seasonal amusement park staff under seven months | Overtime only | Excluded from section 21-5C-3 maximum hours |
One trap deserves its own sentence. Exempt from the West Virginia act does not mean exempt from federal law, because the Fair Labor Standards Act runs its own coverage test and reaches many workers the state list leaves out.
Youth and Training Wages
West Virginia publishes a training wage of $6.40 per hour. The Division of Labor minimum wage poster states that an employer may pay an employee under the age of 20, first hired on or after January 1, 2015, at least $6.40 per hour for the first 90 days of employment, with the full rate due beginning on the 91st day.
There is a wrinkle worth knowing before you rely on it. The Division’s own FAQ says West Virginia defers training wage jurisdiction to the US Department of Labor whenever federal standards equal or exceed state requirements, and describes the federal standard as currently meeting that test. The federal youth wage is $4.25 per hour for the first 90 consecutive calendar days.
| Wage | Amount | Who it covers | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia training wage | $6.40 per hour | Under age 20, first hired on or after January 1, 2015 | First 90 days of employment |
| Federal youth wage | $4.25 per hour | Under age 20 | First 90 consecutive calendar days |
| Standard West Virginia rate | $8.75 per hour | Covered non-exempt employees | From the 91st day onward |
The safe course is simple: pay the higher of the two figures, which is $6.40, and confirm your situation with the Division of Labor before going lower. Set a reminder for day 90 as well, because the jump to $8.75 has to land on the right date and a missed reminder turns into back wages.
Meal, Lodging and Uniform Credits
West Virginia allows three credits against the minimum wage and forbids a fourth. Meals and living quarters may be credited under defined conditions, tips may be credited at 70 percent, and uniforms may never be credited at all.
According to the Division of Labor’s minimum wage credits fact sheet, the credits are optional. You can always pay the full $8.75 and skip the record keeping, which is the right call for most small teams because each credit carries conditions that have to be documented and defended.
| Credit | Amount | Conditions | Resulting cash wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | Up to $6.13 per hour | Service employee, written tip records, weekly true up | $2.62 |
| Meals, full eight hour day | $4.00 per day | Meal made available and actually eaten | Reduced by $4.00 for that day |
| Meals, shift under eight hours | $0.50 per hour | Meal made available and actually eaten | Reduced by $0.50 per hour |
| Living quarters | 33 percent of the minimum wage | Quarters are a compulsory condition of employment and meet the rule’s standards | $5.86 |
| Uniforms and laundering | Not permitted | No credit may be taken | Full $8.75 |
The meal credit has one condition that catches employers repeatedly: no meal eaten, no credit. Making food available is not enough, and the credit cannot be applied as a flat deduction across a shift roster.
The lodging credit is narrower still. The quarters must provide heat, light, hot and cold potable water and space for cooking, cleaning and bathing before the credit can be taken at all.
The Poster Requirement
West Virginia requires a minimum wage poster. The Division of Labor lists the Minimum Wage Requirements poster on its required posters page and marks it as applying to all employers, alongside the Wage Payment and Collection Act poster.
The minimum wage poster is genuinely useful rather than decorative. It carries the $8.75 rate, the six employee coverage rule, the $6.40 training wage and the 70 percent tip credit on one sheet, which answers most of the questions employees ask about their pay before they reach your desk.
| State poster | Who must post it |
|---|---|
| Minimum Wage Requirements | All employers |
| Wage Payment and Collection Act | All employers |
| Nurses Overtime and Patient Safety Act | Hospitals only |
| Parental Leave Act | State government units and county boards of education |
Federal posters sit on top of the state set, including the Fair Labor Standards Act notice that every covered employer must display. Download both sets from the agency sites rather than buying a laminated pack, and check the revision date on the state sheet whenever you refresh the wall.
West Virginia Against the Federal Floor
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not moved since 2009. West Virginia sits $1.50 above it, and the Division of Labor confirms that any employee covered by both systems is entitled to the state rate.
The federal floor still matters here, and more than it does in most states above $7.25. Every West Virginia location with five or fewer non-exempt employees looks to federal wage rules rather than state ones, which can mean a $7.25 floor and a $2.13 tipped cash wage inside the same company that pays $8.75 elsewhere.
The relationship also runs the other way. Because state law ties the West Virginia requirement to any future federal increase, a rise in the federal rate lifts the state rate with it.
What to Do When the Rate Changes
Treat a rate change as a short checklist rather than a payroll edit, because in West Virginia the same trigger usually moves several numbers at once. A federal increase raises the state rate, and the percentage based credits move with it while the fixed dollar figures do not.
Overtime moves with the base rate too, because the regular rate of pay is the starting point for the premium. Most West Virginia employers sit under federal overtime rules rather than state ones.
Under the Division of Labor’s overtime jurisdiction fact sheet, state overtime applies only when three conditions hold. First, the employer has no enterprise coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), meaning the law does not cover the business as a whole. Second, fewer than 80 percent of its employees are individually covered by the FLSA. Third, the location meets the six employee test.
Enforcement runs through the Wage and Hour Section of the West Virginia Division of Labor, which administers the state minimum wage and maximum hour standards and accepts requests for assistance from employees who believe they were underpaid. Running the checklist above before each effective date helps keep your payroll from becoming one of those requests.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in West Virginia right now?
The West Virginia minimum wage is $8.75 per hour. That rate took effect on January 1, 2016 and has not changed since, which is a long time for a state wage floor to hold steady. The West Virginia Division of Labor states the figure directly in its minimum wage guidance and traces it to WV Code section 21-5C-2(a)(5). The rate is $1.50 above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. It applies to covered non-exempt employees no matter how their pay is calculated, so piece rate and unit rate workers must still clear $8.75 once total earnings are divided by hours actually worked. The rate is not automatic for every employer in the state, because coverage turns on how many employees work at a single location.
Does the West Virginia minimum wage apply to every employer?
No. Coverage depends on the headcount at each site, not on the size of the company. The state rate kicks in only where six or more non-exempt employees work at one separate, distinct and permanent location, and the Division of Labor runs that count one location at a time. A single employer can therefore owe $8.75 at a busy site while a smaller site sits outside state coverage, where federal minimum wage rules at $7.25 per hour may govern instead. Employers based outside West Virginia are treated the same way for any in-state location that reaches the count. The work location is wherever the work actually happens, which can be the employee’s own home or a client’s residence. For staff sent to different sites on temporary assignments, it is the place that issues those assignments.
What is the tipped minimum wage in West Virginia?
The tipped cash wage is $2.62 per hour. West Virginia allows a tip credit of up to 70 percent of the minimum wage, which works out to $6.13 per hour against the $8.75 rate, leaving a cash wage of at least $2.62. Cash wage plus reported tips must reach $8.75 for every hour in the workweek, and the employer owes the difference in any week the total falls short. To take the credit the employer must hold written tip records completed, signed and dated by the employee showing cash tips, card tips, tips paid out and net tips retained. Where a service employee spends more than 20 percent of the workweek on duties that do not generate tips, the full $8.75 is due for that time. If the six employee test is not met, the federal cash wage of $2.13 may apply instead.
Is the West Virginia minimum wage going up?
No increase is scheduled. Nothing in state law adjusts the rate for inflation each year, no ballot measure has indexed it and the statute holds no future rate steps, so $8.75 has stood since January 1, 2016. The one built-in trigger is federal. According to the Division of Labor, state law lifts the West Virginia requirement whenever the federal minimum rises, which keeps the state figure level with or above the federal one at all times. For planning, that makes Congress a far likelier source of your next payroll change than Charleston. Proposals to raise the state rate come up regularly, yet none has been enacted. Keep any proposed figure out of payroll until the bill carrying it has been signed into law.
Do any West Virginia cities have their own minimum wage?
No. There is one wage floor across West Virginia and no city or county publishes a separate minimum wage for private employers. The Division of Labor describes a single statewide rate and points employers to federal law only where the six employee test is not met, with no local ordinance layer in between. For a small business that means a company operating in Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown runs the same wage floor at all three sites, and the only variable is the employee count at each location. That is a real simplification compared with states where city ordinances stack on top of the state rate. Separate prevailing wage requirements can still attach to public works and federally funded contracts, but the contract sets those terms, not a local wage law.
Can I pay a training wage to a worker under 20 in West Virginia?
Yes, at $6.40 per hour for the first 90 days. According to the Division of Labor minimum wage poster, a worker who is younger than 20 and was first hired on or after January 1, 2015 can be paid a training wage of no less than $6.40 per hour during the first 90 days on the job. From the 91st day, the full minimum wage is owed. One complication sits in the Division’s FAQ: the state hands training wage jurisdiction to the US Department of Labor whenever federal standards meet or exceed its own. The federal youth wage is lower, at $4.25 per hour, and it applies for the first 90 consecutive calendar days. The safer choice is the higher $6.40, and it pays to check the current position with the Division of Labor before relying on any lower number.
Which West Virginia workers are exempt from the state minimum wage?
West Virginia excludes a long list of workers from the definition of employee in WV Code section 21-5C-1(f). The Division of Labor fact sheet names individuals employed by the United States, volunteers at charitable and religious organizations, golf caddies, shoeshine boys, newsboys, bowling pin chasers, traveling and outside salesmen, work performed for a parent, child or spouse, bona fide professional, executive and administrative employees, on the job trainees, sheltered workshop employees, summer camp staff, anyone 62 or older receiving Social Security old age or survivors benefits, agricultural workers, state firefighters, theater ushers, part time students, interurban motorbus employees and drivers under Department of Transportation authority. Falling outside the state act does not take a worker outside federal law, since the Fair Labor Standards Act applies its own coverage test separately.
Do I have to post a minimum wage notice in West Virginia?
Yes. Every employer in the state needs the Minimum Wage Requirements poster, which the West Virginia Division of Labor includes on its list of required posters with all employers marked as covered. A single sheet sets out the $8.75 rate, the six employee coverage rule, the $6.40 training wage and the 70 percent tip credit, so it doubles as the cheapest pay reference in the building. All employers must display the Wage Payment and Collection Act poster as well. Two further state posters have narrower audiences: hospitals need the Nurses Overtime and Patient Safety Act poster, and state government units and county boards of education need the Parental Leave Act poster. The federal posters, the Fair Labor Standards Act notice among them, go up on top of the state set.