Florida Minimum Wage 2026: Current Rate and Tipped Wage

The Florida minimum wage is $14.00 per hour as of September 30, 2025—and it rises to $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026. If you're running a business in Florida with hourly employees, you need to update your payroll before that September date and post updated wage notices. Florida's annual increase schedule, set by voter-approved Amendment 2 in 2020, runs through 2026, after which the rate will be adjusted for inflation each year. Tipped employee rules change with each increase, and the penalties for underpayment are steeper than most employers realize.

Florida Minimum Wage Rates: The Full Schedule

Amendment 2 set a specific $1-per-year increase schedule from $10 in September 2021 through $15 in September 2026. Here's the full rate table:

Effective Date	Standard Minimum Wage	Tipped Minimum Wage
Sep 30, 2021	$10.00/hr	$6.98/hr
Sep 30, 2022	$11.00/hr	$7.98/hr
Sep 30, 2023	$12.00/hr	$8.98/hr
Sep 30, 2024	$13.00/hr	$9.98/hr
Sep 30, 2025	$14.00/hr	$10.98/hr
Sep 30, 2026	$15.00/hr	$11.98/hr

The Florida Minimum Wage Act (Fla. Stat. § 448.110) sets the official minimum wage poster that employers must display in the workplace. Update your posted notice whenever the rate changes—this is a legal requirement, not optional.

How Florida's Tipped Wage Works

Florida allows employers to take a tip credit of $3.02 per hour. This means:

• The minimum direct cash wage for tipped employees is $10.98/hr (standard minimum $14.00 − $3.02 tip credit) as of September 30, 2025
• If the employee's tips plus the direct cash wage don't add up to at least $14.00/hr for every hour worked, the employer must pay the difference
• The tip credit only applies to employees who customarily receive tips—servers, bartenders, bussers. It cannot apply to kitchen staff or cashiers who rarely receive direct tips
• Employers must notify tipped employees in writing before taking the tip credit

The Department of Labor's guidance on tipped worker minimum wages by state confirms that Florida's tip credit is $3.02 per hour, and that employers must ensure the combined wage (tips + direct pay) meets the current Florida minimum, not the lower federal floor.

What Florida Employers Must Do Before the September 30 Deadline

1. Update your payroll rate: Change hourly rates for all employees earning at or near the current minimum wage to reflect the new floor before the first payroll that covers September 30.
2. Update tipped employee rates: If you pay a direct cash wage that relies on the tip credit, recalculate what you must pay as a base wage to keep the tip credit valid.
3. Post the new minimum wage notice: Florida law requires employers to display the current minimum wage poster in the workplace. Download the updated poster from Florida Commerce when the new rate takes effect.
4. Review your payroll records: Look for any employee whose pay is below or near the new minimum. Catching underpayment before the effective date is far better than discovering it in a wage claim.
5. Document the change: Keep a record of when you updated rates, for what employees, and the new amounts. If a wage dispute ever arises, that documentation is your defense.

What Are the Penalties for Underpaying Florida Employees?

Florida's minimum wage is embedded in the state constitution, which gives it unusually strong enforcement teeth. Employees have a direct right of action—they can sue their employer in state court without first going through a state agency. If an employer is found to have underpaid, they owe:

• All unpaid back wages going back as far as four years (the constitutional claim period—longer than the federal two-year FLSA window)
• An equal amount in liquidated damages (effectively doubling the back wages owed)
• Reasonable attorney fees, which the employer pays

Given the four-year lookback, a systematic underpayment of even $0.50/hour can accumulate into a serious liability for a small business with several hourly employees. Accurate, up-to-date payroll is your only protection.

Tracking Hours Accurately as Minimum Wage Rises

As your baseline labor costs go up with each minimum wage increase, accurate hour tracking becomes more financially important. Every unrecorded minute of work at $14 or $15/hour is money you owe. Every unreported overtime hour is money you owe plus a penalty. A free time clock like Kloqk creates a precise, timestamped record of every punch so your payroll calculations are based on actual hours—not estimates or rounded figures that drift over time.

Use the Kloqk time card calculator to verify your weekly payroll math before each run. As you approach the September 30, 2026 increase to $15.00/hr, a mid-year payroll audit can catch any employee whose rate hasn't been updated and prevent a costly underpayment claim. Florida's minimum wage enforcement is real—treat it accordingly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Florida's minimum wage in 2026?

Florida's minimum wage increased to $14.00 per hour effective September 30, 2025. The next scheduled increase under Amendment 2 will bring the rate to $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026. Florida's minimum wage changes take effect each September 30, not January 1. So through September 29, 2026, the required minimum wage is $14.00/hr. Beginning September 30, 2026, it rises to $15.00/hr.

What is Florida's tipped minimum wage?

Florida allows a tip credit of $3.02 per hour. Tipped employees must receive a direct cash wage of at least $10.98 per hour (as of September 30, 2025, when the standard minimum wage rose to $14.00). If tips plus the direct wage don't equal at least $14.00 per hour, the employer must make up the difference. This tip credit applies to employees who customarily and regularly receive more than $30/month in tips.

When does Florida's minimum wage change each year?

Florida's minimum wage increases take effect on September 30 of each year. This is different from most states, which use January 1 as the effective date. The September 30 schedule was set by Amendment 2, passed by Florida voters in November 2020. Each year's rate is $1.00 higher than the previous year's, running from $10 in 2021 through $15 in 2026.

What happens if I pay below Florida's minimum wage?

Employers who pay below the required minimum wage are subject to back wages for all underpaid hours, civil penalties, and private lawsuits by employees. Florida's constitution gives employees the right to sue for minimum wage violations directly—employees don't have to go through a state agency first. They can recover back wages plus an equal amount in damages, plus attorney fees. The statute of limitations is four years for a constitutional claim, which is longer than the federal two-year FLSA period.

Does Florida have its own overtime law?

No. Florida does not have a state overtime law. Florida employers follow the federal FLSA overtime standard: non-exempt employees must receive 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. There is no daily overtime requirement in Florida (unlike California). The federal $7.25 federal minimum wage floor also doesn't apply in Florida since Florida's minimum wage now exceeds it by a wide margin.