Florida's $15 Minimum Wage: September 30, 2026

Florida's minimum wage rises to $15 per hour on September 30, 2026. The tipped cash wage rises to $11.98. These are the final scheduled increases under Amendment 2, the constitutional amendment voters approved in November 2020 with 60.82% of the vote.

After $15, the rate adjusts automatically every year based on inflation. There is no further legislative step.

The schedule

Effective date	Base wage	Tipped cash wage
September 30, 2024	$13.00/hr	$9.98/hr
September 30, 2025	$14.00/hr	$10.98/hr
September 30, 2026	$15.00/hr	$11.98/hr
January 1, 2028	CPI-adjusted	CPI-adjusted

The jump from $14 to $15 is the last of six annual $1 steps that started at $10 in 2021.

The tip credit stays at $3.02

Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution caps the tip credit at "the allowable FLSA tip credit in 2003," which was $3.02. That number is in the state constitution. It can't change without another amendment.

Every dollar the base wage rises, the tipped cash wage rises by the same dollar. At $15, the cash wage is $11.98, which exceeds the federal tipped minimum ($2.13) by nearly $10.

If tips plus the $11.98 cash wage don't reach $15 in any workweek, the employer owes the difference. That guarantee applies per employee, per workweek.

	Rate	Cash wage	Tip credit	Employer top-up if tips = $0 (40-hr week)
Current (Sept 30, 2025)	$14.00	$10.98	$3.02	$439.20
Final step (Sept 30, 2026)	$15.00	$11.98	$3.02	$479.20

The tip credit stays fixed; the entire $1 increase each year goes to the cash wage. A server working 40 hours in a week with no tips would need the employer to cover $479.20 at the $15 rate — the tip credit does not reduce that obligation.

Annual inflation adjustments start in 2027

After the $15 step, F.S. 448.110 sets the annual adjustment process. The state uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the South Region:

1. September 1: the 12-month measurement period ends.
2. By October 15: the state publishes the new rate on the Department of Commerce website.
3. January 1: the adjusted rate takes effect.

The first CPI-adjusted rate takes effect January 1, 2028. After that, it's annual: rate published by October 15, in effect January 1, with no legislative vote and no rulemaking. The annual cycle doesn't end — F.S. 448.110 indexes the rate to CPI in perpetuity.

The compliance rhythm is now fixed: CPI-adjusted rate publishes each October, takes effect each January 1. Single-site Florida operators who avoided underpayment disputes through the 2020–2026 step-up period tracked both dates on a single calendar — an October rate check against the January effective date, repeated each year.

No state wage-and-hour agency

Florida does not have a state labor department or wage-and-hour division. When an employee has a wage complaint, they can file a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (which maintains seven field offices in Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, Tampa, and West Palm Beach) or a private civil action under F.S. 448.110, which requires 15 days' written notice to the employer before filing.

Federal enforcement in Florida hospitality is not theoretical. The WHD has recovered $51.2 million in back wages from 6,818 Florida hospitality investigations, based on Duty Room's analysis of WHD enforcement data. Bars carry the highest median investigation cost at $4,912 per case. Overtime violations account for 57% of all back wages recovered.

Tip credit violations are a recurring pattern in Florida WHD cases. When an employer adds managers to the tip pool, diverts tips, or fails to track tipped hours accurately, the DOL can pursue back-pay liability for the full minimum wage for all affected hours under the FLSA tip credit provisions (29 U.S.C. § 203(m)). One Florida restaurant chain paid $314,553 in back wages after the DOL found it was redirecting all gratuities to the business. A Tampa brewery paid $70,575 after managers were included in the tip pool.

Where the rate change lands in payroll systems

As of September 30, the Florida rate for covered hours becomes $15.00 base and $11.98 tipped cash wage. F.S. 448.110 applies only to hours worked in Florida; payroll configurations that allocate hours by state are the standard mechanism operators use to isolate the Florida rate from rates in other jurisdictions.

On tip pools: under FLSA 29 U.S.C. § 203(m), an employer taking a tip credit may not include managers or non-tipped staff in the tip pool. Federal tip pooling rules differ when no tip credit is taken. F.S. 448.110 requires the employer to cover any shortfall in a workweek where tips plus cash wage fall below $15 per hour. Recurring exposure patterns in Florida WHD cases include tipped servers with back-of-house cross-coverage shifts logged under the wrong classification, and manager-included tip pools — the Tampa brewery case ($70,575 in back wages) turned on the latter.

F.S. 448.109 requires the minimum wage poster to be displayed in both English and Spanish. The DEO publishes updated poster files each year.

The annual compliance sequence: rate publishes by October 15 → payroll configuration updated before January 1 → first pay run of the new year validates the new base and tipped cash wage → cycle repeats. The first CPI-adjusted rate will be published by October 15, 2027 and takes effect January 1, 2028.