Michigan Minimum Wage 2026
The minimum wage in Michigan is $13.73 per hour in 2026, effective January 1, 2026. Tipped employees can be paid a cash wage of $5.49 per hour, as long as tips bring them to the full minimum.
What is the minimum wage in Michigan in 2026?
The Michigan minimum wage is $13.73 per hour as of January 1, 2026, up from $12.48. Michigan's current schedule is the product of one of the strangest minimum wage stories in the country: a 2018 citizen initiative that the legislature adopted and then watered down, a 2024 court ruling that declared the adopt-and-amend maneuver unconstitutional, and a February 2025 legislative deal that finally settled the numbers.
That deal, SB 8, set the path employers now follow: $12.48 on February 21, 2025, $13.73 in 2026, $15.00 on January 1, 2027, and annual inflation adjustments after that. After years of litigation-driven uncertainty, Michigan employers finally have a schedule they can budget against.
Tipped minimum wage in Michigan
The tipped minimum wage in Michigan is $5.49 per hour in 2026, which is 40 percent of the full minimum. Unlike states with a fixed tipped rate, Michigan's is a moving target: SB 8 raises the ratio gradually each year until it reaches 50 percent of the minimum wage in 2031.
That means the tipped cash wage changes every January for the foreseeable future, driven by both the rising ratio and the rising full minimum. Tips must still bring every tipped employee to the full $13.73 per hour, and employers pay any shortfall. Recheck the tipped rate at the start of each year rather than assuming last year's figure.
Michigan minimum wage history: 2020 to 2026
| Year | Minimum wage | Tipped wage |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $9.65 | $3.67 |
| 2021 | $9.65 | $3.67 |
| 2022 | $9.87 | $3.75 |
| 2023 | $10.10 | $3.84 |
| 2024 | $10.33 | $3.93 |
| 2025 | $12.48 | $4.74 |
| 2026 | $13.73 | $5.49 |
Upcoming minimum wage increases in Michigan
The next step is the big one: Michigan's minimum wage reaches $15.00 on January 1, 2027. After that, the rate adjusts annually for inflation, so 2027 is the last fixed jump on the calendar.
The tipped ratio keeps moving longer, stepping up each year from 40 percent in 2026 until it hits 50 percent of the minimum in 2031. Hospitality employers face compounding increases: a rising full minimum multiplied by a rising ratio, so model tipped labor costs out to 2031 rather than year by year.
Minimum wage by city in Michigan
Michigan preempts local minimum wages, so Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Lansing all follow the statewide $13.73 rate. No city or county can set its own.
Market wages diverge anyway. Ann Arbor's university-driven economy and Grand Rapids' tight manufacturing and healthcare labor markets both push typical hourly offers above the floor, while the $15.00 step coming in 2027 will compress pay bands for roles currently offered in the $14 to $16 range statewide.
State rate applies
State rate applies
State rate applies
State rate applies
What Michigan employers need to know
A moving tipped rate
The tipped cash wage is 40 percent of the minimum in 2026 ($5.49) and the ratio rises yearly to 50 percent by 2031. Update payroll every January; last year's tipped rate is always wrong.
Plan for $15.00 in 2027
The full minimum jumps to $15.00 on January 1, 2027, a 9 percent increase. Build it into 2027 budgets and review pay compression for employees currently earning between $13.73 and $15.00.
Overtime
Michigan requires 1.5x pay after 40 hours in a workweek under the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, consistent with the federal FLSA standard.
Sick leave changed too
The same 2024 court ruling and 2025 legislative deal also rewrote Michigan's earned sick time law. If you updated wage rates in February 2025, confirm your leave policies were updated in the same pass.
How other states compare
See how Michigan's $13.73 rate stacks up against other state minimum wages in 2026, or browse the full minimum wage index for all 50 states.
Last verified:
Sources: the US Department of Labor's state minimum wage table and official announcements from the Michigan labor department. Minimum wage laws change frequently; confirm current rates with those sources or legal counsel before setting pay.
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