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Washington’s Minimum Wage Going Up to $16.66 Per Hour in 2025

Oct 3, 2024
Washington’s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 an hour next year, a 2.35 percent increase over 2024.

Washington’s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 an hour next year, a 2.35 percent increase over 2024.

State law directs L&I to calculate the minimum wage for the coming year using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). To make the calculation, L&I compares the CPI-W from August of the previous year to August of the current year.

According to the bureau, housing and food costs increased over the last 12 months, leading to the increase in the CPI-W.

In 2024, Washington has the highest state-level minimum wage in the nation. The federal minimum wage remains set at $7.25 an hour.

Cities can set minimum wages higher than the state. Seattle, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham, and Burien all will have higher wages in 2025.

The state minimum wage applies to workers age 16 and older. Under state law, employers can pay 85 percent of the minimum wage to workers ages 14-15. For 2025, the wage for younger workers will be $14.16 per hour.

More information about the minimum wage is available on L&I's website, along with details about overtime, rest breaks, meal periods, and how to file a wage complaint. A poster with information about the 2025 minimum wage is also available in 15 different languages.

Employers and workers may also call L&I’s Employment Standards Program at 360-902-5316 or 1-866-219-7321 with questions.

The increase in the state minimum wage also affects the pay for some specific types of workers and employment situations including overtime exempt employees.

Overtime exempt employees

Along with calculating the new minimum wage, L&I uses that information to update the minimum salary thresholds for overtime exempt employees. This change impacts how much executive, administrative, and professional workers plus computer professionals and outside salespeople must earn in salary to be exempt from the requirement to pay them overtime.

For 2025, small employers with up 50 employees must pay overtime exempt workers at least 2 times the minimum wage. That means an exempt employee will have to earn at least $1,332.80 a week ($69,305.60 a year). For large employers, with 51 or more employees, overtime exempt workers must make at least 2.25 times the minimum wage. That means an exempt employee for one of these larger employers must earn at least $1,499.40 a week ($77,968.80 a year).

L&I updated the rules for exempt workers in 2020, creating an eight-year implementation schedule that incrementally raises how much more than minimum wage salaried employees must be paid to be exempt from overtime until it reaches 2.5 times the minimum wage in 2028. The pace of the increase is based on the size of the employer.

The same rules allow exempt computer professionals to be paid an hourly rate rather than the salary required for most exempt employees. That hourly rate is 3.5 times the minimum wage, regardless of employer size. For 2025, that will be $58.31 per hour.

Non-compete clauses

The department also uses the CPI-W to calculate the minimum annual salary threshold for a non-compete clause or contract to be enforceable. Non-compete agreements typically prevent an employee or independent contractor from working for a competitor or starting a similar business while employed or after leaving their current job. In Washington, non-compete agreements are valid only when the employee or independent contractor earns at least a set amount. For employees in 2025, the threshold will be $123,394.17. For independent contractors, the 2025 threshold will be $308,485.43.