• Minimum-wage workers in California, Vermont, and 19 other states will earn more at the start of 2025.
• Missouri voters passed a referendum in the November election raising the state's minimum wage.
• An analysis found over 9 million workers will likely be affected by the coming minimum wage increases.

Workers in 21 states are set to start the new year with a raise.

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, minimum wages across the nation are set to be hiked. In a few states, the minimum wage will rise to $15 an hour, a longtime target rate for advocates.

Hover over the states in the map below to see how much minimum wages will change.

Of the 21 states that will see an increase, 14 are subject to inflation-based adjustments as part of existing minimum wage laws, per a report from the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute. The EPI report estimated that full-time impacted workers in those states will see their annual earnings increase by $420 on average.

In the November election, Missouri voters approved a referendum to increase the state's minimum wage to $13.75 on January 1, 2025, and then to $15 in 2026. Some small business owners in the state are reportedly already bracing for higher costs, and business groups there have already filed a legal petition to attempt to overturn the new proposition. Recent research has found that independent businesses are, on average, able to shoulder minimum wage increases — although higher minimum wages can lead to smaller restaurants shuttering.

A 2022 ballot initiative in Nebraska has the state on a similar trajectory, with workers set to get an increase to $13.50 in January 2025 and then a hike to $15 in 2026.

Alaska will increase the state's minimum wage to $11.91 on January 1 because of an inflation adjustment. Minimum wage workers will get another raise on July 1 because of a ballot measure in the recent election. The state minimum wage will rise to $13 in the summer, $14 the following July, and $15 in 2027. Its minimum wage would be adjusted for inflation after that.

Delaware and Virginia are the only states in the South that will see minimum wage increases at the start of the year. Five states in the South don't have minimum wage laws, and Georgia's minimum wage is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25, based on data from the Department of Labor. That means those states default to the federal minimum.

An analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that over 9 million workers are set to directly and indirectly benefit from increased state minimum wages.

Out of those workers, just over 3 million are directly set to see their pay go up. Even more will be affected indirectly. Over 6 million workers are within 15% of the new minimum wage floor — which, per EPI, means their employers are likely to adjust their wages to compete for talent.

In addition to state minimum wage increases happening in almost two dozen states on January 1, the National Employment Law Project said 48 cities and counties will also have minimum wage increases that day.

Nationally, the federal minimum wage has sat untouched at $7.25 since 2009. President-elect Donald Trump has signaled that he could be open to changing that number, telling "Meet the Press" that he would consider raising the federal rate — although he noted that the cost of living across the country varies, making it difficult to enact one flat rate.

Mike Draper, the owner and founder of screen-printing and retail business RAYGUN, whose 10 stores include a location in Missouri, told Business Insider that minimum wage increases — like the one recently approved by that state's voters — could help bolster workers' spending power. Draper already pays his workers a starting wage of $15.50 an hour.

"This is different from a tax increase, or a rent increase, or a cost of goods increase. None of that money is going to go directly back into your community, for the most part," Draper said, adding: "Increases to worker pay is going to be felt immediately."

Are you set to see your wages go up on January 1? Contact these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected].

• President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview that he "would consider" raising the federal minimum wage.
• It has been at $7.25 per hour since 2009; however, 30 states and DC have increased their minimum above the federal level.
• Here's where it stands in every state and the raises both parties have proposed.

President-elect Donald Trump said he'd consider raising the federal minimum wage. It's been $7.25 per hour since 2009, though 30 states and a slew of cities have adopted higher rates.

"It's a very low number," Trump said in an interview with "Meet the Press" that aired on December 8. While he didn't commit to a specific level, he said that a federal minimum of $8 or $9 "might have very little effect" because of the low cost of living in some areas.

Any raises to the federal minimum wage would directly affect workers in at least the 20 states where, as of July, the minimum wage was at or below the federal level, per the Department of Labor. Most minimum wage jobs are in the service sector, largely in food preparation and serving-related positions.

Washington, DC, has a higher minimum wage than any state in the country at $17.50, though some US cities have raised it even more. Washington state, with a minimum wage of $16.28, and California, with a minimum wage of $16, came in second and third, respectively.

On January 1, 21 states — and 48 cities and counties — are set to see their minimum wages increase, mostly as a result of existing laws, per the National Employment Law Project. In the most recent election, Missouri voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, and Alaska voted to hike its minimum to $15 by mid-2027.

The last federal minimum increase was in July 2009, from $6.55 to $7.25. Since then, overall prices based on the consumer price index have gone up around 47% in the US as of November.

Trump pointed out in his "Meet the Press" interview that the cost of living varies across the country, and a federal wage might not be a one-size-fits-all solution.

"The other thing that is very complicated about minimum wage is places are so different," he said. "Mississippi and Alabama and great places are very different than New York or California in terms of the cost of living and other things."

Indeed, regional price parities data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that Mississippi and Alabama had among the lowest costs of living in the country in 2023, while California and New York were more expensive than the national average. Alabama and Mississippi don't have state minimum wage laws. The minimum wage in New York is $16 in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, and $15 for the rest of the state.

While Trump said wage changes like California's — which hiked it to $20 for fast food workers in April — might go too far, "there is a level at which you could do it, absolutely." He said before making any changes, he'd want to speak to governors.

President Joe Biden backed a $15 wage, which every Republican senator and eight Democrats ultimately voted against. Some lawmakers on the left have gone even further, with Sen. Bernie Sanders pushing to raise the wage to $17 by 2028.

Some Republicans have also proposed raising the federal minimum wage. While he was still in the Senate, Vice President-elect JD Vance cosponsored a bill to gradually increase it to $11, although that bill also includes additional measures like raising penalties on employers that hire workers living in the country illegally.

The Trump-Vance transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on Trump's potential plans for the minimum wage.