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Six years after a group of fast-food workers in New York City — earning as little as $7.25 an hour — made the seemingly preposterous demand for a $15 minimum wage, more than one million of their peers will get just that starting this week.

On Monday, the lowest legal wage at most companies that employ more than 10 workers rose by $2, to $15 an hour. Among those whose pay will increase are all fast-food workers as well as more than 25,000 workers at the city’s two airports.

The increase is the latest step in a gradual rise in the minimum wage that labor unions campaigned for and that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo eventually endorsed. New York City joins several other cities on the West Coast where minimum wages have already hit $15, including San Francisco and Seattle.

California’s minimum, which rises to $12 an hour for larger employers on Jan. 1, is scheduled to rise to $15 over the next few years.