A rally for a $15 minimum hourly wage in New York City in 2015. The city raised its minimum wage to $15 in 2018, while New York State raised its minimum wage to $11.80 in December 2019, and that will increase statewide at the end of 2020 to $12.50.

If you are among the United States' lowest earners, you could be in for a raise in 2016, depending on where you live.



Fourteen cities and counties in seven states — Washington, Oregon, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Montana — agreed to increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2015, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a national advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers.

These increases will take place over the course of several years, giving local businesses time to adjust to the hike.



While not all states will be adjusting rates to the $15 mark, at least 16 states — Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia — will increase minimum wages in 2016.

These wage increases range from 5 cents an hour in South Dakota to a dollar in California, Massachusetts and Nebraska.