Florida Minimum Wage History: Amendments 5 and 2, Rates, and Tipped Pay

Florida’s minimum wage history begins in 2005. Before then, the state had no wage floor of its own and workers were covered only by the federal rate. Two voter-approved constitutional amendments changed that: Amendment 5 in 2004 created a state minimum tied to inflation, and Amendment 2 in 2020 put Florida on a scheduled climb to $15.00 per hour. The rate is $14.00 as of September 30, 2025, and is set to reach $15.00 on September 30, 2026, with annual inflation adjustments resuming after that.

Before 2005: Federal Rate Only

From 2000 through 2004, Florida had no state-level minimum wage. Employers were bound only by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which held the minimum at $5.15 per hour from 1997 through 2006.

Amendment 5 Creates a State Minimum (2004)

On November 2, 2004, Florida voters approved Amendment 5, the Florida Minimum Wage Amendment, with 71% of the vote. The measure added Section 24 to Article X of the Florida Constitution and set the state minimum at $6.15 per hour effective in 2005.¹

The amendment did two durable things. It built in an automatic annual inflation adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index, so the rate would move each year without legislative action. And it fixed the tip credit at $3.02 per hour by pegging it to the allowable FLSA tip credit in 2003, when the federal minimum of $5.15 and the federal tipped wage of $2.13 produced that difference. Enforcement authority went to the Florida Attorney General.¹²

Inflation-Adjusted Years: 2005 to 2020

Under the 2004 amendment, Florida’s minimum wage rose in small increments every January. The federal rate caught up briefly in July 2009, when Congress raised it to $7.25 and Florida’s rate was $7.21; the state effectively matched the federal floor for roughly a year and a half before inflation adjustments pulled Florida ahead again in mid-2011.³

The year-by-year rates during that era:

2005: $6.15
2006: $6.40
2007: $6.67
2008: $6.79
2009: $7.21 (January–July), then $7.25 when the federal rate rose
2010: $7.25
2011: $7.25 (January–May), $7.31 (June–December)
2012: $7.67
2013: $7.79
2014: $7.93
2015: $8.05
2016: $8.05
2017: $8.10
2018: $8.25
2019: $8.46
2020: $8.56

Most annual increases ran only a few cents, since they tracked measured inflation rather than any policy judgment about wage adequacy.³

Amendment 2 Sets a Path to $15 (2020)

By 2020, Orlando trial attorney John Morgan and his committee, Florida For A Fair Wage, had placed Amendment 2 on the November ballot. Morgan called the then-$8.56 rate inadequate and framed the initiative as going around a legislature he said had refused to act.⁴

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Save Florida Jobs Inc., the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the National Federation of Independent Business opposed the measure, warning of job losses and higher consumer prices.⁴ On November 3, 2020, Amendment 2 passed with 60.8% of the vote, just clearing the 60% supermajority Florida requires for constitutional amendments.⁵

The amendment rewrote the wage schedule in the state constitution, mandating $1.00 increases on September 30 of each year until the rate reached $15.00:

September 30, 2021: $10.00
September 30, 2022: $11.00
September 30, 2023: $12.00
September 30, 2024: $13.00
September 30, 2025: $14.00
September 30, 2026: $15.00

The jump from $8.65 to $10.00 in September 2021 was the single largest increase in the state’s history.³⁶

What Happens After $15

Once Florida reaches $15.00 on September 30, 2026, the fixed annual dollar increases stop. Beginning September 30, 2027, the state must recalculate the rate each year based on inflation during the 12 months before September 1, using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the South census region. Each new rate takes effect the following January 1.⁷ The constitution does not cap how large or small the annual adjustment can be.⁸

Tipped Wage History

Florida’s tip credit has sat at $3.02 per hour since the 2004 amendment locked it in. Because the credit is a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage, the cash wage employers must pay tipped workers has risen in step with the standard rate. Recent and scheduled cash wages for tipped employees:

2023: $8.98 ($12.00 minus $3.02)
2024: $9.98
2025: $10.98
2026: $11.98

The federal tipped minimum, by contrast, has stayed at $2.13 per hour since 1991.²

Why Florida Cities Can’t Set Higher Wages

Florida cities and counties cannot set their own minimum wages above the state rate. A 2003 state law, Section 218.077 of the Florida Statutes, preempts local governments from setting any minimum wage other than the state or federal rate. When Miami Beach tried to enact a local minimum wage ordinance in 2016, the state’s Third District Court of Appeal struck it down in December 2017, holding that the 2004 constitutional amendment did not override the preemption statute because it contained no language expressly doing so. The narrow exceptions let local governments require higher wages for their own employees and for employees of contractors providing goods or services to the local government.⁹

So the single rate set by the state constitution is the rate that applies statewide, whether you work in Miami, Tallahassee, or any county in between.

1
Florida Timeline. 2004: Voters Pass First Statewide Minimum Wage With Amendment 5
2
FRLA. Minimum Wage
3
Florida Department of Commerce. 2000–2025 Florida Minimum Wage History
4
Florida Politics. John Morgan Calls Florida Minimum Wage a ‘Slave Wage,’ Doubles Down on $15 Pay Initiative
5
Washington Post. Florida Passes Amendment 2 Minimum Wage
6
Florida Department of Commerce. Florida Minimum Wage
7
Florida Division of Elections. Amendment 2 Full Text
8
Economic Policy Institute. Minimum Wage Tracker
9
Florida Senate. CS/HB 943 Bill Analysis