The Texas minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, the same rate that took effect in July 2009. Texas does not set its own dollar figure. Instead, the Texas Minimum Wage Act adopts whatever the federal government requires under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so the state rate only moves when Congress moves the federal rate.1Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Minimum Wage Law No increase has been enacted or scheduled for 2026.2National Conference of State Legislatures. State Minimum Wages
At $7.25 an hour, a full-time worker takes home roughly $15,080 before taxes over a year. That figure falls below the 2025 federal poverty threshold of $15,650 for a single person.3Economic Policy Institute. The Federal Minimum Wage Is Officially a Poverty Wage
How the Rate Is Set
The Texas Minimum Wage Act, passed in 1993, is the state statute that governs wages here. It doesn’t fix a dollar amount. It pegs the state minimum to the federal minimum, and it exempts anyone already covered by the FLSA — which covers most Texas workers — from the state law altogether, because the federal rate already reaches them.4U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
The federal minimum wage has not changed since July 2009.5Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. State Minimum Wage Rate for Texas4U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws2National Conference of State Legislatures. State Minimum Wages Many of those states also index their rates to inflation, so their minimums rise each year without new legislation. Texas does not.
Tipped Workers
Texas follows the federal tipped-wage rule. An employer can pay a tipped employee a cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour and claim a “tip credit” of up to $5.12 to reach the $7.25 minimum. If the employee’s tips plus the $2.13 base don’t add up to $7.25 for the workweek, the employer has to make up the difference.6Texas Law Help. Tipped Employees
The tip credit only applies to time actually spent on tipped duties. When a tipped employee is doing non-tipped work such as cooking, the employer owes the full $7.25 for those hours. Employers cannot keep employee tips, and a tip pool may only include workers who regularly interact with customers. Managers, supervisors, and back-of-house staff like cooks and dishwashers are excluded from tip pools. A violation can expose the employer to the full minimum wage, return of pooled tips, and additional damages.6Texas Law Help. Tipped Employees
Who Is Exempt
Several categories of workers are exempt from Texas and federal minimum wage requirements: executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet salary thresholds; outside salespeople; certain farmworkers; employees of small newspapers; babysitters and companions for the elderly; and workers at seasonal amusement or recreational establishments.7Texas Workforce Commission. Exemptions From Minimum Wage and Overtime Texas law also exempts workers at religious, educational, charitable, and nonprofit organizations, inmates, and certain family members employed by relatives.8Texas Law Help. Minimum Wage in Texas
Workers under 18 can be paid a training wage of $4.25 per hour during their first 90 days on the job.8Texas Law Help. Minimum Wage in Texas
Can a Texas City Set a Higher Minimum Wage
No, not for private employers. In 2003, the legislature added Section 62.0515 to the Texas Labor Code. It states that the state minimum wage “supersedes a wage established in an ordinance, order, or charter provision governing wages in private employment.”9FindLaw. Texas Labor Code Section 62.0515 Cities and counties cannot require private employers to pay more than $7.25.
There is a narrow carve-out. Cities can set higher wages for their own government employees, for workers under city contracts, and for private entities that receive municipal economic development incentives.10Every Texan. Clearing the Air Around the Texas Minimum Wage Act Austin’s living-wage program pays $22.05 per hour for city-contracted work in fiscal year 2025–26.11City of Austin. Living Wage Program Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso have adopted living-wage requirements for their own employees and, in some cases, city contractors.12City of Denton. Living Wage for City Contractors Report These policies do not reach private-sector workers who are not on a city contract.
Who Earns the Minimum Wage in Texas
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that about 120,000 Texas workers earned at or below the federal minimum wage in 2024: roughly 11,000 exactly at $7.25 and another 109,000 below it. The figures come from self-reported hourly wages and do not account for tips or overtime.13U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2024
Low-pay work in Texas extends well beyond the exact $7.25 figure. Around 2.4 million Texans work in occupations with a median wage below $15 per hour. About half of those workers are in food preparation, and roughly a quarter are in healthcare support roles such as home health aides. Child care workers in Texas earn a median of $11.31 per hour, and nearly half hold a second job.14Every Texan. The Texas Workforce Is Resilient and Undervalued
What Would Change the Rate
Because Texas ties its minimum to the federal rate and bars cities from setting a higher one for private employers, only two things can move it: the Texas Legislature amending the Texas Minimum Wage Act, or Congress raising the federal minimum.
At the state level, no minimum wage increase has been enacted. The issue has appeared in the 2026 governor’s race, where Democratic candidate Bobby Cole has campaigned on a $15 state minimum wage and support for the right to unionize.15KWTX. Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Bobby Cole Meets With Hillsboro Residents16KETK. Bobby Cole Run for Texas Governor University of Texas at Austin polling has found majority support among Texans for raising the federal minimum, split sharply by party.17Texas Politics Project, UT Austin. Increasing Federal Minimum Wage
At the federal level, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Bobby Scott introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2025, which would phase the federal minimum up to $17 per hour over five years and eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities. It was introduced with 33 Senate co-sponsors and 142 House co-sponsors. The Economic Policy Institute estimated it would raise pay for more than 22 million workers nationally.18U.S. Senate HELP Committee. Sanders, Scott Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $17 by 2030 Similar bills have repeatedly stalled in Congress over the past decade.
Until one of those two things happens, the Texas minimum wage stays at $7.25.