Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour, and no Pennsylvania minimum wage increase is currently scheduled in state law. The rate has not moved since 2009. A bill that would raise it to $15.00 per hour by 2029 passed the state House of Representatives in 2025, but it still needs Senate approval and the Governor’s signature before it takes effect.1Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PA House Passes Bill to Increase Minimum Wage
What the Pending Bill Would Do
The House bill phases the state minimum from $7.25 to $15.00 per hour by 2029. Once the rate reaches $15.00, it would adjust automatically each year based on the Consumer Price Index, with the first cost-of-living adjustment arriving in 2030.1Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PA House Passes Bill to Increase Minimum Wage Governor Shapiro has included a $15.00 minimum wage in every budget proposal since taking office and has signaled he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
Nothing in the bill is law yet. Until the Senate acts and the Governor signs, the statutory floor remains $7.25.
Where the Bill Is Stuck
The bill now sits with the Labor and Industry Committee in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is where previous minimum wage proposals have died. The disagreements have centered on the pace of the increases and the effect on small businesses in rural counties, where the cost of living runs lower than in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
A bipartisan Senate bill in the prior session would have reached $15.00 by 2026, but it never got a floor vote. A similar Senate bill is expected this session. Whether anything changes depends on whether a Senate version can clear committee.
What Would Trigger a Raise Without New State Legislation
Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act, at 43 P.S. § 333.104, contains an automatic escalator: if Congress raises the federal minimum above the state rate, Pennsylvania’s rate rises to match on the same date.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 43 PS Labor 333.104 – Minimum Wages So without action in Harrisburg, the only path to a higher Pennsylvania minimum is a federal increase.
Congress has not voted to raise the federal floor since 2007, with the last step taking effect in 2009. No federal bill appears close to passage. That leaves the state legislature as the realistic venue for change.
How Pennsylvania Compares to Its Neighbors
Every state bordering Pennsylvania except West Virginia already pays more, in some cases more than double.3U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
- New York: $16.00 to $17.00 per hour, depending on region
- New Jersey: $15.92 per hour
- Delaware: $15.00 per hour
- Maryland: $15.00 per hour
- Ohio: $11.00 per hour for larger employers
- West Virginia: $8.75 per hour
A worker in Philadelphia earning the state minimum takes home roughly half what the same worker would make across the river in southern New Jersey. That comparison has become a central argument for supporters of an increase.
State Workers and Contractors Already Earn $15.00
Even with the statutory minimum frozen, one group of Pennsylvania workers has already crossed $15.00. Through executive action beginning under Governor Wolf, the Commonwealth set a separate wage floor for employees of agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction and workers performing services on state contracts. The implementing regulation at 4 Pa. Code § 1.841 started that floor at $12.00 per hour and raised it by $0.50 each year until it reached $15.00 per hour on July 1, 2024.4Legal Information Institute. Pennsylvania Code 4 Pa Code 1.841 – Minimum Wage After hitting $15.00, the rate adjusts annually based on the Consumer Price Index for the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-Maryland region, with the next year’s figure published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin by March 1 for the following July 1.
Companies bidding on new Commonwealth agreements must certify they pay at least that rate. The result is a two-tier system. Workers tied to state agencies and state contracts are at $15.00 and climbing with inflation; private-sector workers outside that circle remain at $7.25 unless their employer chooses to pay more.
Cities and Counties Can’t Set Their Own Rate
If you’re wondering whether Philadelphia or Pittsburgh could simply raise the wage locally, they can’t. A preemption provision in the Minimum Wage Act, at 43 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 333.114a, has blocked cities and counties from enacting their own minimum wage ordinances since 2006. Philadelphia had attempted a local increase before preemption took effect, and that attempt was one of the reasons the restriction was added.
Any Pennsylvania minimum wage increase for private-sector workers has to come from Harrisburg or from Washington. There is no municipal workaround.
Tipped Workers Are on a Separate Track
A state minimum wage increase would also change the math for tipped workers, who currently operate under a different structure. Pennsylvania lets employers pay a base cash wage of $2.83 per hour to tipped employees, as long as tips bring total hourly earnings to at least $7.25.5Legal Information Institute. Pennsylvania Code 34 Pa Code 231.101a – Minimum Wage Increase If tips fall short in any pay period, the employer owes the difference. The maximum tip credit an employer can claim is $4.42 per hour.6U.S. Department of Labor. Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees
To be treated as a tipped employee under Pennsylvania law, a worker must earn at least $135 per month in tips, a threshold raised from $30 in a 2022 regulatory update.5Legal Information Institute. Pennsylvania Code 34 Pa Code 231.101a – Minimum Wage Increase The same update adopted the 80/20 rule: a tipped employee who spends more than 20 percent of their weekly hours on non-tip-producing duties, such as cleaning, stocking, or rolling silverware, must be paid the full $7.25 per hour for every hour that week.7Department of Labor and Industry. Overtime and Tipped Worker Rules in PA
What to Watch Next
The next real signal will come from the Pennsylvania Senate’s Labor and Industry Committee. If a Senate version advances to a floor vote, an increase becomes plausible on something close to the House bill’s timeline. If the committee holds the House bill without action, the $7.25 rate stays put, and the question moves to the next legislative session.