The minimum wage for employees in D.C., Virginia and Maryland will go up starting Jan. 1.
Under Maryland law, the state’s minimum wage will increase from $12.50 an hour to $13.25 an hour. In 2024, the wage is scheduled to increase again, to $14 an hour.
Tipped workers in Maryland must be paid $3.63 an hour. That amount plus tips must equal the state’s minimum wage rate.
Montgomery County enacted its own minimum wage pay scale in 2017. Under county law, the hourly minimum wage increased on July 1, 2022 to $15.65 for large employers, $14.50 for mid-sized employers, and $14 for small employers.
In July 2023, those rates in Montgomery County will change again. Large employers will have to increase wages in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W), mid-sized employers will have to pay $15 an hour and small employers will have to raise hourly rates to $14.50 an hour.
Large employers in Montgomery County are categorized as those with 51 or more employees. Mid-sized employers are those that have between 11 and 50 workers, and small employers are those who have 10 or fewer employees on staff.
In the District of Columbia, where the minimum is referred to as the “living wage,” the hourly rate will reach $16.50 on January 1; in July 2023, that figure will increase to $17 an hour.
As of July 1, 2022, the base minimum wage for tipped employees in the District increased from $5.05 to $5.35 an hour. According to the DC Department of Employment Services website, “if an employee’s hourly tip earnings (averaged weekly) added to the base minimum wage do not equal the District’s full minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference.”
Virginia’s current minimum wage is $11 an hour, and on Jan. 1, that will increase to $12 an hour.
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. The last time the federal minimum wage was increased was in 2009 when Congress boosted the rate from $6.55 to $7.25.
