Minimum wage workers in Florida, your paychecks will get another bump this year and the next on the way to $15 an hour.

That’s thanks to the amendment Floridians approved in 2020 to raise the wage incrementally, first from $8.65 to $10 in 2021 and then another dollar every year until it reaches $15 an hour for non-tipped employees and $10.98 for tipped employees.

It’s part of a growing trend for higher minimum wages. On Jan. 1, 2025. 21 states and 48 cities and counties raised theirs, according to a report provided exclusively to USA TODAY by the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group. More states and a few more cities and counties will be raising their minimum later this year.

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has been since 2009.

What will Florida’s minimum wage be in 2025?

Florida’s minimum wage will become $14 an hour for non-tipped employees and $10.98 for tipped employees.

When will Florida’s minimum wage rise again?

The minimum wage rates for both tipped and non-tipped employees will rise on Sept. 30, 2025, and will rise again in 2026.

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Florida passes $15 minimum wage Amendment 2

Florida voters approve raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Rob Landers, FLORIDA TODAY

Which states have the highest minimum wage?

Several states have passed minimum wage increases in recent years. The current highest minimum wages in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, are:

• Washington D.C.: $17.50 an hour
• California: $16.50 an hour
• Washington state: $16.66 an hour
• Connecticut: $16.35
• New York (New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, & Westchester County): $16.50 an hour
• New Jersey: $15.49 an hour
• Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, rest of New York, Rhode Island: $15 an hour

Fourteen states pay the federal minimum rate of $7.25, as all states must do at a minimum for jobs covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Some have higher rates for businesses that meet certain conditions.

Georgia and Wyoming businesses pay $5.15 an hour, although in Georgia it only applies to employers of six or more employees. In Montana, businesses with gross annual sales of less than $110,000 pay $4 an hour.

Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee have no state minimum wage law.

What is the highest minimum wage in the country?

Burien, Washington will set its minimum pay at $21.16 for employers in King County with 500 or more workers.

Where workers are getting a raise: Minimum wage set to rise in 23 states next year as $15 an hour, and beyond, picks up steam

What happens after Florida’s minimum wage hits the $15 cap?

The amendment was intended to get minimum wages more in line with current costs of living. After it reaches $15, the state will return to the previous method of calculating cost-of-living adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index.

What is the living wage in Florida?

The minimum wage is different from a living wage, however, which tries to calculate how much a person needs to earn per hour to afford the necessities — housing, childcare, health care, food, etc. — where they live.

In February 2024, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) living wage calculator found that the living wage in Florida is $22.43 an hour for one adult with no children, $37.27 for an adult with one child, $45.36 for an adult with two children and $58.76 for an adult with three children.

How is the minimum wage for tipped employees calculated in Florida?

Employers of tipped employees must pay their employees minimum wage, but they can count the tips the employees receive toward it up to the maximum of $3.02, the allowable Fair Labor Standards Act tip credit of 2003. So the direct wage they must pay is the minimum wage minus $3.02.

The current minimum wage in Florida is $13 an hour, so the tipped minimum wage is $9.98. Both will go up a dollar each until they reach $15 an hour for non-tipped employees and $11.98 for tipped employees.

Do minimum wage laws in Florida apply to all employers?

No, there are certain occupations and situations where the Department of Labor allowed exemptions to the federal minimum wage law where employees may be paid less. These include, among others:

• Executive, administrative and professional employees
• Commissioned sales employees
• Farm workers
• Seasonal or recreational establishment workers
• Newspaper delivery people
• Federal criminal investigators
• Informal workers such as babysitters
• Minors under certain circumstances
• Student workers
• Employees with disabilities if the employer has a certificate from the Department of Labor allowing it (a measure to encourage more employers to hire people with disabilities)
• Nonprofit or educational organizations that have applied for an exemption, and others.
• Employees of enterprises with an annual gross income of less than $50,000

What was the minimum wage in Florida before?

Florida’s minimum wage was tied to the federal minimum wage created in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 which set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, banned oppressive child labor and capped the maximum workweek at 44 hours. But in 2005, Florida voters approved Amendment 5 to establish a state minimum wage over the federal standard. Florida has paid its minimum wage workers more than the federal minimum ever since.

Amendment 5 brought the hourly wage for non-tipped employees to $6.15, a dollar more than the federal minimum at the time, and required the Department of Economic Opportunity to calculate an adjusted state minimum wage rate based on the rate of inflation for the 12 months prior to Sept. 1, based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. New adjustments were to take effect the following Jan. 1.

There have been several increases since:

• 2005: Raised to $6.15 an hour
• 2006: Raised to $6.40 an hour
• 2009: Raised to $7.21 an hour
• 2010: Raised to $7.25 an hour
• 2016: After 6 years, raised to $8.05 an hour
• 2017: Raised to $8.10 an hour
• 2018: Raised to $8.25 an hour
• 2019: Raised to $8.45 an hour
• 2021: Raised to $10 an hour to meet requirements from the 2020 amendment
• 2022: Raised to $11 an hour
• 2023: Raised to $12 an hour
• 2024: Raised to $13 an hour

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – The owner of a stranded sailboat sitting on New Smyrna Beach said he is working out an agreement with county officials to surrender the vessel.

The beached 1977 Ericson34 named “DECOY” has been beached since December 22. It belongs to Allan Askar. Askar told FOX 35’s Hannah Mackenzie he has lived aboard DECOY for the last three years.

According to Askar, he was sailing from St. Thomas to Viera Beach when rough weather snapped his anchor line and pushed him ashore. Askar said it wasn’t just the weather that landed him in a precarious position. He said his maps didn’t align with current coastal conditions, something he blames on Hurricane Milton.

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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) deemed the sailboat derelict, giving Askar 21 days to remove it – he’s now down to 10.

Per FWC, derelict vessel owners can face civil and criminal penalties, including jail time.

To avoid that, Askar said he is hashing out an agreement with Volusia County. He said county officials reached out to him, and worked out a way to have him surrender the sailboat. 

“Basically, it’s surrendering any interests, any of my interests in the boat. So whatever possessions I have in the boat, all the things, everything will belong immediately to the county,” Askar said. 

That includes the cost of removing it, which could then fall on taxpayers.

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“I’m disgusted! Sorry, that’s a little bit overboard… I’m not happy about it,” said Volusia County resident Drew Hurley. 

Askar said he takes full responsibility.

“I’m always thinking, whatever you’ve done, you have to be responsible,” Askar said. “Obviously, I tried finding all different options, and if right now, I will not find money, and I would like still to continue that, most likely the only outcome would be if I don’t find money: jail time, which to me, looks like again taxpayers would pay for me to be in jail.”

According to FWC, they are collaborating with local municipalities in this case, and FWC has not begun a removal process. A statement reads, in part, “if the vessel is being removed, it is either being done by the local municipalities or the vessel’s registered owner.”

Askar said the deal between him and the county will be finalized on January 3, with DECOY’s demise taking place shortly after.

“They already have something planned, so it’s probably going to be a quick process of removal,” Askar said.

A county spokesperson declined to comment, stating the case is actively being investigated by FWC.

This is Askar’s second vessel to run aground. He said his catamaran, named Tikinova, was beached in the Dominican Republic during Hurricane Fiona.

“We got winds up to 100 miles an hour and, within six hours, it changed all 360-direction, so it was very unusual,” Askar said.

According to Askar, he is still working to fix the catamaran and plans to head back to the Dominican Republic soon.

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Playing unfamiliar teams over the holidays is not unusual. Many high school basketball teams play out-of-town schools over the holidays to prepare for the second half of the season and the postseason.

Now that the page has turned to the new year, one Cincinnati team has an unusual opponent this weekend.

Ohio Kentucky boys basketball update A look at the top teams and stories in high school boys basketball entering the new year

Elder’s basketball team is hosting Bishop Verot from Fort Myers, Florida Friday night at 6 p.m. Verot flew to the area on New Year’s Day and played at Conner in Hebron, Kentucky Thursday afternoon.

Elder is hosting Verot because the game pairs two longtime head coaches and their wives. Elder head coach Joe Schoenfeld has 504 career wins after reaching the 500 milestone Dec. 8. Verot’s Matt Herting, in his 29th season, enters the game with 497 career victories and should reach the 500 mark soon back home in Florida.

Herting’s wife, Jill Jansen, is a Cincinnati native who graduated from Seton High School in 1996. She played volleyball for Seton while Schoenfeld’s wife, Coleen, was the junior varsity coach.

Jansen has nieces in the Cincinnati area who play middle-school volleyball in the Catholic school system, and they were able to cheer on Seton as the Saints won the Division I state volleyball championship last fall.

“I miss it so much,” Jansen said. “I loved every minute of playing volleyball for a school that has so much tradition.”

Verot is 9-4 overall this year after losing at Conner, 73-53. On Monday, the Vikings lost by seven, 60-53, to Cardinal Gibbons from Fort Lauderdale, a team that’s ranked 13^th in the state in its division.

Herting is one of the most successful head basketball coaches in southwest Florida history with several deep postseason runs. He started the Southwest Florida Association of Basketball Coaches.

In a 2020 interview in the Fort Myers News-Press, he said: “To me, the sport of basketball, I like it, but I can probably take it or leave it. But the strategy, the competition, the camaraderie, the friendships, the mentoring, that’s the stuff I love. I love the bus trips. I love the locker room after the game. I love the games. It’s not the sport as it is the relationships.”

His wife said he has had that attitude his entire career.

“I’m proud of my husband for his long career at the school,” she said. “It’s not about basketball as it is about the guys. It’s one of my husband’s favorite things to do. I can’t wait to see the competition.”

After playing Conner, the Verot Vikings will spend Thursday night and during the day Friday touring downtown Cincinnati and other local landmarks.

Jansen expects a lot of friends from Seton and Elder, who are sibling schools and neighbors to each other, to attend the game and enjoy each other’s company.

“It’s so much fun for me, seeing the boys get to bond,” Jansen said. “I get to see them have fun and I’m able to show off my hometown. I want them to see that Cincinnati has a lot to offer. We’ll take them downtown and explore the city. The culture at Elder is similar to Bishop Verot with the tradition they both have. I hope everyone has a lot of fun.”

Elder is 5-2, picking up a win against Greater Miami Conference co-leader Fairfield Saturday in the Holiday Hardwood Classic at Xavier’s Cintas Center, 61-54.

Senior guard Cam Williams had 22 points and seven assists in the game and is averaging 14.7 points and 3.8 assists. Alex Dugan posts 14 points per game.

The game should be a good test for the Panthers, who play at Huber Heights Wayne on Sunday, then start Greater Catholic League-South action with defending league champion Moeller at home Jan. 10.