Florida’s Minimum Wage Hits $15 on Sept. 30 as Scheduled Raises End

Florida's minimum wage increased to $15 an hour on Wednesday, Sept. 30, completing the run of $1 annual increases voters approved in 2020, according to USA TODAY Network-Florida. The required cash wage for tipped workers also rose to $11.98 an hour.

The schedule began at $10 an hour in September 2021 and has added a dollar every Sept. 30 since. At $15, Florida's floor is more than double the federal minimum of $7.25, which has not moved since 2009.

For operators, the math on this final step is simple. For an employee working 40 hours a week year-round, the increase from $14 to $15 adds about $2,080 in annual base pay, before employer payroll taxes. Restaurants with tipped employees face an increase on that side of the payroll, too. Florida's maximum tip credit remains fixed at $3.02 an hour, so each $1 increase in the minimum wage also raised the required cash wage for tipped employees by $1.

The increase also marks a change in how future adjustments will be calculated. FloridaCommerce, the state agency that administers the wage, says the $15 rate will hold through Dec. 31, 2027. Starting Sept. 30, 2027, state officials will calculate an annual inflation adjustment using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, and each new rate will take effect the following Jan. 1. That puts the earliest possible increase at Jan. 1, 2028.

The new rate also widens Florida's wage gap with Alabama. Pensacola station WEAR-TV reported that restaurants near the state line already hire hourly staff who commute from Alabama, which has no state minimum wage and defaults to the federal $7.25. “We have employees now that come over from Alabama,” Collier Merrill, president of Great Southern Restaurants, told the station.

For franchise brands growing in Florida, the end of the scheduled increases may be as important as the $15 rate itself. Owners know the state minimum through the end of 2027, then with the first inflation-based adjustment taking effect in January 2028. In the Panhandle, the higher Florida wage could also become another factor in recruiting employees who live across the Alabama line.

Florida franchise candidates will likely want to know how the higher minimum wage affects their potential operating costs. Development teams should base those discussions on information supported by the franchise disclosure document and the experiences of existing Florida franchisees. They should also be cautious about offering labor-cost projections, since financial claims made during franchise sales can raise compliance issues under the FTC Franchise Rule.

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