New Jersey’s minimum wage, which will rise to $15.92 on Thursday, is among the highest in the nation. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)
By Nikita Biryukov
Reprinted with permission
New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey’s hourly minimum wage will rise to $15.92 after the latest automatic inflation adjustment occurs with the start of the new year Thursday.
The 2026 increase raises New Jersey’s minimum wage by 43 cents per hour for most classes of workers. That exceeds the 36-cent increase that went into effect at the start of 2025.
Minimum wages for some workers will lag behind that figure. State law requires seasonal employees and those working for employers with fewer than six workers to be paid at least $15.23, up from $14.53 in 2025.
The wage floor for those workers will continue to rise through 2028, at which point their minimum wage will equal the one applied to most workers.
Farm workers will see a longer phase-in. Their wage floor, which will rise 80 cents to $14.20 on Thursday, is not set to equal the one for most workers until 2030.
Tipped workers’ minimum wage will rise to $6.05 an hour, though employers must match the $15.92 minimum wage if a tipped worker’s income would fall below that level with gratuities included.
New Jersey’s wage floor is among the highest in the nation. Washington ($16.66), California ($16.50), and Connecticut ($16.35) are the only states with a higher statewide minimum wage, though minimum wages are higher in some parts of New York and Oregon.
At $17.95 per hour, Washington, D.C., has the country’s highest wage.
The Garden State’s minimum wage law requires annual inflation adjustments.
