ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida is set to join roughly 20 other states that are increasing their minimum wages in 2026, according to ABC News.
Many of these states are expected to boost their minimum wages on New Year’s Day — the first day of the new year. However, Florida’s will take a bit longer to come to fruition.
That’s because Florida’s minimum wage is automatically set to increase each September thanks to a change approved by voters around five years ago.
More specifically, Florida voters narrowly passed Amendment 2 in 2020, kicking off a series of minimum wage hikes that will actually end in 2026. The schedule is as follows:
| Year | Minimum Wage |
|---|---|
| Sept. 30, 2022 | $11 |
| Sept. 30, 2023 | $12 |
| Sept. 30, 2024 | $13 |
| Sept. 30, 2025 | $14 |
| Sept. 30, 2026 | $15 |
As a result, the minimum wage was most recently increased to $14 starting on Sept. 30, 2025. This also means that Sept. 30, 2026, is the last scheduled minimum wage hike.
From then on, the minimum wage is set to be adjusted annually for inflation, as it originally had been since 2004.
Prior to the passage of Amendment 2, the state’s minimum wage sat at $8.46.
[BELOW: John Morgan applauds minimum wage increase in Florida]
Amendment 2 was spearheaded by Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan, who acted as the chairperson for the political committee behind the amendment, Florida For A Fair Wage.
As his law firm explains, Morgan spent millions of dollars in support of the proposal, which he termed a “moral, ethical and religious” fight to abolish so-called “slave wages.”
The amendment ultimately eked out a victory, achieving just over the minimum threshold of votes — 60% — needed to pass.
But on the flip side, opponents of the proposal warned that it could push higher labor costs onto small businesses and families, as well as make it harder for young workers to find entry-level positions.
[BELOW: Critics say Amendment 2 could hurt Florida’s economy]
UCF Economist Sean Snaith told News 6 after last year’s minimum wage hike that price floors like this can actually result in reduced hours and benefits for lower-income workers, as well as unemployment.
“When the minimum wage is set above the market wage, that is going to create a surplus of labor in the labor market that may or may not manifest itself as higher unemployment,” UCF Economist Sean Snaith told News 6 after last year’s minimum wage hike.
[BELOW: See an example graph showing the potential impact of a minimum wage]