ALBANY, N.Y. — The state’s minimum wage is set to go up again on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, marking the third straight year of increases of the same amount.
The minimum wage will rise to $17 per hour in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island from $16.50 last year, while the rest of the state will see an increase to $16 per hour from $15.50 the prior year, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.
This rise of 50 cents per hour is the last of a series of three annual increases of that amount as the minimum wage also went up 50 cents an hour in both 2024 and 2025.
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Starting in 2027, the minimum wage will increase annually at a rate determined by the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) for the Northeast region — described by the governor’s office as the “most accurate regional measure of inflation.”
A 3 percent rise in CPI-W would result in a 2027 increase of 51 cents per hour in the minimum wage in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island and a rise of 48 cents an hour in the rest of the state. If CPI-W rose 2 percent, the minimum-wage increases in 2027 would be 34 cents and 32 cents, respectively.
Employees can visit the New York State Department of Labor’s minimum wage webpage for more information, including an interactive Minimum Wage Lookup Tool to verify their correct pay rate.
