8.3 million Americans started 2026 with a pay raise

A new year has brought a new pay rate for more than 8.3 million Americans.

The minimum wage is going up in 19 states this week, with workers in Hawaii earning as much as $2 more an hour. Collectively, these pay increases will boost paychecks by a total of $5 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

While the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour hasn’t budged in nearly two decades, and still applies in eight states...