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Federal Minimum Wage

The federal wage floor, before states set higher ones.

$7.25
Dollars per hour · latest, Jan 2026
vs prior month → 0.0%
vs year ago → 0.0%
1969-70 Recession · Dec 1969 – Nov 19701973-75 Recession · Nov 1973 – Mar 19751980 Recession · Jan 1980 – Jul 19801981-82 Recession · Jul 1981 – Nov 19821990-91 Recession · Jul 1990 – Mar 19912001 Recession · Mar 2001 – Nov 2001Global Financial Crisis · Dec 2007 – Jun 2009COVID-19 Recession · Feb 2020 – Apr 2020$2$3$4$5$6$7197019801990200020102020$7.25

Hover the line to read any month. Drag across the chart to zoom; double-click to reset.

These are nominal dollars, the prices of each year. Flip "today's dollars" to strip out inflation and compare real buying power across time.

Source: FRED · STTMINWGFG · series · Jan 1968 to Jan 2026 · latest-revised

Reading it. Nominal dollars per hour, the federal floor before states set higher ones. Held at $7.25 since 2009; the today's-dollars view shows how its real value has changed.

About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.

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