Half of states will raise their minimum wage in 2021 — here's the full list

A record number of states and jurisdictions will raise their minimum wages in 2021, according to a recent report by the National Employment Law Project.

That total, by its reckoning, includes 24 states and 50 local jurisdictions. At the state level, 20 rang in the new year by increasing their minimum wages, and four more will follow suit in the coming months.

The statewide raises run the gamut from increases of just a few cents to keep up with inflation to more substantial pay hikes of $1 or more that, over time, inch workers closer to at least $15 an hour.

"The public and legislators are starting to understand more and more that workers also need higher wages, whether or not there's a pandemic," says Yannet Lathrop, the report's author and a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. "When you put a minimum wage on the ballot, almost always you'll see voters approve the higher wage."

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has not been increased in more than a decade.

New minimum wage: $10.34
Previous minimum wage: $10.19

New minimum wage: $12.15
Previous minimum wage: $12

New minimum wage: $11
Previous minimum wage: $10

New minimum wage: $14 for large employers, $13 for small employers
Previous minimum wage: $13 for large employers, $12 for small employers

New minimum wage: $12.32
Previous minimum wage: $12

New minimum wage: $8.65 in January, $10 in September
Previous minimum wage: $8.56

New minimum wage: $11
Previous minimum wage: $10

New minimum wage: $12.15
Previous minimum wage: $12

New minimum wage: $11.75 for large employers, $11.60 for small employers
Previous minimum wage: $11

New minimum wage: $13.50
Previous minimum wage: $12.75

^{Video by Helen Zhao}

New minimum wage: $10.08 for large employers, $8.21 for small employers
Previous minimum wage: $10 for large employers, $8.15 for small employers

New minimum wage: $10.30
Previous minimum wage: $9.45

New minimum wage: $8.75
Previous minimum wage: $8.65

New minimum wage: $12 standard (other exceptions apply by industry)
Previous minimum wage: $11 standard (other exceptions applied by industry)

New minimum wage: $10.50
Previous minimum wage: $9

New minimum wage: $12.50 standard (excluding New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County), $14.50 in fast food (for restaurants not in New York City)
Previous minimum wage: $11.80 standard (excluding New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County), $13.75 in fast food (for restaurants not in New York City)

New minimum wage: $8.80
Previous minimum wage: $8.70

New minimum wage: $9.45
Previous minimum wage: $9.30

New minimum wage: $11.75
Previous minimum wage: $10.96

New minimum wage: $13.69
Previous minimum wage: $13.50

^{Video by Mariam Abdallah}

Another four states will increase their minimum wages later in the year.

That doesn't include Florida (see entry above), which will increase its pay floor twice this year. The first bump took effect January 1 to keep up with inflation. The second and more substantial increase will take effect in September as a result of a statewide initiative that voters approved in November to raise minimum wage in the Sunshine State to $15 by 2026.

New minimum wage: $13
Previous minimum wage: $12

New minimum wage: $9.75 for people without health insurance benefits, $8.75 for those with health insurance benefits
Previous minimum wage: $9 for people without health insurance benefits, $8 for those with health insurance benefits

New minimum wage: $12.75 standard, $12 in rural areas
Previous minimum wage: $12 standard, $11.50 in rural areas

New minimum wage: $9.50
Previous minimum wage: $7.25

^{Video by Mariam Abdallah}

While most of the statewide pay bumps are incremental, an overwhelming number of the increases imposed by cities and counties this year are pushing pay to $15 or higher, according to the National Employment Law Project's report. Minimum-wage workers in 80% of the local jurisdictions that are raising their pay floors in 2021 will be making $15 or more.

Cities have been leading the political fight for higher minimum wages and setting the movement's broader momentum, says Lathrop.

As more cities adopt $15-per-hour pay floors, "there's more and more recognition that wages are too low," Lathrop says. "Fifteen is the bare minimum."

More from Grow:

• 11 charts that show the Covid-19 pandemic's effect on how we earned and spent money in 2020
• Joe Biden aims to raise federal minimum wage to $15 an hour: Here's where things stand now in each state
• A $600 second stimulus check can cover rent in only 16% of U.S. counties