Marches and “fast food strikes” like this one in 2015 outside the First Hill McDonald’s were part of the push for the new minimum wage
Seattle’s minimum wage for 2026 will be rise to $21.30 an hour, the Office of Labor Standards announced this week.
The 2.6% bump will be effective January 1st and reflects “the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) for the Seattle Tacoma Bellevue area.”
“The minimum wage applies regardless of the employee’s immigration status,” the OLS reminds in its announcement.
The annual setting of the inflation-pegged wage change comes as Seattle marked ten years of the “$15 Now” minimum wage in the city.
The movement began with calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage. It took Seattle seven years to get there.
Unanimously approved by the Seattle City Council in 2014, Chapter 14.19 required businesses in Seattle to incrementally raise their minimum wage each year until reaching $15 per hour over seven years. At the beginning of 2021, Seattle’s minimum wage increased to $16.69 per hour for large employers with more than 500 employees and small businesses with less than 500 employees finally reached the $15 an hour mark.
District 3 Councilmember Kshama Sawant held the minimum wage victory as the core accomplishment in her decade on the city council.
In 2013, the Seattle Central and Seattle University economics professor included a promise of a fight for a $15 minimum wage in announcing she would take on incumbent Richard Conlin for his seat on the Seattle City Council.
By 2014 following Sawant’s victory at the polls, then-Mayor Ed Murray joined Seattle officials in applauding passage of the legislation as the city’s political establishment embraced the higher wage.
Last year, efforts to roll back some of the $15 Now changes met with stiff opposition as current District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth backed off a proposal to permanently extend a tip credit put in place ten years ago to protect the city’s small businesses during the phase-in of the higher minimum wage tied to inflation.
The expiration meant hourly pay rates for the many small businesses subject to the credit leapt about $3 an hour in 2025.
The city says OLS will soon mail “a revised workplace poster containing information on labor standards for 2026” including details of the new $21.30 wage to every business with a Seattle business license.
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Too high, simple as.
We make less per hour today than we did 52 years ago. So whatever.
Not to comment on the new minimum wage, but in 1973 the US and WA minimum wage was $1.60/hr. Adjusting for inflation using the consumer price index (CPI), a $1.60 in 1973 is equivalent to $11.64 in 2025.
Interesting context.
That’s 3 hours of work to fill an average car gas tank… lol. Definitely not too high.
The average price of gas in 1973 was 39 cents/gallon, which is equivalent to $2.90 in 2025. By the numbers (for what that’s worth), at even $5/gallon gas is cheaper today relative to the minimum wage than it was in 1973. This is especially true if you remove the WA state cap-and-trade tax from todays gas price. It is widely accepted that the cap-and-trade program accounts for approximately 50 cents/gallon at the pump. The cap-and-trade tax is laudable, but yet another highly regressive tax. FYI, during the 1974 OPEC embargo prices averaged 53 cents ($3.48 today), but in regions where up to a $1 ($6.57 today… California of course). Gas, relative to the minimum wage, was more expensive in 1973… with the added bonus of getting poisoned with lead.
I thought the cap-and-trade tax was only adding 25-35 cents a gallon to the price of gas? Even if it is 50 cents a gallon, it is still well intentioned, and maybe we’ll see a reduction in pollution in the coming years as a result of it.
Another thought on gas – for cars in 1973 the avg fuel mileage was 13.5 mile/gal, today is is 34 mile/gal. You needed 2.5x the gas to go the same distance.
Another great point. We’ve comeva long way in improving fuel efficiency. But there is still more we can do. With electric cars not proving to be quite as popular these days, perhaps we should try and build cars that can get 50, 60, or even 70 miles/gal?
I agree. Its not too high for a city as expensive as Seattle. It may in fact not be high enough. Time to consider going to $25 or even $30 an hour. Life is not getting any less expensive, and wages need to reflect reality. Seattle is far better than most jurisdictions when it comes to this, but there is room for improvement.
Agree
Dumocrats. Closing eating establishments and stores in record numbers. Sad. Common sense please.
I used to work in Manhattan but couldnt afford to live there so I had to commute. This was expected, I was working in a job that was considered unskilled (because it was).
At no point did I feel like I “deserved” to live in a place I couldnt afford just because I was working there.
Thems the breaks kids, no participation trophies in the real world.
You make a very good point. But it does run contrary to what some elected leaders would love to see: “15 minute neighborhoods” where you can live, work, play, shop, and access essential services all within a fairly short distance. I’ve yet to see one of these neighborhoods truly materialize, but it is something that is talked about in some political circles.
Every neighborhood in Seattle is a 15 minute neighborhood except those at the fringes.