District of Columbia tipped minimum wage 2026
The District of Columbia tipped cash wage is $10.30 per hour. Employers may take a tip credit of up to $8.10 per hour, provided the worker's cash wage plus tips reaches the state minimum of $18.40 per hour for every workweek. [DOL Tipped][DC labor dept.]
Cash wage and tip credit
When tips fall short
If a worker's cash wage plus reported tips do not average to the District of Columbia minimum of $18.40 per hour over a workweek, the employer must pay the shortfall. The Tip Credit Checker tool runs the math at /tools/tip-credit. Under the 2021 DOL final rule, time spent on non-tip-producing work above 20 percent of the shift (or 30 continuous minutes) must be paid at the full minimum, not the tip-credited rate. [DOL FS-15]
Background
The District's minimum wage and living wage rose from $17.95 to $18.40 an hour on 1 July 2026, for all workers regardless of the size of the employer. The base minimum wage for tipped employees rose from $10.00 to $10.30 on the same date. Where an employee's weekly averaged hourly tips plus that base do not reach the full District minimum, the employer must pay the difference. The rate rises each successive year in proportion to the consumer price index, under the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016. The Office of Wage and Hour states the Washington metropolitan area index rose 2.4 percent in 2025, which is the basis of the 1 July 2026 step. No 2027 rate is recorded. The Act sets the mechanism but the District has published no figure for 1 July 2027, and a consumer-price projection is not a published rate. Source read directly: DOES Office of Wage and Hour public notice, District of Columbia Minimum Wage Increase, checked 7 September 2026. It agrees with the DOL table.