Alabama Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour DivisionAlabama has no state minimum wage law, so the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies to most Alabama workers. This Alabama minimum wage calculator turns that hourly rate into the numbers that actually matter to you: weekly, monthly and yearly pay. At $7.25 an hour, someone working a full 40-hour week earns about $290.00 before tax, or roughly $15,080.00 across a full year. Enter your own hours per week and weeks worked to see your gross pay, and edit the rate if you are paid above the minimum. The minimum wage is a floor, not a ceiling: employers can pay more, and some cities in Alabama set their own higher local minimums. Tipped workers can be paid a lower cash wage as long as tips bring them up to the minimum; see the tipped calculator for that. The figure here is the state rate for 2026, sourced directly from the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division; the pay calculation is simply hours times the rate.
Alabama's 2026 minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Full time (40 hrs/week) that is about $290.00 a week and $15,080.00 a year before tax.
How Alabama minimum wage pay is calculated
weekly pay = hourly rate x hours per week
annual pay = hourly rate x hours per week x weeks per year
overtime = hourly rate x 1.5 (hours over 40 in a week, FLSA)
These are gross figures before federal and Alabama income tax, Social Security and Medicare. Your take-home pay is lower; see our Alabama paycheck calculator for the after-tax amount.
What 'no state law' really means for Alabama pay
Alabama is one of only five states with no minimum wage law of its own (the others are Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Because there is no state floor, the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour has governed most Alabama jobs since July 24, 2009, the last time Congress raised it. At $7.25, a 40-hour week is $290.00 and a full 2,080-hour year is about $15,080.00 before tax, one of the lowest full-time baselines in the country.
The part many people miss is that Alabama does not simply lack a state minimum; it actively blocks cities from setting their own. In 2016, Birmingham passed a local ordinance to lift pay toward $10.10 an hour, and the legislature responded within days with Act 2016-18, a preemption law that voided it. So any claim that an Alabama city can set a higher local minimum is wrong: the state has closed that door.
Tipped work follows the federal rules too. An employer may pay a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour and claim up to a $5.12 tip credit, but only if the worker's tips actually lift total pay to $7.25. If they fall short in any week, the employer must make up the gap. Because these figures come straight from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, they change only when federal law changes, which has not happened for well over a decade. Confirm the current federal rate with the US Department of Labor.
Alabama minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the minimum wage in Alabama in 2026?
Alabama has no state minimum wage law, so the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies to most Alabama workers. At $7.25 an hour, a full-time worker (40 hours a week) earns about $290.00 a week and $15,080.00 a year before tax. This rate took effect on July 24, 2009.
How much is full-time minimum wage in Alabama per year?
At Alabama's $7.25 minimum wage, 40 hours a week for 52 weeks is 2,080 hours, which comes to about $15,080.00 a year ($1,256.67 a month) in gross pay before tax and deductions. Part-time hours scale down from there; use the calculator to enter your own hours.
Is Alabama's minimum wage going up?
Alabama does not automatically index its minimum wage to inflation, so it changes only when the law changes. The figure here is the 2026 rate verified with the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Alabama?
Alabama lets employers pay tipped workers a lower cash wage of $2.13 an hour and count up to $5.12 of tips toward the minimum (a "tip credit"). If cash wage plus tips does not reach $7.25 an hour, the employer must make up the difference. See our Alabama tipped minimum wage calculator for the full breakdown.
Is Alabama's minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage?
No. The rate that applies in Alabama is the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. Where a state and the federal rate differ, workers are entitled to the higher of the two.
Official sources
- Alabama 2026 minimum wage rate: US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, as at July 11, 2026.
- Federal minimum wage ($7.25) and overtime rules: US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 11 July 2026. See our methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Alabama has no state minimum wage law; the federal minimum of $7.25 applies (one of five such states: AL, LA, MS, SC, TN).