Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official Georgia Department of LaborGeorgia lets employers pay tipped workers a cash wage of $2.13 an hour and take a tip credit of up to $5.12, as long as tips bring total pay to at least the $7.25 minimum wage. This Georgia tipped minimum wage calculator shows what that means in practice. Enter your average tips per hour and your weekly hours, and it works out whether your tips clear the tip credit, whether your employer owes you a top-up to reach the $7.25 minimum, and your effective hourly, weekly and yearly pay. A tip credit lets an employer pay a lower direct cash wage and count part of your tips toward the regular minimum wage, but it can never leave you below the minimum: if tips fall short in a given week, the law requires the employer to make up the difference. The cash wage, tip credit and minimum wage used here are the 2026 figures for Georgia, sourced from the Georgia Department of Labor. Tips you earn above the minimum are always yours to keep.
Georgia tipped workers get a cash wage of $2.13/hr, with up to a $5.12 tip credit toward the $7.25 minimum wage.
How the Georgia tipped wage and tip credit work
cash wage = $2.13/hr (paid by employer)
total before top-up = cash wage + your tips per hour
if total < $7.25: employer tops up to $7.25
effective pay = greater of (cash + tips) and $7.25
These are gross figures before tax. Tips are taxable income and must be reported. For your after-tax pay, see the Georgia paycheck calculator, and for the regular rate the Georgia minimum wage calculator.
In Georgia, the tipped rule is federal, not state
Georgia does not write its own tipped-wage rule, so tipped workers fall back on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. That means a cash wage of $2.13 an hour, a federal floor that has not risen in decades, plus a tip credit of up to $5.12 to reach the $7.25 federal minimum. Georgia's own statutory minimum of $5.15 sits below the federal rate and reaches only a narrow band of workers outside FLSA coverage, so for almost every tipped job in the state the number that governs is the federal $7.25.
The $2.13 cash wage is the lowest in this group, which makes the make-whole check the most important thing a Georgia tipped worker can do. Add your $2.13 an hour to your total tips for the week, divide by the hours you worked, and confirm the result is at least $7.25. If a slow shift or a lean week leaves you short, the employer must make up every missing cent; you can never legally net less than $7.25 an hour once tips are counted, roughly $15,080.00 a year at full time.
Keep your own record of tips and hours. With the cash wage this low, almost all of your pay rides on tips, so an unreported shortfall is easy to overlook. If a pay stub shows $2.13 and no top-up in a lean week, that is the first figure to raise with the employer or the US Department of Labor.
Georgia tipped minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the tipped minimum wage in Georgia in 2026?
In Georgia, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour in 2026. Employers may count up to $5.12 an hour of tips (the "tip credit") toward the $7.25 minimum wage. If an employee's cash wage plus tips does not average at least $7.25 an hour, the employer must pay the difference.
Does Georgia allow a tip credit?
Yes. Georgia allows employers to take a tip credit of up to $5.12 an hour, meaning the direct cash wage can be as low as $2.13 an hour provided tips make up the rest to $7.25. The federal tip-credit floor is a $2.13 cash wage.
What happens if my tips do not reach minimum wage in Georgia?
Your employer must make up the shortfall. In any week where your cash wage of $2.13 plus your tips does not average at least $7.25 an hour, Georgia and federal law require the employer to top your pay up to $7.25. You should never earn less than the full minimum wage once tips are counted.
How much does a tipped worker make in Georgia?
It depends on tips, but here is a worked example: a server working 30 hours a week and averaging $12.00 an hour in tips. Cash wage $2.13 plus $12.00 tips is $14.13 an hour, which is above the $7.25 minimum, so the effective rate is $14.13 an hour, about $423.90 a week or $22,042.80 a year before tax. Use the calculator with your own tips and hours.
Is the tip credit the same as the tipped wage?
No, they are two sides of the same figure. The "tipped minimum wage" (or tipped cash wage) is what the employer pays directly: $2.13 in Georgia. The "tip credit" is how much of your tips the employer is allowed to count toward the regular minimum wage: $5.12 in Georgia. Cash wage plus tip credit equals the $7.25 minimum wage.
Official sources
- Georgia 2026 tipped and minimum wage figures: Georgia Department of Labor, as at July 11, 2026.
- Federal tip credit and the $2.13 cash-wage floor: 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. Georgia sets no tipped rate; the federal FLSA tipped cash wage of $2.13 and tip credit of $5.12 apply to covered employers.