Iowa Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official Iowa Division of LaborIowa's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in 2026, matching the federal minimum. This Iowa 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 Iowa 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 Iowa Division of Labor; the pay calculation is simply hours times the rate.
Iowa'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 Iowa 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 Iowa income tax, Social Security and Medicare. Your take-home pay is lower; see our Iowa paycheck calculator for the after-tax amount.
Iowa froze at $7.25, and froze its cities too
Iowa's minimum wage has sat at $7.25 an hour since January 1, 2008, matching the federal rate and never indexed to inflation. What makes Iowa distinctive is not the number but the politics around it. In 2017 the legislature passed a preemption law that wiped out the higher local minimums several counties had adopted, including Johnson, Linn, Polk, and Wapello. Since then the state rate is a hard ceiling as well as a floor, so every Iowa county pays the same $7.25, about $15,080.00 a year for full-time work before tax.
Tipped pay is the part Iowa does its own way. Instead of the federal $2.13 cash wage, Iowa sets a higher tipped cash wage of $4.35 an hour for employees who make more than $30.00 a month in tips, with a maximum tip credit of $2.90. If cash plus tips fall short of $7.25, the employer must cover the gap.
The context worth remembering is geography. Iowa is ringed by states that pay more, from Illinois to Missouri to Nebraska, so the legal wage floor can jump the moment a worker crosses a state line. The $7.25 figure is stable, but always confirm it and the tipped rate with the Iowa Division of Labor before relying on either.
Iowa minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the minimum wage in Iowa in 2026?
Iowa's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in 2026, matching the federal minimum. 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 January 1, 2008.
How much is full-time minimum wage in Iowa per year?
At Iowa'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 Iowa's minimum wage going up?
Iowa 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 Iowa Division of Labor.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Iowa?
Iowa lets employers pay tipped workers a lower cash wage of $4.35 an hour and count up to $2.90 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 Iowa tipped minimum wage calculator for the full breakdown.
Is Iowa's minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage?
No. The rate that applies in Iowa 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
- Iowa 2026 minimum wage rate: Iowa Division of Labor, 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. The state minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Iowa's tipped cash wage is $4.35 (not the federal $2.13), per the Iowa Division of Labor.