Massachusetts Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official Commonwealth of MassachusettsMassachusetts lets employers pay tipped workers a cash wage of $6.75 an hour and take a tip credit of up to $8.25, as long as tips bring total pay to at least the $15.00 minimum wage. This Massachusetts 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 $15.00 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 Massachusetts, sourced from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Tips you earn above the minimum are always yours to keep.
Massachusetts tipped workers get a cash wage of $6.75/hr, with up to a $8.25 tip credit toward the $15.00 minimum wage.
How the Massachusetts tipped wage and tip credit work
cash wage = $6.75/hr (paid by employer)
total before top-up = cash wage + your tips per hour
if total < $15.00: employer tops up to $15.00
effective pay = greater of (cash + tips) and $15.00
These are gross figures before tax. Tips are taxable income and must be reported. For your after-tax pay, see the Massachusetts paycheck calculator, and for the regular rate the Massachusetts minimum wage calculator.
Checking you clear the $15.00 floor as a Massachusetts tipped worker
Massachusetts pays a service rate of $6.75 an hour to workers who make more than $20.00 a month in tips, and lets the employer claim a tip credit of up to $8.25 to reach the $15.00 minimum wage. The rule that trips people up is timing: Massachusetts reconciles wages against tips at the end of each shift, not across the workweek the way looser federal law allows, so the make-whole test runs shift by shift.
To check you were made whole, take one shift. Multiply your hours by $6.75 to get your cash wage, add the tips you recorded, and divide by hours worked. If that number lands below $15.00, your employer owes the gap for that shift, even if a busier shift the same week averaged well above the floor. A slow Tuesday lunch can trigger a top-up on its own.
Keep your own tip log and match it against each pay stub, because the $6.75 cash line and the tip-credit line should always add to at least $15.00 for every hour worked. Massachusetts voters kept this two-tier system in November 2024 when they rejected Question 5, which would have raised the service rate to the full minimum, so the check is worth doing every pay period.
Massachusetts tipped minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the tipped minimum wage in Massachusetts in 2026?
In Massachusetts, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $6.75 an hour in 2026. Employers may count up to $8.25 an hour of tips (the "tip credit") toward the $15.00 minimum wage. If an employee's cash wage plus tips does not average at least $15.00 an hour, the employer must pay the difference.
Does Massachusetts allow a tip credit?
Yes. Massachusetts allows employers to take a tip credit of up to $8.25 an hour, meaning the direct cash wage can be as low as $6.75 an hour provided tips make up the rest to $15.00. The federal tip-credit floor is a $2.13 cash wage.
What happens if my tips do not reach minimum wage in Massachusetts?
Your employer must make up the shortfall. In any week where your cash wage of $6.75 plus your tips does not average at least $15.00 an hour, Massachusetts and federal law require the employer to top your pay up to $15.00. You should never earn less than the full minimum wage once tips are counted.
How much does a tipped worker make in Massachusetts?
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 $6.75 plus $12.00 tips is $18.75 an hour, which is above the $15.00 minimum, so the effective rate is $18.75 an hour, about $562.50 a week or $29,250.00 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: $6.75 in Massachusetts. The "tip credit" is how much of your tips the employer is allowed to count toward the regular minimum wage: $8.25 in Massachusetts. Cash wage plus tip credit equals the $15.00 minimum wage.
Official sources
- Massachusetts 2026 tipped and minimum wage figures: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 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. The service rate is $6.75 for workers earning over $20/month in tips; tips must bring the total to $15.00, reconciled each shift.