North Carolina Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official North Carolina Department of LaborNorth Carolina's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in 2026, matching the federal minimum. This North Carolina 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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina Department of Labor; the pay calculation is simply hours times the rate.
North Carolina'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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina income tax, Social Security and Medicare. Your take-home pay is lower; see our North Carolina paycheck calculator for the after-tax amount.
Why every North Carolina county sits at $7.25
North Carolina's $7.25 minimum wage is not merely the federal default sitting in an empty space: the state's own Wage and Hour Act fixes the figure at $7.25, and it has not moved since July 24, 2009, roughly 17 years without a raise. What sets the state apart is a preemption clause in that same Act. No city or county may set a local minimum wage above the state figure, so a cashier in Charlotte, Raleigh or Asheville is entitled to exactly the same $7.25 as a worker in the smallest rural county. The local "living wage" ordinances that lift pay in cities elsewhere are simply not available here.
That preemption is the point people most often get wrong. A North Carolina local government may pay its own employees more, because the law carves out a unit setting wages for its own workforce, but it cannot force a private employer to follow suit. For private-sector work the floor stays at $7.25 across all 100 counties.
The contrast at the state line is sharp. Cross north into Virginia and the minimum jumps to $12.77 an hour for 2026 (indexed, and scheduled to reach $15.00 by 2028), while South Carolina and Tennessee set no state minimum at all and Georgia's statute reads $5.15, so the federal $7.25 governs in each. For tipped staff, North Carolina allows a cash wage as low as $2.13, with a tip credit of up to $5.12, provided tips carry earnings to $7.25.
North Carolina minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the minimum wage in North Carolina in 2026?
North Carolina'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 July 24, 2009.
How much is full-time minimum wage in North Carolina per year?
At North Carolina'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 North Carolina's minimum wage going up?
North Carolina 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 North Carolina Department of Labor.
What is the tipped minimum wage in North Carolina?
North Carolina 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 North Carolina tipped minimum wage calculator for the full breakdown.
Is North Carolina's minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage?
No. The rate that applies in North Carolina 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
- North Carolina 2026 minimum wage rate: North Carolina Department 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. Matches the federal $7.25.