Wisconsin Minimum Wage 2026
Figure basis: Official Wisconsin Department of Workforce DevelopmentWisconsin's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in 2026, matching the federal minimum. This Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development; the pay calculation is simply hours times the rate.
Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin income tax, Social Security and Medicare. Your take-home pay is lower; see our Wisconsin paycheck calculator for the after-tax amount.
Wisconsin matches the federal wage but writes its own tipped rule
Wisconsin's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, identical to the federal minimum and unchanged since 2009. The state has its own minimum wage law, but the rate simply tracks $7.25, so a full-time worker (2,080 hours) grosses $15,080 a year before tax. What sets Wisconsin apart is not the headline number but the tipped wage.
Unlike most $7.25 states, which adopt the federal $2.13 tipped cash wage, Wisconsin writes its own at $2.33 per hour, twenty cents higher. Employers can count up to $4.92 of tips toward the $7.25 minimum, and if cash plus tips fall short in a pay period the employer must make up the gap. Wisconsin also keeps a separate "opportunity" tipped wage of $2.13 for workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive days of employment, a wrinkle many payroll templates miss.
A common mistake is to assume a city can raise the floor. Wisconsin law preempts local governments from setting a higher local minimum wage, so Milwaukee and Madison sit at the same $7.25 as the rest of the state. That preemption, together with the frozen state rate, is why Wisconsin's minimum has not moved in more than sixteen years even as several neighbors index theirs to inflation. Use the calculator to turn $7.25, or your actual pay, into weekly, monthly and overtime figures.
Wisconsin minimum wage: frequently asked questions
What is the minimum wage in Wisconsin in 2026?
Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin per year?
At Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin's minimum wage going up?
Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
What is the tipped minimum wage in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin lets employers pay tipped workers a lower cash wage of $2.33 an hour and count up to $4.92 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 Wisconsin tipped minimum wage calculator for the full breakdown.
Is Wisconsin's minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage?
No. The rate that applies in Wisconsin 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
- Wisconsin 2026 minimum wage rate: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, 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. State minimum matches the federal $7.25, but the tipped cash wage is Wisconsin-specific at $2.33.