What Is the Texas Minimum Wage
The Texas minimum wage is $7.25 an hour in 2026, the same as the federal minimum. State law sets no rate of its own: it adopts whatever federal law requires (Texas Labor Code 62.051). Tipped workers can be paid $2.13 an hour in cash if tips bring them up to $7.25.
No Texas city can set a higher minimum for private employers. That is why the rate is $7.25 in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso alike. Our national minimum wage explainer compares every state.
Key facts
- Texas pays $7.25, unchanged since July 2009 (TWC).
- A 2003 law overrides any city or county wage for private jobs (Labor Code 62.0515).
- About 120,000 Texans were paid $7.25 or less in 2024 (BLS).
- A TWC wage claim must be filed within 180 days of the missed payday.
What to Do If You Are Underpaid in Texas
You do not need a lawyer to recover unpaid wages in Texas, and the clock starts on the payday you were shorted. Open the situation closest to yours. This is general information, not legal advice.
What to do, by situation
Open the one closest to yours.
My paycheck came to less than $7.25 for every hour I worked
- Write down your hours for each day and keep every pay stub. Your own notes count as evidence.
- File a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission within 180 days of the payday you were shorted, or call the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-487-9243 (1-866-4-US-WAGE).
- If you miss the 180 days, you can still sue: two years under the Texas law, and two years (three if the violation was willful) under federal law.
- The Department of Labor says it enforces the federal wage law "without regard to whether an employee is documented or undocumented" (Fact Sheet 48). Federal law also bars an employer from firing or punishing you for filing a complaint (29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3)).
Texas Labor Code 62.201 makes an employer liable for the unpaid wages plus an equal amount in damages.
I earn tips and some weeks they do not reach $7.25 an hour
- Add your cash wage and tips for each week and divide by your hours.
- If the total is below $7.25, your employer owes you the difference, up to $5.12 an hour.
- Keep your own record of tips. If the employer does not make up the gap, file a wage claim.
Texas Labor Code 62.052 follows the federal tip rule in 29 U.S.C. 203(m).
I work in Austin, Dallas or another city that says it pays more
- A higher city rate applies only to city employees and to companies whose city contract requires it.
- For every other private job in Texas, the minimum is $7.25.
- If your employer has a city contract with a wage requirement, ask the city which contracts it covers.
Labor Code 62.0515 overrides city wage rules for private employment but keeps wages set in a public contract.
My employer never paid my last check after I quit or was fired
- Texas law sets deadlines for a final paycheck: by the sixth day after a firing, and by the next regular payday after you quit.
- File a wage claim with TWC within 180 days of the day the pay was due.
Texas Labor Code 61.014 sets the final-pay deadlines, and 61.051 sets the 180-day limit, which the law calls a matter of jurisdiction: TWC cannot hear a late claim.
How to Recover Unpaid Wages in Texas
A TWC wage claim is free and does not require a lawyer, but it has the shortest deadline. A lawsuit gives you more time and can double what you recover.
From a short paycheck to getting paid in Texas
- Every payday Keep your own records Write down hours worked, tips and what each paycheck paid. Save pay stubs, schedules and texts about hours.
- Within 180 days File a TWC wage claim File online or by mail with the Texas Workforce Commission. The deadline runs from the payday the wages were due.
- Within 2 years Call the U.S. Department of Labor The Wage and Hour Division (1-866-487-9243) investigates federal minimum wage and overtime violations for free.
- Up to 2 years Sue for double A lawsuit can recover the unpaid wages plus an equal amount in damages. Three years under federal law if the violation was willful.
Sources: TWC, Texas Minimum Wage Law; Texas Labor Code 62.201 and 62.202; 29 U.S.C. 255(a).
Why Texas Cities Cannot Raise the Minimum Wage
Since 2003, the state minimum wage “supersedes a wage established in an ordinance, order, or charter provision governing wages in private employment.” That is the text of Labor Code 62.0515, added by the 78th Legislature. A Houston or San Antonio ordinance raising private-sector pay would have no force.
The law leaves two openings. A city can pay its own employees more, and it can require a higher wage in its contracts: under section 62.0515(c), a company that signs a city contract with a wage term must honor it, and so must its subcontractors.
In 2023 the Legislature went further with HB 2127, which bars local rules in any area covered by eight state codes, labor among them. It also reached rules on paid leave and heat breaks. A trial court found the law unconstitutional, but on July 18, 2025 the Third Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Houston, San Antonio and El Paso had not shown a concrete injury, and dismissed their claims without deciding whether the law is constitutional (Texas Tribune). Our preemption explainer shows which states block local wages.
Texas Minimum Wage Compared With Neighboring States
Two of Texas’s four neighbors pay more: New Mexico and Arkansas. Oklahoma and Louisiana, like Texas, sit at the federal floor.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| New Mexico | $12 |
| Arkansas | $11 |
| Texas | $7.25 |
| Oklahoma | $7.25 |
| Louisiana (no state law, federal rate) | $7.25 |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, State Minimum Wage Laws, updated July 1, 2026. Arkansas's rate applies to employers with four or more employees.
The gap matters most along the borders. A worker in El Paso earns at least $7.25; a few miles away in New Mexico the floor is $12.00.
Who Earns $7.25 in Texas
Texas has a bigger share of the country’s lowest-paid hourly workers than of its hourly workforce. Texas is home to 8.9% of U.S. hourly workers but 14.2% of those paid $7.25 or less, about 1 in 7.
- 120,000
- Texas hourly workers paid $7.25 or less in 2024
- 1.7%
- of Texas hourly workers, against 1.0% nationally
- 109,000
- of them paid below $7.25, mostly tipped or exempt jobs
Most Texans in that count earn less than $7.25 an hour, not exactly $7.25. Federal and state law allow a lower cash wage for tipped workers and exempt some jobs entirely, and BLS counts pay before tips. Texas’s share is 1.7 times the national share (BLS, Table 3).
A Full-Time Year at $7.25 in Texas
A single adult working full time at $7.25 falls $23,762 short of a basic Texas budget, even before taxes come out. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator puts the pay a single adult with no children needs in Texas at $21.77 an hour, $14.52 more than the minimum.
Housing alone takes 97% of a full-time minimum wage paycheck: about $1,223 a month in MIT’s estimate against $1,257 in gross pay.
How the Texas Minimum Wage Got Here
The federal minimum began at 25 cents in 1938, and the tipped cash wage stopped at $2.13 in 1991. Texas tied its own rate to the federal one and blocked city wages in 2003. The federal rate reached $7.25 in 2009, and in 2023 Texas widened its limits on cities.
- Federal minimum wage begins at 25 cents The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the first national floor.
- Tipped cash wage frozen at $2.13 The federal tipped wage has not changed since.
- Texas ties its wage to the federal rate and blocks cities The 78th Legislature adds Labor Code 62.0515.
- Federal and Texas minimum reach $7.25 The last federal increase, on July 24, 2009.
- Texas widens its limits on city rules HB 2127 bars local rules across eight state codes.
- Texas is still at $7.25 Seventeen years without a raise.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, history of federal minimum wage rates; Texas Labor Code chapter 62; Texas Tribune.
: 1938: Federal minimum wage begins at 25 cents (The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the first national floor.). 1991: Tipped cash wage frozen at $2.13 (The federal tipped wage has not changed since.). 2003: Texas ties its wage to the federal rate and blocks cities (The 78th Legislature adds Labor Code 62.0515.). 2009: Federal and Texas minimum reach $7.25 (The last federal increase, on July 24, 2009.). 2023: Texas widens its limits on city rules (HB 2127 bars local rules across eight state codes.). 2026: Texas is still at $7.25 (Seventeen years without a raise.).
1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act set the first federal minimum at 25 cents an hour (DOL).
1991: The federal cash wage for tipped workers reached $2.13, where it remains. Texas follows it.
2003: The Legislature rewrote section 62.051 to adopt the federal rate and added section 62.0515, which overrides city and county wage laws for private jobs.
2009: The federal minimum rose to $7.25 on July 24, 2009, and the Texas rate rose with it.
2023: HB 2127 barred city and county rules in any area covered by eight state codes, including labor.
2026: Neither Congress nor the Texas Legislature has raised the rate, so it stays at $7.25.
Where the Texas minimum wage stands
As of September 27, 2026
- Texas minimum wage Law, $7.25
Labor Code 62.051 adopts the federal rate. No state increase is scheduled. (source)
- Ban on city minimum wages (62.0515) Law
In force since 2003. City contracts with a wage term are still enforceable. (source)
- HB 2127, limits on city rules Law, cities lacked standing
The Third Court of Appeals reversed the ruling against it on July 18, 2025, and dismissed the cities' suit without deciding whether the law is constitutional. (source)
- Federal minimum wage Law, $7.25 since 2009
Unchanged. Texas would rise automatically if Congress raised it. (source)
The Case Against Raising the Texas Minimum Wage
Business groups argue that one statewide rule is easier to follow than a patchwork of city wages. Glenn Hamer of the Texas Association of Business wrote in 2023 that HB 2127 answered a “complex regulatory landscape” for employers with sites in several cities (El Paso Matters).
The cost argument applies nationally, too. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2021 that a $15 federal minimum would raise pay for 17 million workers and lift 0.9 million people out of poverty, but could cost 1.4 million jobs (CBO). A raise would be a bigger jump in a lower-cost state like Texas than in the high-wage states most studies measured. Our national explainer lays out the studies on both sides.
Is the minimum wage $15 in Texas?
No. The Texas minimum wage is $7.25 an hour in 2026. A Texas city can pay its own employees more, but state law bars it from raising pay for private employers.
What is the minimum wage in Houston, Dallas, or El Paso?
$7.25 an hour, the same as everywhere in Texas. State law bars Texas cities from setting a higher minimum wage for private employers.
Who pays $7.25 an hour?
Any Texas employer may legally pay $7.25, and about 120,000 Texas hourly workers earned $7.25 or less in 2024, many of them in tipped or exempt jobs.
Is $20 an hour good pay in Texas?
A $20 hourly wage is close to what a single adult needs in Texas. MIT estimates a single adult with no children in Texas needs $21.77 an hour to cover basic costs. A household with children needs more.
Can a Texas employer pay a tipped worker $2.13 an hour?
Yes, if tips bring the worker to at least $7.25 an hour. If they do not, the employer must pay the difference.
What You Can Do
- Check what you were paid. Divide each paycheck by your hours, and include tips if you are a tipped worker. Anything under $7.25 an hour is a violation.
- File within 180 days. Submit a wage claim to the Texas Workforce Commission, or call the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-487-9243.
- Ask your city about its contract wages. A Texas city can require higher pay from the companies it hires, even though it cannot set a citywide minimum.
- Ask your state legislators to act. Only the Legislature can raise the Texas minimum or restore cities’ power to set their own. Find your members with the Legislature’s Who Represents Me lookup (your districts may have changed; see how to find your Texas district), and use our letter-writing guide.
- Write your members of Congress. A federal raise would lift Texas automatically, because state law follows the federal rate.