The simple version

Florida's minimum wage is $15.00 an hour as of today, September 30, 2026. That is the last $1.00 step written into the state constitution after voters approved it in 2020.

For a server or bartender who earns tips, the employer can pay less in cash. The state lets tips count toward $3.02 of each hour, so the employer's direct wage can be $11.98.

The numbers

• Florida's minimum wage reached $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026 (Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24)
• Employers may count tips toward the minimum wage up to the federal tip credit that was allowed in 2003 (Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24)
• That 2003 tip credit is $3.02, and the direct wage for tipped employees is the minimum wage minus $3.02 (Florida Department of Commerce, minimum wage notice, updated September 30, 2025)
• The direct wage was $10.98 as of September 30, 2025, when the minimum wage was $14.00 (Florida Department of Commerce)
• $15.00 minus $3.02 is a direct wage of $11.98 an hour (our arithmetic, using the state's formula)
• Under federal law alone, the minimum wage is $7.25, the minimum cash wage for tipped workers is $2.13, and the maximum tip credit is $5.12 (U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet 15)

What a tip credit is

A tip credit is not money anyone pays. It is the part of the minimum wage that the law lets an employer count as already covered by customers' tips.

The employer still owes the full minimum wage. It pays part of it in cash and counts tips for the rest, up to the credit.

If tips fall short, the credit shrinks to match. Under the Department of Labor's rule, an employer claiming the credit has to make sure tips and the direct wage together reach at least the minimum wage in each workweek.

One thing that is not a tip is a mandatory service charge added to a bill. The Department of Labor does not count it as a tip, although an employer can use money from it toward wages.

Why Florida's credit is small

Florida froze its tip credit at the 2003 federal amount, $3.02. So each time the minimum wage rises, the whole raise lands in the cash wage.

Federal law works the other way around. It fixes the cash wage at $2.13 and lets the credit fill the rest, which is $5.12 of a $7.25 hour.

In Florida, tips can cover about 20% of the minimum wage. Under the federal rule alone, they can cover about 71%.

The Real Cost lens on one tipped week

Here is one week for a server, with hours and tips we chose.

• The server works 30 hours. At $15.00 an hour, the week has to add up to at least $450.00.
• The employer's direct wage is 30 hours times $11.98, or $359.40.
• Tips have to cover the other $90.60, which is 30 hours times the $3.02 credit.
• In a week with $400.00 in tips, the server earns $759.40 before taxes and the employer owes nothing extra.
• In a week with only $60.00 in tips, the employer owes $30.60 more, the gap between $90.60 and $60.00.

The hours and tips are ours and describe no real worker. The math is the same in any week: cash wage plus tips, divided by hours worked, is what the $15.00 floor applies to.

What this means

Today's raise is $1.00 an hour for most workers paid the minimum. For tipped workers it is also $1.00, because the $3.02 credit did not move.

That is the part most coverage skips. Tipped pay in Florida is set by a formula, and the formula means a higher minimum wage raises the cash wage dollar for dollar.

What this is NOT

This article is general information about how Florida's minimum wage and tip credit work. It is not legal, payroll, or employment advice, and it does not describe any specific employer or worker. It does not cover overtime, tip pools, local wage rules, or which workers qualify as tipped employees, each of which has its own rules. The hours and tips in the Real Cost section are illustrations we chose, and the $11.98 direct wage is our arithmetic from the state's published formula rather than a figure the state has published for 2026. It describes Florida and the federal baseline only, and other states set different rules. Questions about a specific paycheck belong with the employer, the Florida Department of Commerce, or the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

Sources

• Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24, Florida minimum wage: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution
• Florida Department of Commerce, Florida's Minimum Wage, updated September 30, 2025: https://www.floridajobs.org/docs/default-source/business-growth-and-partnerships/for-employers/posters-and-required-notices/2025-minimum-wage/2025-minimum-wage-announcement.pdf?sfvrsn=dc953eb0_3
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet 15, Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa