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September 12, 2025

Maine's minimum hourly wage to hit $15.10 next year

US dollars Photo / Pixabay.com Maine's statewide minimum wage will increase to $15.10 an hour as of the start of 2026.
By Renee Cordes

Maine’s minimum wage is set to increase by 45 cents next year to $15.10 an hour in accordance with a state law requiring adjustments for inflation.

The current statewide minimum wage, in place since the start of 2025, is $14.65 an hour.

Citing Current Population Survey estimates, the Maine Department of Labor said that 35,000 workers were paid hourly and earned an hourly wage of less than $15 an hour in 2024. Those workers represent around 5% of all wages and salary workers and about 9% of wage and salary employees who are paid at hourly rates. (The Current Population Survey is sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.) 

The state minimum wage also now applies to agricultural workers in Maine, in accordance with legislation signed by Gov. Janet Mills in June.

Chart showing Maine's state minimum wage 2020 - 2024
Mainebiz chart / Matt Selva
Maine's minimum wage goes up every year in accordance with a state law requiring adjustments for inflation.

In addition to the new minimum wage, the new “tip wage” for service employees will be $7.55 an hour, meaning that the employer has to pay that amount directly in cash to the employee.

The employer is also required to show that the employee receives at least the minimum wage of $15.10 per hour when the direct wages and tips are combined at the end of the month. The amount of tips necessary to qualify as a service employee will increase from $185 per month to $191 per month.

Also starting in January, the new minimum salary threshold for salaried workers exempt from overtime will be $871.16 per week, or $45,300.32 per year. Several factors are used to determine whether a worker is exempt from overtime pay under federal or state law. 

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