This month, 17 states and localities across the U.S. increased their minimum wage. These changes will give about 361,000 workers a raise, offering them a better chance at keeping pace with the rising costs of living. Additionally, 19 states raised their minimum wage at the beginning of 2026, giving a boost to over 8 million workers.
Notably, Alaska raised its minimum wage a whole dollar from $13 an hour to $14 an hour in July. Other state and local governments increased theirs by incremental amounts based on regular inflation adjustment. Oregon and the District of Columbia raised their minimum wage this summer, as did Montgomery County, Maryland; Chicago and Cook County, Illinois; and 11 localities in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The federal minimum wage puts workers below the poverty line
However, 20 states still adhere to or default to the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009 — that’s 17 years. To make matters worse, the federal minimum wage hasn’t kept up with the cost of living since 1970. As a result of the stagnant minimum wage, 30 states have opted to set their minimum wage well above the federal standard.
A full-time worker at the federal minimum wage would earn $15,080 a year, making it impossible in most cases to support a family or even oneself. In fact, the federal poverty level for 2026 is defined as $15,960 for an individual person, $21,640 for a family of two, $27,320 for a family of three, $33,000 for a family of four, and $38,680 for a family of five.
How does the minimum wage affect parents?
What does this mean for parents? Two full-time working parents making the federal minimum wage could earn just enough to be above the poverty line — but that’s if they had only one child to support. Add in the soaring costs of child care and other basics like food and healthcare, and the math becomes completely unrealistic.
Over the years, there have been many legislative efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, but they have not been successful. According to the Economic Policy Institute, if the Raise the Wage Act had passed and raised the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of 2024, almost 40 million workers would have gotten a raise, including 11.2 million parents.
