As Florida’s minimum wage hits $15, workers say the cost of living is still a challenge

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s minimum wage increased to $15 an hour in the final scheduled annual increase approved by voters as part of a 2020 constitutional amendment.

The amendment raised Florida’s minimum wage by $1 each year after it took effect in 2021. Going forward, the state’s minimum wage will be adjusted annually for inflation.

When voters passed the amendment in 2020, Florida’s minimum wage was $8.56.

For some workers, the increase comes as the cost of living in the Sunshine State remains a challenge.

Shyanne Tharp, a welder helper at Westbrook, moved to Florida from Iowa three years ago. Iowa’s minimum hourly wage was $7.25 then and has not changed.

Tharp said she worked as a detailer in Iowa and was paid well, but struggled to find work after relocating to Florida.

“Every job you apply to, you don’t get a call back,” Tharp said. “I would sit every night and apply job after job after job. I was applying to 200 jobs a month not getting a call and I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’”

After learning about Westbrook at a job fair last year, she entered welding work.

“It opened my eyes to realize how many different opportunities there are in the world,” Tharp said.

Tharp said she and her husband both earn more than minimum wage, but still face financial pressure. She said their cost of living is about $3,500 a month, mostly for rent and monthly bills.

“I make above minimum wage and so does my husband and that still is hard to make by, and we don’t even have kids,” Tharp said.

She also found help through CareerSource Central Florida, which helped pay for her schooling. Since 2020, nearly 78,000 people received services from the organization.

Vice President of Workforce Operations Gina Ronokarijo said increases in the minimum wage can affect workers who already earn above it.

“What we do notice is sometimes the wages start to compress a little,” Ronokarijo said. “So, you start to see some uneasiness with some of the skilled folks saying, ‘I should also be going up in this labor market.'”

Ronokarijo said CareerSource Central Florida is seeing an uptick in people looking for work because of higher unemployment rates. She said competition, rather than pay, is making the job market difficult.

“You’re going to have more skilled laborers maybe competing for those same jobs,” Ronokarijo said. “So they may be a little more competitive, but the wage doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Orlando’s unemployment rate increased from 4.1% to 4.7% from July 2025 to July 2026.