Minimum wage is nearly $7 more an hour for people working in upstate New York than it was 10 years ago.
The current minimum wage rate is $16 an hour in upstate areas.
What You Need To Know
The current minimum wage rate is $16 an hour in upstate New York
The National Low Income Housing Coalition said, “In 2025, a full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $33.63 to afford the average modest, two-bedroom rental home in the U.S., and $28.17 to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home.”
A researcher at Cornell said we should look at ways to gradually recouple minimum wage to productivity and cost of living
Kayla Greene is a representative payee at the Rome Rescue Mission.
It’s where she says she found help 14 years ago after leaving a bad relationship in the middle of a snowstorm.
“Instead of feeling bad for myself, I went to college. I stayed in college, I got a job. I got a second job. I did my internships and I now have three college degrees. And I’ve always kind of been a part of the Rome Rescue Mission, because it’s kind of like home,” Greene said.
Now she helps people manage their finances.
Greene said many of her clients do not work.
“We’re running into the situation where people are seeing that if they do work, they may lose their benefits. Or if they work just enough, it doesn’t really impact their income anyway. So, it’s a catch 22 for a lot of my clients,” said Greene.
Russell Weaver, the research director at Cornell’s Industrial Labor Relations School in Buffalo, said he’s been studying the living/minimum wage policy for seven years.
“All workers who are not self-employed, so individuals who actually show up to work and work for wages for a company, the median MIT living wage for upstate workers is about $23.50,” he said.
He said that number should cover the most basic needs for workers. However, minimum wage for upstate New Yorkers is $16 an hour.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Weaver pointed to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which said, “In 2025, a full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $33.63 to afford the average modest, two-bedroom rental home in the U.S. and $28.17 to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home.”
“There’s a big gap between what we would think of as maybe a more equitable minimum wage, where workers are sharing in the productivity that they’re creating, and the regulatory minimum wage that’s set right now,” said Weaver.
What’s the solution?
Weaver said we should look at ways to gradually recouple minimum wage to productivity and cost of living.
Doing this may benefit taxpayers in the long run.
“It’s taxpayers that are subsidizing low wage or minimum wage employers by providing benefits for their employees that they’re not providing or not paying, their employees adequately enough to provide for themselves. And so, there is a bit of cost savings on the back end,” Weaver said.
For now, people like Greene continue to help those who need it, including making them aware of resources that are available.
“We’re all feeling the squeeze, and all I can say is really try to access resources. Talk to people in your community. Advocate,” said Greene.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a “tipped employee” is someone who regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips.
The agency says their minimum wage is $2.13 per hour if that amount combined with the tips at least equals the federal minimum wage.