The minimum wage in the state of New York will increase by 50 cents per hour in January.
The state’s minimum hourly wage for workers will increase on Jan. 1, 2026 to $17 in New York City, Westchester County and on Long Island. In the rest of the state, including the Syracuse area and Upstate New York, it will increase to $16 an hour.
That’s an increase of about 3% in the Downstate areas and 3.2% in the rest of the state.
The increases mean an extra $20 a week for a minimum wage earner working a full-time job at 40 hours per week. In Upstate New York, that would translate into pay of $640 a week or about $33,000 a year.
Starting in 2027, the minimum wage will increase by a three-year moving average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the Northeast region, according to the state Labor Department.
A minimum wage increase in 2025, the upcoming hike in 2026 and the planned indexing of the wage to inflation are the result of policy changes passed previously as part of the state budget process.
The legislation included provisions that allow the wage to be frozen if the state’s economy weakens, so the raises aren’t guaranteed.
The minimum wage in New York has increased substantially in the last 10 years.
A decade ago, it was $7.25 an hour. Once the latest set of increases are in place, the wage will have increased over 120% from that level in Upstate New York.