Michigan Minimum Wage 2027

From a 2018 petition to $15.00: the court case behind the raise

In 2018 a citizens' petition proposed $12 an hour by 2022, with the cash wage for tipped workers rising until it matched the full minimum wage. The Legislature adopted the petition as law, which kept it off the ballot, and then rewrote it in the same session with a slower schedule and a tipped wage fixed at 38%.

On July 31, 2024 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Mothering Justice v Attorney General that adopting a petition and amending it in the same session violates the state constitution. It put the original law into force on February 21, 2025, with the steps shifted forward, and noted that a later Legislature may still amend it. That is what happened on February 21, 2025: Senate Bill 8, signed and effective the same day as Public Act 1 of 2025, kept the $12.48 rate, moved the next steps to January 1 and made them larger, and set the tipped share at 38% with a slower climb.

Every Michigan rate since 2019

The January 2027 step adds $1.27 an hour (9.2%), or $2,642 over a year of 40-hour weeks. Only the February 2025 jump was larger.

Servers and bartenders: $6.30 in 2027, half the minimum by 2031

Michigan sets the tipped cash wage as a share of the minimum wage, and the share grows by two points every January. In 2026 it is 40% ($5.49); in 2027 it is 42% of $15.00, which is $6.30.

The lower cash wage is allowed only when tips make up the rest of $15.00, the tips are shown by the employee's own tip declaration for Social Security purposes, the employee keeps them (voluntary sharing with others in the chain of service is allowed), and the employer explained the rule in writing at or before hiring and the employee agreed in writing. Otherwise the full minimum wage applies.

Teenagers, new hires and apprentices

Workers under 18 can be paid 85% of the minimum wage: $11.67 an hour in 2026 and $12.75 from January 1, 2027. Workers under 16 fall outside the state law entirely, because it defines an employee as someone at least 16 years old; federal rules apply to them.

Separately, an employer may pay a training wage of $4.25 an hour to a new employee under 20 for the first 90 days of the job. An employer may not displace a current employee to hire someone at this rate. For apprentices, learners and workers with disabilities who cannot meet normal production standards, the department may set a lower scale of rates.

2028 and later: inflation, unless unemployment is high

Each October from 2027 on, the State Treasurer multiplies the current rate by the 12-month increase in the consumer price index for the Midwest (CPI-U) and must publish the result by November 1. The new rate starts the following January 1, so the 2028 figure will be known by November 1, 2027.

The law skips the increase if Michigan's unemployment rate was 8.5% or higher in the year before. The 2018 law had the same brake, and it applied once: the step to $9.87 planned for 2021 did not happen, the rate stayed at $9.65 for the year, and the step came on January 1, 2022.

Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor: same rate

A Michigan city or county may not adopt or enforce an ordinance requiring a wage above the state minimum (MCL 123.1385). Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Ann Arbor therefore pay the same $15.00 from January 2027 as every small town. The state law covers employers with two or more employees at any one time in the calendar year, including state and local government.

$15.00 an hour in a paycheck

Full-time at $15.00 is $600.00 a week and $31,200 a year before tax. Michigan takes a flat 4.25% income tax after a $5,900 personal exemption, and 24 Michigan cities add an income tax of their own (Detroit: 2.4% for residents). The figures below leave city tax out; the Michigan paycheck calculator adds it when you enter your city's rate.

Overtime, salaried jobs and complaints

Michigan's wage law has its own overtime rule, with an exemption for bona fide executive, administrative and professional employees. The law names no salary for that exemption; the department applies the federal standard salary of $684 a week, or $35,568 a year.

Complaints about minimum wage or overtime go to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Wage and Hour Division online or on a paper form, at no charge, within three years of the violation. Other unpaid wages and fringe benefits have a 12-month limit. Pay stubs and a record of hours worked help the investigation.

How this is calculated

The calculator opens on Michigan with January 1, 2027 selected, so the answer is $15.00; choose “Today” for the $13.73 that applies through December 31, 2026. Weekly pay is the rate times your hours. A year counts 52 weeks and a month is one twelfth of that.

After-tax pay uses the 2026 federal brackets for a single filer, Social Security and Medicare, and Michigan's 4.25% income tax after the state personal exemption. City income taxes are not included.