Methodology

Last updated October 8, 2026

Sources

We use primary sources first: state labor and revenue departments, city labor standards offices, the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and Employment and Training Administration, and the IRS. Secondary sources, such as the UC Berkeley Labor Center inventory of local minimum wages, are used only to cross-check and to find places we might have missed. They are never the only source for a figure.

What every record carries

• Source URL: the official page or document the figure comes from
• As of: the date the figure took effect, or the date the source says it is current
• Retrieved: when we copied it
• Verified: whether the figure matched the live source the last time we checked, and when

Verification

Before each site update, a script re-fetches a sample of sources and confirms the published figures still appear there. Any record changed since the last update is always checked. A record that fails the check, or that has never been verified, is not published.

Effective dates

Wage laws usually change on January 1 and July 1, and some cities change on other dates. We show the rate in force today, the date it started, and any increase already announced, with the date it takes effect. When the date passes, the page moves the new rate to "current" in the next update.

Where official sources disagree

Federal summary tables sometimes lag state law. When they disagree, we publish the figure from the agency that enforces the law, usually the state or city, and note the discrepancy.

Writing

Data pages use templates. The wording changes only where the rules change: thresholds, exceptions and deadlines. We don't use AI to produce page text at scale. Comparison pages are written by hand.