Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage increased 3.6% to $16.94 on Jan. 1, 2026.
A state law enacted in 2019 implemented five annual increases in the hourly wage and tied future yearly increases to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment Cost Index.
The last of those five statutory increases took effect in 2023, when the hourly wage hit $15.
Future increases are calculated based on the change in the ECI “over the 12-month period ending June 30 of the preceding year, rounded to the nearest whole cent.”
The third of those indexed increases took effect Jan. 1 this year.
Connecticut was one of 23 states that raised the minimum wage for 2026.
At $17.95, the District of Columbia has the country’s highest minimum wage, followed by Washington state ($17.13), and New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties ($17), while California cities and towns range from $16.90 to $19.60.
Fifteen states link annual changes in the minimum wage to various indexes, with Virginia (2026), Nebraska (2027), and Florida (2028) all scheduled to follow suit over the next three years.
Twenty states set the hourly wage at $7.25, which is the federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees.
As of September 2025, average private sector hourly earnings in Connecticut stood at $39.24, up 2.5% year-over-year.
The regular minimum wage increases have not helped drive labor force growth in Connecticut, which ranked 41st among all states for job growth as of September.
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