The federal minimum hourly wage is just $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. The Raise the Wage Act of 2025, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on April 8, 2025, would incrementally raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2030. The bill would also gradually raise and then eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth workers, so that all workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act would have the same wage floor.
22,247,000
Number of workers affected
15%
Share of U.S. workforce affected
$70 billion
Total additional wages provided
$3,200
Average increase per worker
EPI’s analysis shows that raising the federal minimum wage to $17 by 2030 would impact 22,247,000 workers across the country, or 15% of the U.S. wage-earning workforce. The increases would provide an additional $70 billion annually in wages for the country’s lowest-paid workers, with the average affected worker who works year-round receiving an extra $3,200 per year.
Table 1 shows EPI’s estimates of the population of workers, by demographic and other characteristics, who would benefit from the Raise the Wage Act of 2025.
Table 1
| Group | Total workforce | Directly affected | Share directly affected... |
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