Tucson’s Minimum Wage goes to $14.35 on Jan. 1
Arizona’s minimum hourly wage is rising 50 cents an hour with the new year, increasing from $13.85 to $14.35 an hour effective Jan. 1, 2024, according to the Arizona Industrial Commission.
Wage increase measures were approved by Arizona voters in 2016, when they passed Proposition 206.
Annual increases are tied to the consumer price index, which accounts for inflation. Each August, the 12-month change in prices is calculated, with resulting higher wages taking effect Jan. 1.
CPI was up 8.3 percent in August 2022, so the minimum wage jumped by $1.05 an hour — $12.80 to $13.85 – a year ago. This year, the consumer price index was up 3.7 percent year-over-year in August 2023.
Employers may pay tipped employees a maximum of $3 less per hour — $11.35 — if earned tips added to a wage are higher than $14.35 an hour.
There are exemptions to the minimum wage requirement. Arizona’s Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act does not apply to people employed by a parent or sibling; babysitters in someone’s home; people employed by the state or the federal government; and certain small businesses.
In 2021, Tucson voters adopted The Tucson Minimum Wage Act, which establishes a plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2025, followed by annual increases based on the consumer price index.
Initially, the Tucson minimum wage was set to rise to $14.25 on Jan. 1; however, because the state’s new minimum wage is 10 cents higher, Tucson’s wage increases as well to $14.35.
The Arizona minimum wage was $12.15 an hour effective Jan. 1, 2021; $12.80, Jan. 1, 2022; $13.85, Jan. 1, 2023; and now $14.35.