When was the last federal minimum wage increase in the US?
Executive summary
The last federally enacted increase before 2025 was in 2009, when the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25 per hour and remained unchanged for more than a decade [1] [2]. In 2025 reporting and analyses show major activity: multiple outlets say Congress or legislation led to a federal increase to about $9.50 taking effect in late 2025 (various dates cited, e.g., Nov. 12, Nov. 15, Oct.–Dec. rollout) while other sources still report the federal floor as $7.25 and emphasize state/local hikes [3] [4] [5] [6] [2].
1. The baseline: the 2009 federal increase and the long freeze
The federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 per hour in 2009 and that rate was the federal floor for many years thereafter; policy trackers and analyses note that the federal rate “has not increased since 2009,” a fact repeatedly cited in 2025 reporting [1] [2] [7]. That 16-year freeze is the reference point for debates and proposals in 2025 [8].
2. Conflicting 2025 accounts: a new federal hike or still $7.25?
News items in late 2025 present competing narratives. Several articles and compendia report that the federal minimum wage began rising to roughly $9.50 with implementation windows in October–December 2025 and specific compliance deadlines like November 12–15, 2025 [8] [4] [5] [9]. At the same time, other sources from the same period continue to state the federal minimum wage remains $7.25 while highlighting that many states and localities independently raised wages in 2025 [6] [7] [2] [10]. The available reporting therefore documents both claims without a single uniform date across outlets [3] [11].
3. What the policy proposals said in 2025
Policy analyses in 2025 — for example on the Raise the Wage Act and related proposals — framed large, phased federal increases as active legislative efforts, including proposals to reach $15 or even $17 by 2030; the Economic Policy Institute summarized a plan to raise the federal wage to $17 by 2030 and noted the existing federal rate at $7.25 [1]. Those proposals explain why many outlets reported a scheduled escalator or multi-year plan in 2025 [8].
4. Why sources disagree: timing, legislation vs. reporting, and state action
The divergence in reporting reflects three issues in the sources: (a) some outlets present a legislative outcome or rollout that moves the federal floor to $9.50 with phased implementation late in 2025 [4] [5] [9]; (b) other coverage emphasizes that, absent final federal ratification or broad departmental adoption, the statutory federal minimum remained $7.25 while states continued to raise their own floors [6] [7] [2]; and (c) many stories conflate federal action with numerous state and local increases taking effect across fall–winter 2025, which amplifies the sense of a national shift even where the federal statute is unchanged in some reports [8] [3].
5. Practical effect: who saw higher pay in 2025 regardless of federal law
Regardless of the exact federal status in each report, many states and dozens of cities implemented their own increases in 2025, producing tangible raises for millions of workers even where the federal floor was unchanged [2] [1]. Analysts estimated that substantial shares of the workforce would be affected by proposed federal bills and by state action—EPI projected millions impacted by proposed federal increases, and state/local hikes were widespread in late 2025 [1] [2].
6. How to interpret the record and next steps for verification
Available sources present both that the last definitive federal statutory increase prior to 2025 occurred in 2009 (to $7.25) and that late-2025 reporting described a federal rise to about $9.50 with implementation windows in October–December 2025 [1] [4] [5]. To resolve which characterization reflects the legally effective federal rate on a given date, consult primary federal documents—Congressional text, signed statute, or the U.S. Department of Labor notices—which are not included in the provided sources. The sources here document disagreement in secondary reporting rather than a single settled statutory fact [4] [6].
Limitations: This summary relies solely on the provided set of news and analysis items; those items themselves conflict about exact effective dates and whether the federal statute had formally changed by specific November/December 2025 dates [3] [9]. The cited sources do not include the primary federal statute or an official DOL announcement in the packet, so definitive legal status on a particular day is not confirmed here [6] [7].