Minnesota MINIMUM WAGES

Minnesota State Minimum Wage for 2025

Effective from January 1, 2025, the Minnesota minimum wage rates stands at $11.13 per hour for all employees. This is a replacement of the previous differentiated rates where large employers paid $10.85 per hour and small employers paid $8.85 per hour.

The training wage for employees under 20 years for the first 80 days stand at $9.08 per hour.

Minnesota doesn’t have a tipped credit, so all employees must be paid the state minimum of $11.13 per hour.

In the next section, let’s discuss the minimum wages prevalent in the individual cities of the North Star State. 

Minimum Wages in Minnesota Cities

As already discussed, Minnesota has a unique minimum wage structure where the rates vary based on the employer’s size. Additionally, a few of its prominent cities also have their own minimum wage ordinances.  

Here is a breakdown of the minimum wage rates for the top 30 cities in Minnesota: 

With the complicated minimum wage rates applicable across the state clear, let’s move into the next section and discuss the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. 

Threshold For Employees Exempt

As the Department of Labor (DOL) defines, exempt employees refer to a group of employees that receive annual or monthly paychecks and whose income doesn’t directly depend on the federal, state, or local minimum wage rates or overtime pay. On the other hand, nonexempt employees rely on the minimum wage rates applicable in their area and are entitled to overtime benefits. 

Exempt employees fall under the EAP (Executive, Administrative, and Professional) category, which includes: 

• Executives – Directly supervise two or more full-time employees 
• Administrative – They make high-level decisions involving independent judgment 
• Learned professionals – They work in roles requiring B.A. or B.S. educational qualifications or equivalent experience 
• Creative professionals 
• Computer professionals 
• Outside salesperson 

The latest rule of DOL sets the minimum salary threshold for EAP employees at $684 per week or $35,568 annually effective from January 1, 2025. For highly compensated employees, the threshold will increase to $151,164 in January 2025.  

Minnesota law mandates employers to comply to both federal and state laws. Additionally, the overtime law states, overtime pay must be paid to employees at 1.5 times their regular rates for working beyond 48 hours a week for non-exempt employees.

The Minnesota Rules 5200.0180 mandates a salary and duties test to meet the exempt status, along with this employers must provide a written notice regarding the classification of employees.

In the next section, let’s discuss the notable changes in the minimum wage rate over the past few decades. 

Historical Data of Minnesota Minimum Wages 

Minnesota has regularly adjusted its minimum wage rates to keep pace with inflation and economic conditions. Here is a table summarizing the notable changes in its minimum wages from 1963 to 2023: 

* – Under the FLSA, the two rates shown in 1968, 1970, and 1976 reflect the former multiple-track minimum wage system in effect from 1961 to 1978.

** – The minimum wage rates applies only to women and minors

*** – Two-tier schedule with higher rate for employers covered by FLSA and lower rate to employers not covered by FLSA

**** – The minimum wage rates are applicable to large and small employers respectively

Source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/history

Exemptions in Minimum Wages of Minnesota 

Some categories of employees are exempted from receiving the state minimum wage rate as the following: 

• Babysitters; 
• Taxicab drivers; 
• Volunteers of nonprofit organizations; 
• Individuals employed as police or firefighters; 
• Employees subject to the provisions of the U.S. Department of Transportation 
• Agricultural workers; 
• An employee below 18 years of age, employed in the farm; 
• Seasonal workers; 
• EAP employees; 
• Employees mentioned under Minn. Stat. 177.23 subd. 7.