RICHMOND — Virginia’s minimum wage increased from $12 per hour to $12.41 per hour effective Jan. 1 thanks to the Virginia Minimum Wage Act.
The General Assembly reenacted the Virginia Minimum Wage Act during the 2020 Regular Session, which required the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to establish the adjusted state hourly minimum wage by Oct. 1 to take effect on Jan. 1, and then annually if the General Assembly did not reenact scheduled increases to the minimum wage rates.
This sees the minimum wage increasing gradually over several years as Democrats in the General Assembly work toward a stated goal of establishing a minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2026, a top party priority.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill in March that would have raised Virginia’s minimum wage to $13.50 per hour this year and to $15 per hour by 2026. Youngkin said in January of last year he’d be unlikely to support pending legislation increasing the minimum wage, saying market forces do a better job of determining hourly pay rates.
According to the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) due to the requirements of the Virginia Minimum Wage Act, the adjusted minimum wage rate is a sum of the current minimum wage rate and a percentage of the current minimum wage rate equal to the change in Consumer Price Index published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As such, the established adjusted state hourly minimum wage is $12.41 per hour For the period of Jan. 1 until Jan. 1, 2026.
For questions regarding this calculation or Virginia’s minimum wage laws, contact the Department of Labor and Industry’s Division of Labor and Employment Law at 804-786-2706 or laborlaw@doli.virginia.gov.
