Prevailing wage
State prevailing wage laws: contract thresholds
The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division keeps a one-page table of the dollar amount at which each state's own prevailing wage law begins to apply to a public construction contract. Its current table, dated , lists 29 jurisdictions (28 states and the District of Columbia): 22 with a dollar threshold and 7 whose entry reads "None", meaning the law applies without a contract-size floor. A separate list names 22 states as having no prevailing wage law. The table is reproduced below exactly as DOL prints it, with DOL's footnotes and its caveat.
Source: DOL WHD, State Prevailing Wage Laws (78,871 bytes, SHA-256 c6009e2029f0…), "last revised " in DOL's words, read .
What a state prevailing wage law is
The federal Davis-Bacon Act reaches construction contracts over $2,000 to which the federal government or the District of Columbia is a party, and the Related Acts reach construction the federal government assists. Construction paid for by a state or a city with its own money is outside those laws. Many states therefore have a statute of their own, often called a "little Davis-Bacon" law, that requires prevailing wages on state or local public works above a contract value the statute sets. That value is the threshold in the table. The statutes differ in who sets the rates, how often, and for which trades; DOL's table records only the dollar figure and the conditions attached to it. Under 29 CFR 1.3(g) the Wage and Hour Division may also adopt a state's rate as the federal Davis-Bacon rate for an area when the state's survey process meets the criteria in 29 CFR 1.3(h), so the two systems are not fully separate.
Dollar Threshold Amount for Contract Coverage Under State Prevailing Wage Laws
DOL dates this table . The threshold column is DOL's text, one line per line DOL printed; the footnote numbers refer to DOL's footnotes below. Each state links to its minimum-wage page on this site, where the state's general wage floor is shown; the prevailing wage threshold and the minimum wage are different rules.
| State | Threshold amount (DOL's text) | DOL footnote |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $ 25,000 | – |
| California | $ 1,000 | 2 |
| Colorado | $500,000 for state funded public projects. Does not apply to Colorado Department of Transportation projects. However, the Colorado Department of Transportation is required to pay employees performing work on any public project, regardless of the amount or funding source of the public project, in accordance with the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act. | – |
| Connecticut | $ 1,000,000 for new construction $ 100,000 for remodeling | – |
| Delaware | $500,000 for new construction $45,000 for alteration, repair, renovation, rehabilitation, demolition, or reconstruction | – |
| Hawaii | $ 2,000 | – |
| Illinois | None | – |
| Maine | $ 50,000 | – |
| Maryland | $250,000 and either of the following criteria are met: (1) the contracting public body is a unit of State Government or an instrumentality of the State, and there is any State funding for the project; or (2) the contracting public body is a political subdivision, agency, person, or entity (such as a county), and the State funds 25% or more of the project. | – |
| Massachusetts | None | – |
| Minnesota | $ 25,000 where more than one trade is involved $ 2,500 where a single trade is involved | – |
| Missouri | $75,000 | – |
| Montana | $ 25,000 | – |
| Nebraska | None | – |
| Nevada | $ 100,000 $100,000 for redevelopment project contracts | – |
| New Jersey | $ 2,000 $ 16,263 $ 50,000 – aggregate cost for maintenance and repair | – |
| New Mexico | $ 60,000 | – |
| New York | None | – |
| Ohio | $250,000 for new construction $75,000 for remodeling Certain types of construction, including school construction, are exempt | 4 |
| Oregon | None, but major renovations are only considered public works if over $50,000. Further, any project that uses $750,000 of public funds is a public work regardless of the contracting entity | – |
| Pennsylvania | $ 25,000 | – |
| Rhode Island | $ 1,000 | – |
| Tennessee | $ 50,000, but only for highway construction. No prevailing wage on non-highway construction. | – |
| Texas | None | – |
| Virginia | $250,000 or more if the contracting public body is a unit of State Government or an instrumentality of the State, and there is any State funding for the project; or the contracting public body is a locality that has adopted an ordinance requiring the payment of the prevailing wage for public works paid for in whole or in part by funds of the locality. | – |
| Vermont | $ 100,000 or at least 50% funded by a capital construction act and costs more than $200,000. | – |
| Washington | None | 5 |
| Washington, DC | $100,000 However, federal Davis-Bacon rates apply to all contracts in excess of $2,000 for construction of public buildings and public works entered into by the Federal Government or the District of Columbia. | 6 |
| Wyoming | $ 100,000 | – |
DOL's footnotes
- Twenty-four states do not have prevailing wage laws. These States are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
- California. Labor Code Section 1771 provides a minimum threshold of over $1,000. Labor Code Section 1771.5 provides a higher threshold of over $25,000 for construction work or over $15,000 for alteration, demolition, repair or maintenance work under the circumstances specified in that section.
- Indiana. Indiana repealed its Common Construction Wage Statute in 2015. Prevailing wages that applied to contracts for construction greater than $350,000 awarded before July 1, 2015 are still enforceable. Ind. Code § 5-16-7.1-2.
- Ohio. Ohio has distinct thresholds for work that involves roads, streets, alleys, sewers, ditches, and other works connected to road or bridge construction. The threshold for new construction that involves such work is $78,258. The threshold for remodeling that involves such work is $23,447. Beginning January 1, 1996, and every even-numbered year thereafter, the Ohio director of commerce must adjust all the contract threshold amounts in accord with a formula set by the Ohio Revised Code, Chapter 4115.034.
- Washington. A separate law applicable only to State college/university construction provides for a $25,000 threshold amount.
- Washington, DC. Government contractors or recipients of government assistance shall pay affiliated employees and subcontractors who perform services under the contracts no less than the current living wage. Effective January 1, 2018, the living wage rate is $14.20 per hour. The living wage requirement applies to all recipients of contracts in the amount of $100,000 or more, and all subcontractors that receive $15,000 or more from the funds received by the recipient from the District of Columbia. D.C. Code §§ 2-220.01-2-220.11.
- West Virginia. Effective May 2016, West Virginia’s prevailing wage statute has been repealed, West Virginia Code §21-5A (repealed).
- Wisconsin. The 2017-2019 Wisconsin State Budget (2017 Wisconsin Act 59) repealed Wisconsin’s prevailing wage laws. Effective September 23, 2017, state prevailing wage requirements on state building projects no longer apply. These changes take effect for projects advertised for bid after September 23, 2017. This change does not affect the Federal Davis Bacon Act requirements.
States DOL lists as having no prevailing wage law
DOL's list, in its order, with the note DOL prints after each name. A blank note is DOL's blank. Where DOL's footnotes say more about a repeal (Indiana, West Virginia and Wisconsin), the footnote is the fuller statement.
| State | DOL's note |
|---|---|
| Alabama | repealed in 1980 |
| Arizona | invalidated by 1980 court decision; Repealed in referendum in 1984 |
| Arkansas | repealed in 2017 |
| Florida | repealed in 1979 |
| Georgia | – |
| Idaho | repealed in 1985 |
| Indiana | repealed in 2015 |
| Iowa | – |
| Kansas | repealed in 1987 |
| Kentucky | repealed in 2017 |
| Louisiana | repealed in 1988 |
| Michigan | repealed in 2018 |
| Mississippi | – |
| New Hampshire | repealed in 1985 |
| North Carolina | – |
| North Dakota | – |
| Oklahoma | invalidated by 1995 court decision |
| South Carolina | – |
| South Dakota | – |
| Utah | repealed in 1981 |
| Wisconsin | repealed in 2017 |
| West Virginia | repealed in 2016 |
Reading the table
- The date is DOL's. The table says it was last revised January 1, 2023. State legislatures amend these statutes, and a state's own labor department is the authority for the current figure; DOL's caveat on the page reads: "The Wage and Hour Division tries to ensure that the information on this page is accurate but individuals should consult the relevant state labor office for official information."
- DOL's counts do not agree with each other. The table's hidden summary says "Ninteen" states have no prevailing wage law, footnote 1 says "twenty-four" and names 22, and the list at the foot of the page has 22 entries. The 29 table rows and the 22 listed states together account for the 50 states and the District once each; no state appears in both. The page is shown as DOL published it.
- "None" means no dollar floor, not no law: in Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington the state law applies to covered public works regardless of contract size, with whatever qualification DOL adds in the cell.
- A threshold is not a rate. The table says when a state law applies, not what it requires; the rates come from each state's own determinations, which this site does not mirror, as it does not mirror the federal determinations on SAM.gov. The occupation pages show BLS survey wages for the construction trades in every state, which is a different measure from any prevailing wage.
- Federal coverage is separate. A project funded by both a state and the federal government can be subject to the state law and to Davis-Bacon at once; DOL's own entry for Washington, DC says so for the District.
Related
- Davis-Bacon Act basics and how Davis-Bacon rates are determined, including when a state rate is adopted.
- Prevailing wage versus minimum wage and minimum wage by state.
- Prevailing wage overview.
This page reproduces a Department of Labor table and is not legal advice. Whether a particular state or local contract is covered, and at what rate, is a question for the state labor office or a lawyer; the sister site FastGuide covers the procedure for raising a wage claim.
Sources
- DOL Wage and Hour Division, Dollar Threshold Amount for Contract Coverage Under State Prevailing Wage Laws (January 1, 2023) (78,871 bytes, SHA-256 c6009e2029f02855b2e28e016b544d92d69cd3a9b7215ad7c4fadff88bed6198, fetched 2026-10-18)
- DOL Wage and Hour Division, historical tables of state prevailing wage thresholds (2003 to 2022)
- 29 CFR 1.3(g) and (h), when the Administrator may adopt a state or local prevailing wage rate (eCFR)
- DOL Wage and Hour Division, Davis-Bacon and Related Acts