Minimum Wage Workers by Age and Sex

Reading this table

The rows count wage and salary workers paid hourly rates: people aged 16 and over who report being paid by the hour at their main job in the Current Population Survey, about 58 percent of all wage and salary workers; salaried workers and the self-employed are outside the table. At minimum wage means an hourly rate exactly equal to the prevailing federal minimum, $7.25 since July 2009; below means a lower reported rate, which may be lawful (tipped work, full-time students, workers under 20 in their first 90 days, jobs outside FLSA coverage) or rounding in the answer; the report does not separate the reasons. Rates are before tips, overtime and commissions. Number of workers is in thousands; percent distribution is each row's share of the national total in that column; percentage of workers paid hourly rates is the share of the row's own hourly workers at or below the minimum. A state minimum above $7.25 is not counted; the minimum-wage pages give each rate. 2024 annual averages.

BLS prints this as one table in three blocks, total, men and women, each with the same age bands; they are shown here as three tables so the headings repeat. The percent distribution columns in the men's and women's blocks sum to 100 within the block, not across the sexes. The 16 to 19 and 20 to 24 rows carry the youth subminimum ($4.25 for the first 90 days of employment under 20) and the full-time student certificate, both lawful reasons for a rate below $7.25; the subminimum explainer describes them. The 25 and older rows split further into working-age and older bands. The marital status page crosses the same age bands with marital status.