Trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Minimum Wage Workers by Census Region

In 2024, 1.0 percent of workers paid hourly rates earned at or below the federal minimum wage nationally; by census region the share was 1.4 percent in the South, 1.1 percent in the Northeast, 1.0 percent in the Midwest, 0.5 percent in the West. The South held 50.0 percent of all workers at or below the minimum. Table 2 of BLS Report 1115 gives the four regions and nine divisions.

Census regions and divisions, 2024

Number of workers (in thousands)Number of workers (in thousands) / At or below minimum wagePercent distributionPercent distribution / At or below minimum wagePercentage of workers paid hourly rates / At or below minimum wage
Region and divisionTotal paid hourly ratesTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wageTotal paid hourly ratesTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wageTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wage
Total, 16 years and older80,34884382760100.0100.0100.0100.01.00.10.9
Northeast12,8391371512216.016.318.216.11.10.11.0
New England3,700331334.63.90.74.30.90.00.9
Middle Atlantic9,139104149011.412.317.411.81.10.21.0
Midwest18,3491821716522.821.620.521.71.00.10.9
East North Central12,3141401013015.316.712.717.11.10.11.1
West North Central6,035426357.54.97.84.60.70.10.6
South29,5324214337836.850.052.649.71.40.11.3
South Atlantic14,9701951418118.623.116.923.81.30.11.2
East South Central4,560569485.76.710.66.21.20.21.0
West South Central10,0021702115012.420.225.019.71.70.21.5
West19,62810279524.412.18.712.50.50.00.5
Mountain6,434424388.05.05.15.00.70.10.6
Pacific13,1936035716.47.23.67.50.50.00.4

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.

The census regions are the four groupings the Census Bureau uses for the whole country and the divisions the nine subgroupings within them; the note under the table lists the states in each. A region's percent distribution reflects both how many hourly workers live there and how common sub-minimum pay is among them, which is why the South, with the most hourly workers and few state minimums above $7.25, carries half of the national count. The division rows sum to their region. Every state's own figure is on the state page, and BLS's note that state estimates carry large sampling error applies with less force to these larger areas.

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