Tennessee minimum wage 2026
$7.25 an hour, or $2.13 for tipped workers when tips make up the rest. Below: how to tell if a slow week still left you short.
In effect on November 4, 2026
Tennessee minimum wage per day, week, month and year
| Hours | Pay | |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | 1 | $7.25 |
| Per day | 8 | $58.00 |
| Per week | 40 | $290.00 |
| Every two weeks | 80 | $580.00 |
| Per month | 173.3 | $1,256.67 |
| Per year | 2,080 | $15,080.00 |
With a tip credit, your employer can pay you $2.13 an hour, but your wages plus tips have to reach $7.25 for every hour you work that week: $290.00 for a 40-hour week.
Will Tennessee’s minimum wage go up in 2027?
No increase has been passed. Tennessee has no minimum wage law of its own: the federal $7.25 applies, and only Congress can change it.
Minimum wage in Nashville
No city in Tennessee has a minimum wage of its own. In Nashville, the Tennessee minimum applies: $7.25 an hour.
How the tip credit works in Tennessee
Employers in Tennessee can pay tipped workers $2.13 an hour as long as your wages plus tips for the workweek come to at least $7.25 for every hour worked. If they don’t, the employer has to pay the difference.
For example, 30 hours at $2.13 comes to $63.90. With $100.00 in tips, you’d have $163.90. The minimum for 30 hours is $217.50, so your employer owes you $53.60.
Good to know
No state minimum wage, so the federal rate applies.
Overtime
Under federal law, hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at time and a half (1.5 times your regular rate): at Tennessee’s minimum, at least $10.88 an hour. Tennessee has no daily overtime: a 12-hour double only gets you overtime if it takes your week past 40 hours.
With a tip credit, your employer still has to pay you at least $5.76 in cash wages for each overtime hour: $10.88 minus the $5.12 tip credit. How overtime works with tips.
PayJar applies weekly overtime from the start and lets you turn on daily overtime and double time. Add up your week’s hours and overtime in the time card calculator.
Tennessee and its neighbors
| State | Minimum wage | Tipped cash wage |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | $7.25 | $2.13 |
| Missouri | $15.00 | $7.50 |
| Virginia | $12.77 | $2.13 |
| Arkansas | $11.00 | $2.63 |
| Alabama | $7.25 | $2.13 |
| Georgia | $7.25 | $2.13 |
| Kentucky | $7.25 | $2.13 |
| Mississippi | $7.25 | $2.13 |
| North Carolina | $7.25 | $2.13 |
Questions
What is the minimum wage in Tennessee?
What is the tipped minimum wage in Tennessee?
How much do you have to be paid per hour in Tennessee?
How much is the minimum wage per month in Tennessee?
What is the minimum wage in Nashville?
Will Tennessee’s minimum wage go up in 2027?
Is the minimum wage before or after taxes?
What can I do if I’m paid less than the minimum?
Does the minimum wage apply if I’m undocumented?
Other states
- Federal
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
General information, not legal advice. Your state labor department has the final word, and some cities, counties and industries have higher minimums.
Stop wondering if your check is right.
PayJar knows your state’s minimum wage and tipped wage. Log your shifts and tips, and it tells you when a week comes up short.