By Adam Kimball, NJ State House News Service
New Jersey’s minimum wage increased on Jan. 1, rising by 43 cents to $15.92 per hour for most employees as the state’s annual inflation adjustment took effect.
Workers in nursing homes and other health care settings now earn $18.92 per hour, while employees in seasonal jobs or at businesses with fewer than six employees make $15.23. Farm workers saw a 6% increase, bringing their hourly wage to $14.20.
Restaurant servers and other tipped workers now earn $6.05 per hour, nearly an 8% increase over last year’s rate, with tips expected to make up the remainder of their pay.
By comparison, the federal minimum wage has remained unchanged at $7.25 per hour since 2009.
New Jersey’s minimum wage is adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index under a statute signed by Governor Phil Murphy. In 2025, the state’s minimum wage ranked as the fifth-highest in the nation.
“Eight years ago, Governor Murphy pledged a stronger, fairer economy, and we’re delivering on this commitment by raising New Jersey’s minimum wage again,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a statement. “This increase will provide vital support to all Garden State workers by making the dream of a livable wage reality.”
Before the 2019 law establishing automatic increases, New Jersey workers saw the value of the minimum wage steadily erode, said Peter Chen, a senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research organization.
“Each year the minimum wage lost value relative to the actual price of stuff,” Chen said. “When the minimum wage increase was passed earlier in Governor Murphy’s administration, lawmakers included an inflation adjustment so the minimum wage wouldn’t fall behind the cost of living.”
Under the new rate, a minimum-wage employee working 40 hours per week earns $33,114 annually. By comparison, a single adult in New Jersey needs at least $41,830 per year to cover basic expenses, according to data compiled by Nasdaq.
“The idea behind raising the minimum wage is to say that if you’re working in the state, you should be paid enough money to live where you are,” Chen said.
For context, Forbes ranked New Jersey’s cost of living as the fifth-highest in the country in 2024, trailing only Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, and New York.
