Ohio’s hourly minimum wage is set to rise from $11 to $11.40 on Jan. 1, 2027, according to Signal Cleveland. The 3.5% increase follows an inflation-adjustment requirement in a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006.
The Ohio Department of Commerce administers the wage. The state used the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which tracks costs for common household goods and services, to calculate the adjustment. Between Sept. 1, 2025, and Aug. 31, 2026, that index rose 3.5%, the source said.
Ohio’s tipped wage for 2027 will also increase 3.5%, to $5.70 per hour. Employers are expected to cover any shortfall when tips do not bring a worker’s pay to the full minimum wage.
Heather Smith, a work and wages researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, a progressive think tank, told Signal Cleveland in an email that the increase helps low-wage workers but probably does little to raise their standard of living. She said a full-time minimum wage worker would make about $23,712 in 2027, which is $3,600 below the 2026 federal poverty level for a family of three. Smith said that gap will likely grow once the 2027 federal poverty level is released early next year.
Smith also wrote that the minimum wage is insufficient to cover rent, utilities, health care, and other necessities for a single adult, much less a family. She noted the federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 per hour since 2009 because it is not inflation-indexed and Congress has not raised it.
Cleveland’s living wage, also called a fair wage, is currently $16.26 per hour for city employees and workers at companies with city contracts. A 2024 ballot effort to set a $15 minimum wage and eliminate Ohio’s tipped wage failed after supporters did not collect enough signatures.