CINCINNATI ( Cincinnati Business Courier) - Ohio's minimum wage has increased by 2.3%, going from $10.45 per hour to $10.70 per hour Jan. 1, but businesses may face larger wage hikes if voters approve an amendment potentially coming to the ballot in 2025. The minimum wage for tipped employees has increased from $5.25 per hour to $5.35 per hour.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington raised their minimum wage on Jan. 1, according to an ABC News report.

Twenty-one states across the US are raising the minimum wage in 2025. Pennsylvania Democrats would like to see the commonwealth soon join their ranks. Sen. Art Haywood, D-Philadelphia, joined legislators and representatives from the business community in Lancaster to draw attention to the state’s flagging $7.

Minimum wage workers in New Jersey just got a raise for the new year. The state’s minimum wage is now $15.49 per hour, a 36-cent increase over 2024. A law enacted in 2019 has made incremental increases to the minimum wage, with the goal of reaching $15 an hour. That goal was attained last January, with with the minimum wage reaching $15.13.

The minimum wage in New York has increased by 50 cents, now reaching $15.50 an hour in our area. For full-time employees, the additional 50 cents per hour amounts to about $1,000 a year before taxes.

Over 9.2 million workers across the U.S. will see their paychecks grow as the minimum wage rises in 21 states. The change — effective Jan. 1, 2025 — represents an overall pay increase of $5.7 billion per year,

New York's minimum wage increases 50 cents in January as part of a three-year rollout. Downstate, the wage increases to $16.50 and $15.50 elsewhere.