Wages in the U.S.: real and nominal value of the minimum wage through 2013
The real and nominal value of the federal minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, expressed in July 2013 U.S. dollars*
This statistic presents the nominal and real value of the statutory minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, in 2013 U.S. dollars. In 1938, the minimum wage was 0.25 U.S. dollars per hour, the equivalent of 4.06 U.S. dollars in 2013 terms. The real value of the minimum wage peaked in 1968 when minimum wage workers earned 1.60 U.S. dollars per hour, the equivalent of 10.69 U.S. dollars in 2013 terms.
The real and nominal value of the federal minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, expressed in July 2013 U.S. dollars*
Loading statistic...
| Statutory minimum wage (nominal $) | Statutory minimum wage (real $) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2013 | 7.25 | 7.25 |
| July 2009 | 7.25 | 7.89 |
| July 2008 | 6.55 | 6.94 |
| July 2007 | 5.85 | 6.58 |
| Sept. 1997 | 5.15 | 7.45 |
| Oct. 1996 | 4.75 | 7 |
| Apr. 1991 | 4.25 | 7.31 |
| Apr. 1990 | 3.8 | 6.84 |
| Jan. 1981 | 3.35 | 8.77 |
| Jan. 1980 | 3.1 | 9.07 |
| Jan. 1978 | 2.65 | 9.67 |
| Jan. 1976 | 2.3 | 9.41 |
| Jan. 1975 | 2.1 | 9.18 |
| May 1974 | 2 | 9.39 |
| Feb. 1968 | 1.6 | 10.69 |
| Sept. 1963 | 1.25 | 9.27 |
| Sept. 1961 | 1.15 | 8.73 |
| Mar. 1956 | 1 | 8.49 |
| Jan. 1950 | 0.75 | 7.25 |
| Oct. 1945 | 0.4 | 5.04 |
| Oct. 1938 | 0.25 | 4.06 |
| Statutory minimum wage (nominal $) | Statutory minimum wage (real $) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2013 | 7.25 | 7.25 |
| July 2009 | 7.25 | 7.89 |
| July 2008 | 6.55 | 6.94 |
| July 2007 | 5.85 | 6.58 |
| Sept. 1997 | 5.15 | 7.45 |
| Oct. 1996 | 4.75 | 7 |
| Apr. 1991 | 4.25 | 7.31 |
| Apr. 1990 | 3.8 | 6.84 |
| Jan. 1981 | 3.35 | 8.77 |
| Jan. 1980 | 3.1 | 9.07 |
| Jan. 1978 | 2.65 | 9.67 |
| Jan. 1976 | 2.3 | 9.41 |
| Jan. 1975 | 2.1 | 9.18 |
| May 1974 | 2 | 9.39 |
| Feb. 1968 | 1.6 | 10.69 |
| Sept. 1963 | 1.25 | 9.27 |
| Sept. 1961 | 1.15 | 8.73 |
| Mar. 1956 | 1 | 8.49 |
| Jan. 1950 | 0.75 | 7.25 |
| Oct. 1945 | 0.4 | 5.04 |
| Oct. 1938 | 0.25 | 4.06 |
© Statista 2019
About this statistic
Show source
Download
Settings
Share
Download started
Please be patient - this may take a moment
Please be patient - this may take a moment
Description
Source
More information
This statistic presents the nominal and real value of the statutory minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, in 2013 U.S. dollars. In 1938, the minimum wage was 0.25 U.S. dollars per hour, the equivalent of 4.06 U.S. dollars in 2013 terms. The real value of the minimum wage peaked in 1968 when minimum wage workers earned 1.60 U.S. dollars per hour, the equivalent of 10.69 U.S. dollars in 2013 terms.
Show more- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- January 2014
- Region
- United States
- Age group
- Supplementary notes
- * Some dates and values were not listed to better reflect the data
Source
- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- January 2014
More information
- Region
- United States
- Age group
- Supplementary notes
- * Some dates and values were not listed to better reflect the data
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $588 / Year
Basic Account
Get to know the platform
You only have access to basic statistics.
Premium Account
Your perfect start with Statista
- Instant access to 1m statistics
- Download in XLS, PDF & PNG format
- Detailed references
$49 / Month *
Corporate Account
Full access
Corporate solution including all features.
* All products require an annual contract.
Prices do not include sales tax.
Prices do not include sales tax.
Leading companies trust Statista:
Related Studies: Available to Download in PDF or PPTX Format
All Information
in one Presentation
Minimum Wage in the United States
- 40 page/s
- English
- pptx
- Detailed references
Everything On "Minimum Wage in the United States" in One Document: Edited and Divided into Handy Chapters. Including Detailed References.
Statista is a great source of knowledge, and pretty helpful to manage the daily work.Christof Baron
CEO, MindShare Germany
Statistics on "Minimum Wage in the United States"
- Minimum wage rates
The most important statistics
- State minimum wage rates in the United States as of January 1, 2019, by state ( in U.S. dollars)Minimum wages in the United States, by state 2019
- The real and nominal value of the federal minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, expressed in July 2013 U.S. dollars*Wages in the U.S.: real and nominal value of the minimum wage through 2013
- Ranking of OECD countries by national minimum wage in 2017 (in U.S. dollars)Ranking of OECD countries by national minimum wage 2017
- Minimum wage workforce
The most important statistics
- Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2017 (in 1,000s)Wage and salary workers in the U.S. paid minimum wage 1979-2017
- Share of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by stateU.S. minimum wage workers 2018, by state
- Number of wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by occupation (in thousands)Minimum wage workers in the U.S. 2018, by occupation
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the United States 2018, by ethnic group (in thousands)U.S. minimum wage workers 2018, by ethnicity
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the United States 2018, by age (in thousands)Number of minimum wage workers in the U.S. 2018, by age
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the U.S. 2018, by full and part time status and gender (in thousands)U.S. minimum wage workers in 2018, by gender and full-/part-time status
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by educational attainment (in thousands)Number of U.S. minimum wage workers in 2018, by education
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by marital status (in thousands)U.S. minimum wage workers in 2018, by marital status
- Low wage employment
The most important statistics
- Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates below the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2017 (in 1,000s)Number of workers in the U.S. paid less than the minimum wage 1979-2017
- Percent distribution of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by occupationPercent distribution of U.S. minimum wage workers 2018, by occupation
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by industry (in thousands)U.S. minimum wage workers 2018, by industry
- Number of hours at minimum wage needed to afford a one-bedroom rental unit in the United States in 2017, by stateNumber of hours at minimum wage needed to afford rent for 1BR unit in U.S. 2017
- Annual income requirement for comfortable living in the top ten most populous cities in the United States in 2018 (in U.S. dollars)Annual cost of living in top 10 largest U.S. cities in 2018
Discover Statista
Need help with using Statista for your research?
Tutorials and first steps
Further Content: Statistics, Studies, and Topic Pages
Statistics
- Wages in the U.S.: attitudes towards raising the minimum wage in 2013
- Public opinion on whether the federal government should set a minimum wage 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: small-business owners' support for raising the minimum wage 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: public opinion on level of minimum wage 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: public opinion on raising the minimum wage 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: public opinion of purpose of minimum wage jobs 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: public opinion on impact of higher minimum wage on job market 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: public opinion on higher minimum wage if jobs will be lost 2013
- American small-business owners' opinion on effects of a higher minimum wage 2013
- Wages in the U.S: effect of higher minimum wage on small-business operations 2013
- Real minimum wages in the United States 2000-2017
- Support for raising the U.S. minimum wage, by political party ID 2013
- Wages in the U.S.: attitudes towards raising the minimum wage 2013
- Support for raising the U.S. minimum wage with inflation, by political party ID 2013
- Wage and salary workers in the U.S. paid less than minimum wage, by gender 1979-2017
- Attitude towards Southampton F.C. in England 2018
- Spain: SMEs opinion on the state of the economy 2016-2018
- Attitude towards artificial intelligence in Sweden 2018
- Spain: SME engaged in international trade 2018
- Ireland: SMEs outlook on the state of the economy industries in 6 months 2016-2018
Statistics on "Minimum Wage in the United States"
- State minimum wage rates in the United States as of January 1, 2019, by state ( in U.S. dollars)
- The real and nominal value of the federal minimum wage in the United States from 1938 to 2013, expressed in July 2013 U.S. dollars*
- Ranking of OECD countries by national minimum wage in 2017 (in U.S. dollars)
- Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2017 (in 1,000s)
- Share of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by state
- Number of wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by occupation (in thousands)
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the United States 2018, by ethnic group (in thousands)
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the United States 2018, by age (in thousands)
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below minimum wage in the U.S. 2018, by full and part time status and gender (in thousands)
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by educational attainment (in thousands)
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by marital status (in thousands)
- Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates below the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2017 (in 1,000s)
- Percent distribution of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by occupation
- Number of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S. in 2018, by industry (in thousands)
- Number of hours at minimum wage needed to afford a one-bedroom rental unit in the United States in 2017, by state
- Annual income requirement for comfortable living in the top ten most populous cities in the United States in 2018 (in U.S. dollars)
- Suppose that on Election Day you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. Would you vote for or against a law that would raise the general minimum wage to 9 U.S. dollars an hour?
- Do you think the federal government should set a minimum wage, or not?
- Small-business owners: would you approve or disapprove of a law that would raise the national minimum wage from 7.25 up to 9.50 U.S. dollars per hour?
- What do you think the federal minimum wage should be?*
- The federal minimum wage is 7.25 U.S. dollars an hour. Do you favor or oppose raising the minimum wage to 10.10 U.S. dollars per hour?
- Do you view minimum wage jobs as stepping-stones to help lower skilled or younger workers gain skills, or as long-term positions for established workers to support their families?
- Do you think raising the minimum wage would reduce the number of jobs, increase the number of jobs, or have no impact on the number of jobs?
- What if raising the minimum wage caused some employers to lay off workers or hire fewer workers? Would you favor or oppose raising the minimum wage?
- Small-business owners: If a law is passed to increase the minimum wage, do you think this would help most small-business owners, hurt most small-business owners, or have little effect on most small-business owners?
- Small-business owners: If a law is passed to increase the minimum wage, please indicate if the following would apply to you as a small-business owner or not.
- Real minimum wages in the United States 2000-2017 (in PPP U.S. dollars)
- Support for raising the minimum wage in the United States to 9 U.S. dollars an hour, by political party identification
- Suppose that on Election Day you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. Would you vote for or against a law that would raise the general minimum wage to 9 U.S. dollars an hour with automatic increases tied to inflation?
- Support for raising the minimum wage in the United States to 9 U.S. dollars an hour with automatic increases tied to inflation, by political party identification
- Number of workers paid hourly rates below the federal minimum wage in the United States from 1979 to 2017, by gender (in 1,000s)
- How is your personal relation to the football club Southampton F.C.?
- Monthly opinion of SMEs on the state of the economy in Spain from February 2016 to January 2018*
- Do you feel generally positive or negative towards artificial intelligence (AI)?
- Proportion of SME engaged in international trade in Spain from February to April 2018*
- Monthly outlook of the SMEs on the state of the economy for the following six months in Ireland from May 2016 to January 2018*
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $588 / Year
Related topics
About Statista
Statista offers dossiers and reports on over 170 industries. With Statista you are always able to make informed decisions and boost your work efficiency.
Internet & Telecommunications
- Social Media
- E-Commerce
- Online Video & Entertainment
- Advertising & Marketing
Consumer Goods & FMCG
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Cleaning Products
- Cosmetics & Personal Care
- Food & Nutrition
Retail & Trade
- Health & Hygiene
- International Trade
- Shopping Behavior
- Sports & Leisure
Travel, Tourism & Hospitality
- Business Travel
- Leisure Travel
- Accomodation
- Restaurants
Society
- Demographics
- Economy
- Education & Science
- Politics & Government
Transportation & Logistics
- Aviation
- Rail Transport
- Vehicles & Road Traffic
- Water Transport
Please log in to access our additional functions
Register in seconds and access exclusive features.
Basic Account
|
Instant Access
Premium Account
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
Our services
Click the question mark for further information | Free |
$49 per month* | |
| Basic statistics | |||
| Premium statistics | |||
|
Graph download
| |||
| Download PDF | |||
|
Excel download
| |||
| Register | Purchase now | ||
*Duration: 12 months, billed annually, single license
Exclusive Corporate feature
This feature is limited to our corporate solutions.
Please contact us to get started with full access to dossiers, forecasts, studies and international data.
Corporate Account
We use cookies to personalize contents and ads, offer social media features, and analyze access to our website. In your browser settings you can configure or disable this, respectively, and can delete any already placed cookies. For details, please see your browser’s Help section (by pressing F1). Please see our privacy statement for details about how we use data.