What is the Massachusetts minimum wage?

As of January 1, 2017, the minimum wage in Massachusetts is $11.00 for most jobs.

There are a few -- though only a few -- exceptions to this minimum wage.

One exception many people know about is called the service rate, which pertains to wait staff, service employees, and/or service bartenders who make tips of more than $20 per month.

The service rate allows employers of these service employees to pay the rate of $3.75 if the service employee's tips combined with the service rate of $3.75 per hour are equal to or exceed an average of $11.00 per hour.

This means if the employee has few customers, non-tip-paying customers, or for some other reason is not making the average of $11.00 per hour, the employer cannot pay the service rate and must instead pay the full $11.00 per hour minimum wage.

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