Seattle's 2027 Minimum Wage: OLS Announced $22.14, but Its 2027 Poster Shows $22.24

Seattle's Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announced on September 28, 2026 that the city's minimum wage will be $22.14 an hour starting January 1, 2027, up from $21.30. That would be 84 cents more an hour, a 3.9% increase. The OLS minimum wage page and its Q&A, last updated September 28, list the same $22.14. But as of October 1, 2026, the English 2027 workplace poster on the OLS resources page showed $22.24 an hour. The official sources don't agree, and this answer doesn't decide which one is right. Until January 1, 2027, the 2026 rate of $21.30 an hour still applies.

Confirm the 2027 rate with OLS before you act on it. Before you change a wage in payroll or your POS, print a poster or post a pay range, ask OLS which 2027 rate is final and which poster to display. Everything below uses the announced $22.14 as a planning rate. It's for budgeting ahead, not a payroll setting to apply without that confirmation. If OLS confirms a different figure, redo the numbers with it.

Some rules don't depend on the exact figure. Every employer pays the same rate, whatever its size. Tips and service charges can't count toward it, so a server who makes $30 an hour with tips still needs a base rate at least equal to the Seattle minimum. Overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate, so at the announced rate it would be at least $33.21 an hour for someone paid the minimum.

The city adjusts its minimum wage every January 1 for inflation, using the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W). Washington's statewide minimum wage for 2027 is $17.73 an hour, also starting January 1, according to the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). That's a separate, lower rate. It doesn't replace Seattle's rate for work inside the city. If you have locations outside Seattle, check the state rate and any local rate that applies there.

Who Seattle's minimum wage covers

• Anyone working within Seattle city limits. The rate applies to employees working within city limits, regardless of immigration status. Work in Burien, Tukwila, SeaTac or unincorporated King County falls under those places' own minimum wage rules, not Seattle's. The King County minimum wage lookup map shows which rate applies at a given address.
• Every employer, whatever its size. Since January 1, 2025, small and large employers in Seattle have paid the same minimum wage. Small employers can no longer count tips or payments toward an employee's medical benefit plan toward the minimum.
• Tipped staff, with no tip credit. Washington law says tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to the hourly minimum wage and can't count toward it. Servers, bartenders and bussers all need a base rate at least equal to Seattle's minimum: $21.30 through December 31, then the 2027 rate OLS confirms.
• Anyone you pay under the rate for any other reason. Washington lets employers pay 14- and 15-year-olds 85% of the state minimum wage. That's a state rule. Don't assume it, or any other exception, applies under Seattle's ordinance. Ask OLS before you pay anyone in Seattle less than the Seattle minimum.

What to do before your first January payroll

1. Confirm the rate and the poster first. The OLS announcement, minimum wage page and Q&A all say $22.14 for 2027. The English 2027 poster on the OLS resources page showed $22.24 on October 1, 2026. Ask OLS which rate is final and which poster version to display, and get that answer before you change payroll or print anything. OLS says it will mail a revised 2027 workplace poster to every business with a Seattle business license. Its Q&A says OLS updates the poster by December 1 each year, and that it must be displayed where employees work, in English and in your employees' primary language or languages. On October 1, 2026, the newest poster on OLS's Spanish-language page was still the 2026 one. Your 2026 poster shows the 2026 rate, which applies through December 31.
2. List everyone who'll be under the 2027 rate. At the announced $22.14, that isn't just the people paid $21.30. A cook paid $21.75 or $22.00 would also have to go up. Pull the list from payroll, not from memory, and include anyone who works some shifts in Seattle and some outside the city.
3. Update both places a wage lives, once the rate is confirmed. Change the rate in your payroll system and in your POS labor or time-clock settings, effective January 1, 2027. If only one of them changes, the labor reports you look at every day won't match what you actually pay.
4. Split the pay period that includes January 1. January 1, 2027 is a Friday. Hours worked through December 31 are paid at your 2026 rate, and hours worked from January 1 at the 2027 rate. Say your two-week pay period runs December 27 to January 9, and a dishwasher works 24 hours through December 31 and 34 hours from January 1. At the announced rate, the check would be 24 × $21.30 = $511.20, plus 34 × $22.14 = $752.76, for a total of $1,263.96. Paying all 58 hours at $21.30 would leave the dishwasher $28.56 short. If a workweek that crosses January 1 includes overtime, ask your payroll provider how it calculates the regular rate for that week.
5. Check overtime. Washington requires 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, with some exemptions. At the announced rate, that would be 1.5 × $22.14 = $33.21 an hour, up from $31.95.
6. Decide about staff just above the minimum. A shift lead paid $22.00, 70 cents over the 2026 minimum, would have to go to at least $22.14 at the announced rate. At exactly the minimum, the lead earns the same as a new hire. That's called pay compression. The minimum wage sets only the floor, so keeping a gap is your call. Make it on purpose and budget for it, rather than finding out it mattered when the lead gives notice. The guide to how much to pay restaurant employees covers setting pay ranges.
7. Fix your job postings. If an opening pays near the minimum and the hire will still be working in January, a range that starts at $21.30 is only good through December 31. Update the range so it starts at or above the 2027 rate OLS confirms.

What the raise costs: a worked example

Here's a fictional counter-service café inside Seattle city limits. Its hourly staff works 180 regular hours a week at $21.30, plus 5 overtime hours a week at $31.95. Two shift leads work a total of 60 hours a week at $22.00, 70 cents over the 2026 minimum. The café averages $18,000 in weekly sales from about 1,200 checks, an average of $15.00 a check. The example uses the announced $22.14 as a planning rate. It's a budget estimate, not approval to change payroll.

The owner decides to keep the leads 70 cents above the minimum, so they go to $22.84.

If the owner had moved the leads only to the announced $22.14, their line would go up $8.40 instead of $50.40, and the weekly increase would be $165.90. Keeping the gap costs $42.00 a week. If OLS confirms a different rate, each 10 cents of difference would change this café's weekly wages by $24.75, with the leads' gap kept.

Add employer payroll taxes. The employer pays 6.2% Social Security tax and 1.45% Medicare tax on wages, 7.65% in all. On $207.90, that's $15.90, so the raise costs $223.80 a week, or about $11,640 a year. Any other payroll cost your provider figures as a percentage of wages, such as state unemployment tax, can rise too. Use the rates on your own payroll reports.

Workers' comp is different in Washington. L&I says most workers' compensation risk classifications and premiums in the state are based on hours worked, not payroll. If yours are, the raise by itself doesn't change the premium. More hours do.

What it means for prices. $223.80 is 1.24% of $18,000, or about 19 cents on a $15.00 check. If guest counts hold, prices would need to rise about 1.24% on average to cover the extra dollars, and a little more, because card fees are charged on the higher total. A price increase can also cost you some guests. If you're also re-costing food, one price change that covers both is simpler to explain to guests and staff than two a few weeks apart. To test the new rates against your own schedule, employer costs and sales, use the hourly pay and labor budget calculator.

What this answer doesn't cover

The café and all of its hours, wages and sales are fictional. They show the arithmetic, not typical Seattle costs. This isn't legal or tax advice, and it doesn't settle which 2027 figure from OLS is correct. It doesn't cover exemptions, salaried managers, Seattle's other labor standards or the minimum wages of other Washington cities, which are separate. It mentions Washington's $17.73 statewide rate only to show that it's separate from Seattle's. For free help with Seattle's minimum wage, OLS takes business questions at 206-256-5297 or [email protected].

Sources

• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, "Office of Labor Standards Announces Seattle's 2027 Minimum Wage," September 28, 2026: OLS announcement
• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, Minimum Wage Ordinance page, with the 2026 and 2027 rates: OLS minimum wage page
• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, "Seattle's Minimum Wage Ordinance Questions and Answers," last updated September 28, 2026: OLS minimum wage Q&A
• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, Resources page with the annual workplace posters, checked October 1, 2026: OLS resources and posters
• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, 2027 Seattle Labor Standards Ordinances poster (English), checked October 1, 2026: OLS 2027 poster
• City of Seattle Office of Labor Standards, Spanish-language resources, checked October 1, 2026: OLS Spanish resources
• Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Minimum Wage, 2027 statewide rate, minors, annual adjustment and tips: L&I minimum wage page
• Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Local Minimum Wage Rates (2026): L&I local rates
• King County minimum wage lookup map: King County lookup
• Revised Code of Washington 49.46.020, minimum wage, annual adjustment, tips and service charges: RCW 49.46.020
• Revised Code of Washington 49.46.130, overtime: RCW 49.46.130
• Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Unique Premium Rating Features in Washington: L&I workers' comp premiums
• Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates: IRS Topic 751