Washington State Labor and Industries (L&I) the minimum wage for Washington State will go up 3.4% from 2023 making minimum wage $16.28 an hour. That’s higher than anywhere else in the entire country. That’s more than California, more than New York, more than anywhere.

If you work a full 8-hour shift, you’d be making 130.24.

Work a full 40 hour work-week and you’d make 651.20.

That’s before taxes, of course.

The federal minimum wage is still set at $7.25 an hour. That ain’t much. You can barely even get a breakfast sandwich for that price anymore, let alone live on a comfortable wage. 

The reason for the increase is the outrage cost of living in places like Seattle can set the price as needed.