A report issued Wednesday by the U.S. government has set the stage to raise Arizona’s minimum wage starting in the new year.
Following the release of the latest Consumer Price Index report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers in Arizona will have to pay workers at least $14.70 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2025. Currently, the minimum wage is $14.35 an hour.
The 35-cent minimum wage increase is directly tied to the latest CPI report, which showed a 2.5% increase in inflation from August 2023 to August 2024.
In 2016, Arizona voters approved Proposition 206, which raised the minimum wage from $8.05 an hour to $10 and increased it in annual increments to $12 in 2020. Prop 206 then required the minimum wage to be adjusted annually for inflation based off August CPI numbers. The law requires the increased minimum wage be rounded to the nearest five cents.
Earlier this year, a group tried to get a measure put on the 2024 ballot that would have increased Arizona’s minimum wage to $18 an hour, but after lawsuits filed by the Arizona Restaurant Association, the measure was thrown off the ballot because it did not meet the required number of signatures.
Separately, voters in Glendale could decide on a ballot measure if minimum wage in the West Valley city should be increased to $20 per hour for hotel and event workers.
