What Is the Minimum Wage in Iowa?

2019 Minimum Wage in Iowa: $7.25 per hour

The minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 per hour, which is the same as the federal minimum wage. However, there are a few exceptions to this standard.

• Employees under 20 years old can be paid $4.25 per hour for the first 90 days.
• Full-time students can be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage ($6.16 per hour) for up to 20 hours per week at a university work-study program.
• Other exemptions allowed by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Tipped: $4.35 per hour

Tipped employees can be paid $4.35 per hour, with the assumption that this hourly wage and their tips will add up to at least $7.25 per hour. If it does not, their employer must make up the difference. Since tips make up such a large portion of Iowa tipped employees’ income, it’s important to be aware of the proper tip etiquette. 

In Iowa, any employee that regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips is considered a “tipped employee.”

Weekly: $290

The weekly minimum wage is $290. This is calculated by taking the hourly minimum wage, $7.25, and multiplying it by 40, the number of hours in a full workweek. This results in $290.

Annually: $15,080

The annual minimum wage is $15,080. This is calculated by taking the weekly minimum wage, $290, and multiplying it by 52, the number of weeks in a year. This results in $15,080.

However, this does not account for time off. Not all employers offer paid time off, sick days, or holiday pay. 

Overtime: $10.88 per hour

The minimum overtime rate is $10.88 per hour in Iowa. For every hour worked over 40 hours in a week, an employee is entitled to one-and-a-half times their hourly rate.

Since the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, the minimum overtime pay is one-and-a-half times that, or $10.88 per hour.

Iowa Minimum Wage Increase News

While Johnson County has increased their minimum wage to $10.27 per hour, that might not last much longer. 

The state legislature has approved a measure that would ban local governments from raising the minimum wage higher than the state’s, keeping the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour across the board.

However, since the minimum wage has not increased in a decade, many groups are fighting for a sizable wage increase. It’s yet to be seen whether such protests will have an effect on the Iowa legislature’s decision.

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Dayton is a chronic Wikipedia addict, which is detrimental to her social life but stellar for her writing. She resides in Boise, ID, surrounded by her own frantic outlines, highlighted encyclopedias, and potatoes. The latter was not by choice.

This post was updated July 1, 2019. It was originally published July 1, 2019.