Oregon Minimum Wage

Oregon workers must make minimum wage.

Oregon's minimum wage depends on work location. The minimum wage is $11.50 per hour in non-urban areas, $12.00 per hour in standard counties, and $13.25 per hour in the Portland metro area.

Oregon’s hourly minimum wage increases every year on July 1st. See the minimum wage yearly increase schedule.

$13.25 per hour - Portland metro

Within the urban growth boundary, including parts of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties

$12.00 per hour - Standard

Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Wasco, Yamhill, and parts of Clackamas, Multnomah, & Washington outside the urban growth boundary.

$11.50 per hour - Non-urban

Baker, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler Counties

Which minimum wage is correct?

Use the interactive map to find the minimum wage for your county or metropolitan area. Typically, workers should be paid the wage for the county where you work 50% or more of your hours each week. If you travel for work, your employer can pay you the rate in each county worked.

Find your county by looking up your work zip code.

*If your work location is within the urban growth boundary, you must be paid at least $13.25 per hour.

For workers

The law requires that you be paid at least Oregon’s minimum wage, with few exceptions.

If you are paid by piece rate, per hour, by commission, or paid by the day, your wages still have to add up to at least minimum wage for each hour you worked.

Tips are separate and cannot be counted as wages. Tip credits are illegal in Oregon.
Please see above for the minimum wage rate you should be earning.
You cannot agree to make less than the minimum wage. The minimum wage is the same for adults and for minors.
If you make minimum wage, you likely qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit which could give you up to $6,500 back on your taxes. Learn more here.

I am paid on commission. Am I still supposed to get minimum wage?: Your wages still have to add up to at least minimum wage for each hour you worked.
I am a delivery driver and work in many counties – how much should I make?: You should make the minimum wage for the county where you start and end your day.
I am under 18. Can my employer pay me less than minimum wage?: No. The minimum wage is the same for adults and for minors.
Can my employer use any tips I get toward my hourly pay?: No. Tip credits are illegal in Oregon. Your tips are yours and cannot be counted against your hourly pay. Your employer can require you to pool tips with other workers, but management or the house cannot share in the pool.

For employers

Oregon minimum wage increases on a determined schedule every July 1st through 2022. On July 1, 2023 the minimum wage will continue to increase based on the inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Note: For a minimum wage employee whose work period or work day straddles June 30 and July 1, there will be two different rates of pay. The hours worked on or after 12:01 a.m., July 1, 2020, must be paid at the newest applicable rate.

What is the federal minimum wage?: The current federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour.
So which minimum wage am I required to pay my employee – the state or the federal?: When federal and state employment laws conflict, employers must apply whichever standard is most beneficial to the employee. Therefore, Oregon employers must pay the higher state minimum wage.
I am a Portland employer who has several exempt employees who make salaries near the minimum wage. Will the July 1, 2020 increase affect my employees' exempt status?: Unlikely. Salaried exempt employees (executive, administrative and professional “white collar” employees) must receive a minimum salary. Oregon’s minimum salary for exempt employees working within the Metro Urban Growth Boundary briefly exceeded the federal requirement, but beginning January 1, 2020, the federal minimum salary increased to $684 per week. Currently, exempt employees must receive the more generous federal amount to be exempt under both state and federal law.
May I pay my new employees a training wage which is below the minimum wage?: No. Unlike federal law, Oregon law requires that employees receive at least minimum wage during all stages of employment. This includes any period of on-the-job training.
May I count an employee's tips against the minimum wage?: No. Oregon law does not allow for tip credits. ORS 653.035(3).
If I hire minors, do I need to pay them minimum wage?: Yes. Under Oregon law, the minimum wage applies to minors.
I provide meals and lodging for my employee. May I count the fair market value of the meals and lodging towards the minimum wage obligation?: Employers may make an authorized deduction for meals and lodging so long as they are provided for the “private benefit” of the employee. However, if you require your employee to live on-site, or if you derive a mutual benefit from the employee living on the premises, you must pay minimum wage in addition to the value of meals and lodging. OAR 839-020-0025; Note that employers may not require an employee to pay (e.g., by direct charge) amounts that could not have been lawfully deducted from wages under the minimum wage law, if to do so would reduce that employee's minimum wage earnings.
I have minimum wage employees working across multiple minimum wage zones. What do I do?: Employers with a fixed location pay the regional rate applicable to that location whenever an employee works on site at least 50% of the pay period. Delivery drivers who start and finish their day at their employer's location are due the minimum wage for that location.; Employees who do not work at least 50% of the pay period at the employer’s fixed location in Oregon need to be paid the rate applicable to the region where the work was performed. If such an employee performs work in more than one region, an employer may track the hours worked in each region and pay the corresponding regional rates. Alternatively, employers may pay all hours at the highest of the regional rates applicable to the employee’s work in that pay period.
I currently pay my employee $14.00 per hour ($1.50 above the July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 metro minimum wage of $12.50 per hour). An employee claims that as of July 1, 2020, I will be legally obligated to pay at least $14.75 per hour (to maintain a wage $1.50 above the new minimum wage). Is that right?: No. The law only requires you to pay the minimum wage of $13.25 (Portland metro area) per hour as of July 1, 2020, unless you have a contract or policy providing that you will pay more. Only those employees who were working for less than $13.25 per hour are legally entitled to a raise that brings them up to at least $13.25 per hour.
If I pay my employee on a commission, does the minimum wage law still apply?: Yes. Unless your employee falls into an exempt category, you must pay the employee at least minimum wage for all hours actually worked. This means that even with a commissioned employee, you must track all daily and weekly hours worked to determine whether the average hourly rate meets the minimum wage. If the average hourly rate is less than the minimum wage in any pay period, you must boost the employee's wages up to the minimum wage.
My employee, who normally earns $15.00 per hour, travels as part of her job duties. May I pay her at a lower hourly rate for the travel time?: Yes, as long as you pay at least the applicable minimum wage for each hour worked and provide the employee with advance notice of the applicable rate for travel time.