Department of Labor · BLS · EPI · HHS

Alabama Minimum Wage: Then and Now

Alabama’s minimum wage since 1968, what it was worth in today’s money, and how today’s rate compares with four published yardsticks for what it takes to live on.

Source data last read October 15, 2026. States change rates each January and July; inflation figures update each January.

Minimum today

$7.25

Federal rate

Full-time year

$15,080

Before tax

Living wage

$21.76

EPI: one adult

Living wage

$31.82

EPI: adult + child

The minimum wage in Alabama is $7.25 an hour (Department of Labor, July 1, 2026). The state has no minimum wage law of its own, so employers covered by federal law pay $7.25. Full-time, that is $15,080 a year before tax. Across the years DOL’s history covers (1968–2024), measured in 2025 dollars and counting the federal minimum in years it was higher than the state’s, the least a covered worker in Alabama could be paid was highest in 1968, at $14.80.

Compare today’s minimum

Family

Minimum wage in Alabama today

$7.25

Federal rate; the state has none higher · $15,080 a year full-time

1968 buying power
Our calculation from BLS CPI-U
$14.80
an hour, 2025 dollars
$7.55 an hour above the minimum. Same in every state.
Kept pace with productivity
Our calculation from BLS data
$42.79
an hour, 2025 dollars
$35.54 an hour above the minimum. Same in every state.
Living wage
Economic Policy Institute, 2026
$21.76
an hour, 2025 dollars, per worker
$14.51 an hour above the minimum. Alabama, one adult, no children.
Poverty guideline
HHS poverty guidelines, 2026
$7.67
an hour, 2026 guideline, one earner
$0.42 an hour above the minimum. Alabama, household of 1.

The dark tick on each bar marks Alabama’s minimum. Each card is a different organization’s or a different calculation’s answer to a different question; they are shown side by side, not averaged.

Read these as yardsticks, not a verdict

These four yardsticks answer four different questions and are not meant to agree. None of them is FreedomRankings’ view of what the minimum wage should be, and we do not combine them into one number.

Both calculated yardsticks depend on the starting year. 1968 is used because it is when the federal minimum bought the most, so no other starting year gives a higher buying-power figure. The productivity figure is different: started from each year the federal minimum changed between 1950 and 2009, the same calculation ranges from $10.87 (2007) to $48.54 (1956).

The living wage is an estimate of what a modest budget costs, made by the Economic Policy Institute. Other groups, such as MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, use different budgets and get different answers.

Every rate here is the state’s general rate. Some cities and counties set higher minimums, and states exempt some jobs or set lower rates for some workers, such as minors; DOL’s table, which these pages follow, does not list those.

A household’s income can include other earners, tax credits and benefits, which these comparisons leave out. A gap between a minimum wage and a living wage describes the wage, not any particular family’s income.

Living wage by family type

Family	Living wage (per worker)	Gap to minimum	Poverty line, full-time
One adult, no children	$21.76	+$14.51	$7.67
One adult, one child	$31.82	+$24.57	$10.40
Two adults, two children, one full-time worker	$45.87	+$38.62	$15.87
Two adults, two children, one full-time and one part-time worker	$30.58	+$23.33	$10.58
Two adults, two children, two full-time workers	$22.93	+$15.68	$7.93

Living wage: EPI Family Budget Calculator 2026, Alabama’s population-weighted median county, 2025 dollars, all income from wages. Poverty line: 2026 HHS guideline for the household, divided by 2,080 hours and by the number of earners EPI assumes.

Alabama’s minimum wage since 1968

In 2025 dollars
As paid

Hover or focus the chart and use the arrow keys to read any year.

The higher of Alabama’s basic minimum and the federal minimum on January 1 of each year DOL reports (February for 1968 and 1972). The years are DOL’s selection and are not evenly spaced. Real values use the BLS CPI-U annual average.

Year	State law	Federal	Owed at least	2025 dollars
2024	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$7.44
2023	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$7.66
2022	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$7.98
2021	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$8.61
2020	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.02
2019	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.13
2018	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.30
2017	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.52
2016	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.73
2015	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.85
2014	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$9.86
2013	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$10.02
2012	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$10.17
2011	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$10.38
2010	No state minimum	$7.25	$7.25	$10.70
2009	No state minimum	$6.55	$6.55	$9.83
2008	No state minimum	$5.85	$5.85	$8.75
2007	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$8.00
2006	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$8.22
2005	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$8.49
2004	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$8.78
2003	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$9.01
2002	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$9.22
2001	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$9.36
2000	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$9.63
1998	No state minimum	$5.15	$5.15	$10.17
1997	No state minimum	$4.75	$4.75	$9.53
1996	No state minimum	$4.25	$4.25	$8.72
1994	No state minimum	$4.25	$4.25	$9.23
1992	No state minimum	$4.25	$4.25	$9.75
1991	No state minimum	$3.80	$3.80	$8.98
1988	No state minimum	$3.35	$3.35	$9.12
1981	No state minimum	$3.35	$3.35	$11.86
1980	No state minimum	$3.10	$3.10	$12.11
1979	No state minimum	$2.90	$2.90	$12.86
1976	No state minimum	$2.30	$2.30	$13.01
1972	No state minimum	$1.60	$1.60	$12.32
1970	No state minimum	$1.60	$1.60	$13.28
1968	No state minimum	$1.60	$1.60	$14.80

State cells as printed in DOL’s “Changes in Basic Minimum Wages in Non-Farm Employment Under State Law”, with DOL’s footnote letters. Federal: the FLSA rate on that date.

For comparison, the federal minimum’s own peak was $14.80 in 2025 dollars, in 1968. See the federal history and every state.

Sources and methods

Every figure on this page comes from one of the datasets below. Wage rates and poverty guidelines are published by the government. The buying-power and productivity yardsticks are our own arithmetic on BLS data, using the method described under each source. The living wage is the Economic Policy Institute’s estimate, shown as EPI publishes it. Nothing is interpolated, and the four yardsticks are never combined.

History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938–2009
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
Covers
Every federal rate change, October 1938 to July 2009
Last read
October 15, 2026
The rate for workers covered by the original 1938 Act. From 1961 to 1978 workers brought in by later amendments had lower, phased-in rates, which DOL lists separately. A year’s rate here is the one in force on July 1.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
Changes in Basic Minimum Wages in Non-Farm Employment Under State Law: Selected Years 1968 to 2024
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
Covers
1968 to 2024, selected years, as of January 1
Last read
October 15, 2026
Basic minimum wages in non-farm employment under state law. Cells are shown as DOL prints them, with stray typesetting marks removed; where DOL gives a range, charts use the highest rate in it. Rates set by the week or day are not converted to hourly.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
Consolidated Minimum Wage Table
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
Covers
Effective Date: July 1, 2026
Last read
October 15, 2026
The current general state rate. Where DOL lists several, by employer size or by region, the one shown is named beside it with DOL’s own footnote; it is not always the first DOL lists. Where a state has no minimum or one below $7.25, employers covered by federal law must pay $7.25.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, annual average
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Covers
Annual averages, 1913 to 2025
Last read
October 15, 2026
Series CUUR0000SA0. A past wage in today’s dollars is the wage times the later year’s annual average over the earlier year’s. BLS collected no October 2025 prices during that autumn’s lapse in appropriations; for 2025 this uses the annual average BLS published regardless.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
Labor productivity (output per hour), nonfarm business sector, index
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Covers
1947 to 2025, BLS annual index values
Last read
October 15, 2026
Series PRS85006093. Other productivity measures give other answers: the Economic Policy Institute’s often-quoted version uses net productivity of the whole economy, which has grown more slowly than this series, and lands lower.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
Family Budget Calculator, 2026 edition: living wage standards
Economic Policy Institute
Covers
2026 edition, 2025 dollars, all 50 states and DC
Last read
October 15, 2026
EPI’s “median state living wage” row: the population-weighted median county in each state, assuming all income comes from wages. Figures are per worker. EPI is a nonprofit think tank; its budgets are its own estimates, and its methodology document is linked here.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
2026 Poverty Guidelines
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE
Covers
2026; separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii
Last read
October 15, 2026
Annual amounts by household size. Converted to hourly over 2,080 hours (40 hours, 52 weeks).
Exact file we read Publisher’s page

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