Connecticut Minimum Wage Calculator
Connecticut’s minimum wage is $16.94 per hour in 2026. A covered 40-hour week pays $677.60 gross, or $35,235.20 for 52 identical weeks. Eligible restaurant service employees and bartenders have different employer cash floors, and restaurant occupations also have a seventh-consecutive-day premium.
Time card Calculate pay for a covered hourly job
Weekly gross including tips—
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- Hourly floor—
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- Monthly average—
- Yearly gross—
- Employer cash before shortfall
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- Weekly tips retained
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- Employer shortfall payment
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- Total employer cash
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Overtime uses the full regular rate before subtracting a permitted tip credit. The employer must cover a weekly tip shortfall within the selected scope. This floor scenario does not calculate pay at a higher agreed rate. Per-workday pay divides the week by the days with hours. Annual figures repeat the rounded weekly result.
Reviewed rate period: 2026-01-01 through 2027-12-31. Gross earnings before taxes or deductions. Annual figures repeat this weekly scenario; they do not combine different rate periods.
Reviewed October 9, 2026. The state has announced $17.48 for January 1, 2027; the calculator applies it, with the fixed restaurant and bartender cash wages, to work dates from that day. Connecticut DOL dated minimum-wage schedule.
Choose the occupation before comparing a pay statement
The ordinary non-restaurant option uses the full $16.94 cash floor. For eligible restaurant and hotel restaurant service work, the employer cash floor is $6.38 for non-bartenders and $8.23 for bartenders. The corresponding 2026 maximum tip credits are $10.56 and $8.71. These are differences from the current minimum, not percentages carried forward from an earlier year. Connecticut General Statutes § 31-60(b)(1)–(3).
For example, a waiter’s 40-hour cash amount before a shortfall is $255.20. With $300 retained tips, the employer must add $122.40 to reach $677.60. A bartender at the same hours and $400 tips has $329.20 employer cash and $729.20 total gross. A job title alone does not establish eligibility for either tip credit.
Weekly pay examples at the Connecticut floor
| Scenario | Cash before shortfall | Tips | Employer shortfall | Total gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General job, 40 hours | $677.60 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $677.60 |
| General job, 45 hours | $804.65 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $804.65 |
| Waiter, 40 hours + $300 tips | $255.20 | $300.00 | $122.40 | $677.60 |
| Bartender, 40 hours + $400 tips | $329.20 | $400.00 | $0.00 | $729.20 |
| Restaurant, 28 hours including 4 on seventh day | $508.20 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $508.20 |
| Restaurant, 45 hours including 8 on seventh day | $830.06 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $830.06 |
At 40 hours without tips, the monthly average is $2,936.27 when spread over 12 months. It is an annual average, not a promise that each calendar month contains four workweeks. Taxes, benefit deductions and unpaid weeks will change the amount available to spend.
Restaurant seventh-day pay can apply below 40 hours
The restaurant wage order requires 1.5 times the minimum for hours on the seventh consecutive workday. Enter those hours separately and include them in the weekly total. Check days in the preceding payroll week as well. A seven-day calendar with 4 hours each day can produce 28 hours of work but a $508.20 wage requirement, including the $33.88 seventh-day premium. 2026 restaurant order, § 31-62-E 1(c).
Ordinary weekly overtime starts after 40 actual hours. Connecticut permits qualifying premium compensation to count toward that overtime. At this calculator’s single minimum rate, the half-time premium therefore covers the greater of hours above 40 or qualifying seventh-day hours. A 45-hour week with 8 qualifying seventh-day hours produces $830.06; it does not add the same qualifying premium twice. Higher agreed rates and contracts requiring additional premiums are outside this floor model. § 31-76 d(c), overtime-premium credit; DOL weekly-overtime guidance.
Opening, closing and non-service work need separate records
The restaurant order does not allow a service tip credit for time when the establishment is closed to patrons. Non-service work also has time limits and record-segregation rules. The calculator’s tipped options require every entered hour to be eligible service work; do not combine a server shift with unrelated cleaning hours under one tip-credit rate. Tip receipts and the required employee evidence must support the amount claimed. Restaurant order §§ 31-62-E 2 a, E 3 and E 3 a.
The order also contains a two-hour reporting-pay guarantee with conditions. A cancelled or shortened shift may therefore need pay beyond actual worked hours. Reporting pay, meal or lodging allowances, and mixed occupations require a separate calculation and are not included here. Reporting-pay and mixed-occupation provisions.
Compare the actual workplace, including nearby states
A Connecticut resident working across the line should review that workplace’s rules: New York minimum wage, Massachusetts minimum wage or Rhode Island minimum wage. Connecticut’s fixed restaurant cash amounts do not establish the rate at an out-of-state job. The general result also does not determine a public-contract standard wage or a construction prevailing wage.
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