Kentucky Minimum Wage Calculator
Kentucky’s general minimum is $7.25 an hour. A covered employee working all seven days of the employer’s workweek can also qualify for a seventh-day premium. Enter each day separately so that the calculator can distinguish a seven-day schedule from the same hours spread over fewer days.
Time card Calculate pay for a covered hourly job
Weekly gross including tips—
Confirm coverage to calculate.
- Hourly floor—
- Per workday—
- Weekly gross—
- 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: 2026-04-10 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 2, 2026. This model covers April 10–December 31, 2026 and ordinary adult work with confirmed federal and state protections. KRS 337.275, wage floor.
Why seven days can change a 42-hour paycheck
Six hours on each of seven days totals 42 hours. The last day has six premium hours, producing $326.25 before taxes. Working seven hours on six days also totals 42 hours, but ordinary weekly overtime covers two hours, producing $311.75. The $14.50 difference comes from the seventh-day rule.
The statute ties that rule to the employer’s permanent workweek, not any rolling seven-day stretch. It excludes cases where the employee is not permitted to exceed 40 hours, and lists occupational exceptions. This tool requires confirmation of those limits; it does not decide whether a particular job is exempt. KRS 337.050.
| Schedule at $7.25 | Total hours | Premium hours | Gross cash, no tips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five days × 8 hours | 40 | 0 | $290.00 |
| Six days × 7 hours | 42 | 2 | $311.75 |
| Seven days × 6 hours | 42 | 6 | $326.25 |
| Seven days × 8 hours | 56 | 16 | $464.00 |
The model credits overlapping weekly and seventh-day premiums on the same hours. It never adds the entire seventh day a second time when those hours already receive the required overtime premium. Contracts promising additional pay require separate review.
Federal coverage matters for restaurants and retail
Kentucky’s weekly-overtime statute contains exceptions for specified retail work and restaurant, hotel and motel operations. A state exception does not establish an exemption from federal overtime. This calculator requires federal overtime coverage, so ordinary covered restaurant work still receives the weekly premium after 40 hours. KRS 337.285(1)–(2); U.S. DOL overtime rules.
Tips: retain the weekly record and check the current pool
For an eligible tipped employee, the modeled maximum credit is $5.12 per hour, leaving $2.13 in direct cash before any shortfall payment. At 40 hours with $100 retained tips, cash before adjustment is $85.20; the employer adds $104.80, giving $190 cash and $290 combined gross. The hourly credit does not increase on overtime hours. Federal cash floor, notice and overtime requirements.
Kentucky’s tip-pooling statute changed effective April 10, 2026. Its current text addresses employer-mandated as well as voluntary pools, requires a separately identified pool account open to participants, and excludes salaried employees, managers and supervisors from the arrangement. Confirm federal requirements too before selecting a credit. Enter what the employee retains after lawful pooling. Current KRS 337.065.
Include paid rest breaks in the day totals
The Labor Cabinet describes a paid rest period of at least ten minutes per four hours worked. A duty-free meal may be unpaid. Do not subtract a paid rest break when transferring time records into this form. For a payroll discrepancy, keep the workweek boundaries, daily hours, pay statements and tip records; the Cabinet provides an online wage complaint route. Kentucky wage-and-hour guidance and complaint access.
What the annual result means
A repeated 40-hour week at this floor yields $15,080 over 52 weeks, before taxes. Repeating the seven-day, 42-hour example yields $16,965. These totals assume the same covered schedule and rate every modeled week; they are not after-tax pay or a finding that the schedule is lawful for every worker.
Nearby workplaces: Indiana minimum wage, Illinois minimum wage, Ohio minimum wage, Tennessee minimum wage, Virginia minimum wage and West Virginia minimum wage. Methodology · Sources.
Updated First published