North Carolina Minimum Wage Calculator

North Carolina’s ordinary minimum is $7.25 per hour. Eligible tipped cash can start at $2.13, but the employer must make up any shortfall. A higher promised wage remains relevant: this calculator only models the statutory floor.

Time card Calculate pay for a covered hourly job

Work date Weeks at this rate and schedule

Hours worked each day this week

Week total 40 h

Enter zero on days off. Overtime here depends on the weekly total.

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7

Tips retained in that week ($) Cash-wage treatment This is ordinary adult hourly work covered by either federal or North Carolina minimum wage and ordinary overtime after 40. No seasonal/recreation exemption, youth/training certificate, compensatory-time arrangement, deduction or higher promised wage applies. Tip credit requires applicable notice, records and lawful retention/pooling; North Carolina state-covered pooling must meet its 85% retention requirement. Every hour entered is eligible tipped work when credit is selected. No bonuses, compulsory service charges, multiple pay rates, or wage deductions. If using the tip credit, eligibility, required advance notice, and lawful tip retention/pooling are confirmed. All hours entered are in that eligible tipped occupation.

Earnings statement Needs your inputs

Weekly gross including tips—

Confirm coverage to calculate.

Hourly floor—
Per workday—
Weekly gross—
Monthly average—
Yearly gross—

Employer cash before shortfall: —
Weekly tips retained: —
Employer shortfall payment: —
Total employer cash: —

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 2, 2026. NCDOL minimum-wage guidance.

A promised rate can be higher than the minimum

NCDOL explains that the employer must pay the minimum or the promised rate, whichever is greater. If the agreed hourly rate is $14, a 40-hour week is $560 before any extras; the $290 floor result above cannot replace that agreement. For 45 ordinary overtime hours at $14, gross is $665. Promised rates and working hours.

Tip pooling depends on which wage law covers the job

For businesses covered by NCDOL’s minimum-wage provisions, its guidance permits pooling only if tipped workers retain at least 85% of the tips they receive, with accurate records. Federal coverage and pooling rules require separate analysis; a sales figure alone does not resolve individual coverage. Enter retained tips after a lawful pool, not the amount originally collected from customers. NCDOL pooling explanation; Federal coverage.

For an illustration under the state retention rule, $400 collected with a lawful 15% contribution leaves $340. At 40 hours and the maximum eligible credit, employer cash is $85.20 and combined gross is $425.20. This arithmetic does not independently establish that a particular pool is lawful.

The cash floor does not settle a low-tip paycheck

At 35 hours, $2.13 cash gives $74.55 initially. If retained tips are $120, the employer adds $59.20, making cash $133.75 and combined gross $253.75. At 45 hours with $300 tips, employer cash including the overtime premium is $113.98 and gross is $413.98. The premium is calculated from the full regular rate before the credit. NCDOL tipped overtime explanation.

Do not average two weeks to erase overtime

One 48-hour week at the full floor produces $377. A separate 32-hour week produces $232, for $609 total. Treating the 80 hours as two identical 40-hour weeks would produce only $580. The ordinary state threshold is 40 in each workweek. Current § 95-25.4.

Exempt occupations and seasonal/recreation establishments require separate coverage review. An employer’s private-sector promise of later time off also does not automatically replace an overtime payment. Salary, exemptions and comp time.

Use the current written wage-change requirement

Current § 95-25.13 requires written notice at least one pay period before changes in promised wages; it permits retroactive increases without that prior notice. It also requires written promised-wage information at hiring. Keep those terms when reconciling a check rather than relying on an older 24-hour notice description. Current notification and records statute.

Annual earnings for schedules below 40 hours

Thirty-five hours repeated for 52 weeks gives $13,195 at the full $7.25 floor. Thirty-eight hours for 48 weeks gives $13,224. Forty hours for 52 weeks gives $15,080. The similar totals in the first two examples come from different paid weeks; neither is a take-home estimate or a promise of year-round employment.

For a job across the border, review South Carolina minimum wage, Virginia minimum wage or Tennessee minimum wage. Sources · Methodology.

Updated October 5, 2026 First published September 4, 2026

Amend a figure on this page · Editorial policy