The minimum wage in the state of New York will increase by 50 cents per hour in January.

The state’s minimum hourly wage for workers will increase on Jan. 1, 2026 to $17 in New York City, Westchester County and on Long Island. In the rest of the state, including the Syracuse area and Upstate New York, it will increase to $16 an hour.

That’s an increase of about 3% in the Downstate areas and 3.2% in the rest of the state.

The increases mean an extra $20 a week for a minimum wage earner working a full-time job at 40 hours per week. In Upstate New York, that would translate into pay of $640 a week or about $33,000 a year.

Starting in 2027, the minimum wage will increase by a three-year moving average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the Northeast

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