Tennessee State Minimum Wage

The Volunteer State holds many business opportunities for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

It is important as a business owner to familiarize yourself with the Tennessee minimum wage 2024, and the rules and regulations surrounding it. It is also beneficial as an employee to know your workers’ rights and the minimum rate you should be paid.

It is one thing knowing the Tennessee state minimum wage, but understanding the variations and exceptions due to unique employee/employer situations is a whole other variable.

This information has been created to walk you through the process of understanding the Tennessee state minimum wage in 2024, recent and future updates, increases and historical wage rates, and different wage exceptions.

If you are a full-time worker on Tennessee state minimum wage, your earnings could be as follows:

• Weekly Minimum Wage: $290.00 (based on a 40-hour week).
• Yearly Minimum Wage: $15,080 (based on being paid 52 weeks per year).

Did the Tennessee Minimum Wage Go Up?

The graphic below highlights the Tennessee minimum wage over the past several years. The minimum wage did not go up and remains at $7.25 per hour in 2024.

Tennessee Minimum Wage 2024

The Tennessee state minimum wage in 2024 is the same as it has been since 2009, $7.25 per hour. Another state that hasn’t increased its minimum wage since 2009 is South Carolina.

If you take a look at the SC min wage rate now, and over the past several years, it resembles the Tennessee state minimum wage in 2024 and in previous years too.

Just because the Tennessee minimum wage is $7.25 doesn’t mean that certain cities, counties, and towns within the Volunteer State don’t have their own minimum wage rates, which in some cases may be higher than the TN min wage.

Tennessee Minimum Wage Exemptions

In addition to the regular minimum wage rate, there are a few Florida state minimum wage exemptions that typically depend on your age or employment situation. Below are the various minimum wage exemptions with some situational examples.

Tennessee Student Minimum Wage

The minimum wage for student employees in Florida is 85% of the Florida minimum wage, making their hourly pay $9.35 per hour in 2024.

This hourly rate is for any hours worked up to 20 hours per week. As a student employee, once you surpass 20 hours per week, you will be eligible to be paid the Florida minimum wage rate of $11.00 per hour.

Being a student can be financially challenging, leading many students to pick up part-time jobs to make extra money while studying. Despite a student minimum wage rate, many Florida employers will not necessarily follow it and pay you equal to or more than the statewide minimum wage.

Many work-study programs are available at universities, which is a route many students go down. Still, coffee shop, cafe, bar, and restaurant jobs are commonly taken by students as they can work them into their class schedule.

Tennessee Under 20 Minimum Wage

If you are under 20 years old in Florida, federal law allows your employer to pay you as little as $4.25 per hour for your first 90 days of employment.

Once the 90-day period is over, you will be eligible to be paid the 2024 Tenessee minimum wage of $11.00 per hour or potentially even more.

Fortunately for young workers, this is 90 calendar days and not 90 working days; therefore, it can be completed relatively quickly and within about three months.

Tennessee Tipped Minimum Wage

If you are a tipped employee in Florida (someone who receives regular tips as a part of their job) then you are eligible to be paid a minimum wage of $7.98 per hour, with a tip credit of $3.02 per hour, ensuring that you reach the statewide minimum wage regardless if you make enough hourly tips.

Tennessee Overtime Minimum Wage

Once you work over 40 hours a week, you are eligible to be paid an overtime rate of 1.5 times your hourly wage for every hour you work past 40. So, the overtime minimum wage in Florida is $16.50 per hour, 1.5 times the minimum wage of $11.00 per hour.

Tennessee City Minimum Wages

Despite popular belief, cities in Tennessee, such as Nashville do not have an individual minimum wage rate. However, they do have their own living wages and average wages that residents are typically paid – check out the Nashville minimum wage page for more information.

If you are interested in learning more about the labor laws in Tennessee and how the state helps to protect its workers and employers, visit the TN Department of Labor and Workforce Development website for more information.

Also, you can view and download the Tennessee minimum wage labor law poster for 2024 here at no charge. Employers must display an official poster outlining the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), ensuring that accurate employee time and pay records are kept.

Tennessee Minimum Wage History

The table below shows the history of Tennessee’s minimum wage over the years since 2008. You can see when there were increases in the minimum wage, how much they were, and what percentage increase it represented.