2026 District of Columbia Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2026 District of Columbia Tipped Minimum Wage is $10.30.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in the District of Columbia. The cash wage is the part of the minimum wage the employer pays directly. The rest may be met by the employee's tips, up to the maximum tip credit the same row of the table states, and the table sets out separately how much an employee must receive in tips to count as a tipped employee at all.
What changed this year, and why
The Wage and Hour Division's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, in the version last revised July 1, 2026, gives $10.30 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in the District of Columbia. The table carries only its own revision date and never dates the rate, so this page reports the figure as in force as of that revision rather than claiming an effective date no document states.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in the District of Columbia in 2026?
- $10.30 per hour in cash wages. That is what the Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, last revised July 1, 2026, gives as the minimum cash wage for a tipped employee in the District of Columbia. Tips make up the remainder of the applicable minimum wage, up to the maximum tip credit stated in the same row.
- What if tips do not bring the employee up to the full minimum wage?
- The employer pays the difference. A tip credit is a credit against the minimum wage the employer already owes, not a lower wage in its own right, so an employee whose cash wage and tips together fall short of the applicable minimum wage is owed the shortfall in wages.
- Where does the figure on this page come from?
- From Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees, the table the Wage and Hour Division publishes by state, in the version last revised July 1, 2026. The row it was read from is quoted on this page, and the snapshot it was verified against is the one captured for this record.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Tips needed per hour takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In the District of Columbia, a tipped employee is anyone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This definition comes from federal law, but it applies in D.C. alongside the District's own minimum wage rules. If you work in a job where tips are a regular part of your compensation and they exceed that $30 monthly threshold, you fall into this category. Being classified as a tipped employee means your employer may be allowed to pay you a lower direct cash wage—in D.C., that cash wage is $10.30 per hour in 2026—and count your tips toward meeting the full minimum wage obligation. However, this classification also triggers specific protections and requirements designed to ensure you actually receive at least the full minimum wage when your tips and cash wage are combined. Only the tips you actually receive count toward this calculation, not estimated or projected tips.
Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is an employee engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In District of Columbia, the tip credit is the gap between the cash wage your employer pays you directly and the full minimum wage the employer owes. Under federal law, an employer can take a tip credit equal to the difference between the cash wage and the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, counting your tips toward filling that gap. While federal law sets a much lower minimum cash wage, District of Columbia establishes its own higher standard: the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in the District is $10.30 per hour in 2026. This means your employer must pay you at least $10.30 per hour in direct wages before any tip credit applies. The employer still must ensure that your cash wages plus your tips together reach at least the full applicable minimum wage for every workweek. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. If your employer takes a tip credit, it must be able to demonstrate each workweek that your combined earnings meet the minimum wage floor.
An employer can take an FLSA tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage, or the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee, and the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In District of Columbia, if your tips combined with the cash wage your employer pays you do not add up to at least the full minimum wage in any workweek, the employer must make up the difference out of its own pocket. This protection applies every single workweek, not just on average over a pay period. The employer cannot skip this obligation during slow weeks or busy seasons—your total earnings from wages and tips together must always reach the required minimum. This means that as a tipped worker in the District, where the minimum cash wage is $10.30 per hour in 2026, you have a floor of protection: even on your worst week for tips, your employer is legally responsible for ensuring your combined compensation meets the minimum wage. If the employer fails to do so, it has violated wage law and owes you back pay for the shortfall.
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In District of Columbia, before your employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you specific notice. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the cash wage it is paying you, the amount it claims as a tip credit, confirmation that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually receive, notice that you keep all your tips except for valid tip pooling, and confirmation that the credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these rules. This notice requirement ensures you understand how your pay is structured before any tip credit takes effect. If your employer fails to give you this information upfront, it cannot legally claim a tip credit and may owe you the full minimum wage for every hour worked. In the District, where the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $10.30 per hour in 2026, this notice is especially important because it tells you exactly how your employer is calculating your pay.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA:
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In District of Columbia, when local law differs from the federal rule, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. This means that if the District's tipped wage rules give you stronger protections than the federal baseline—whether through a higher cash wage, a larger minimum wage floor, or stricter limits on tip credits—your employer must follow the District's rules, not the more lenient federal ones. For example, the District of Columbia requires a minimum cash wage of $10.30 per hour for tipped employees in 2026, which is significantly higher than the federal cash wage. Employers in the District cannot fall back on the weaker federal standard; they must apply whichever law puts more money in your pocket or gives you greater protections. This principle ensures that local wage standards designed to benefit workers actually take effect.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In District of Columbia, regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule means your employer, your managers, and your supervisors cannot take any share of the tips you earn from customers. The tips belong to you, not to the business. Even if the employer pays you the full minimum wage and does not take a tip credit at all, it still may not skim, retain, or redirect your tips to itself or to management. This protection applies to all tipped workers in the District, where the minimum cash wage is $10.30 per hour in 2026. The only exceptions involve valid tip pools that distribute tips among eligible non-supervisory, non-managerial co-workers who customarily receive tips. If your employer or a supervisor takes any portion of your tips, that is a violation of federal wage law, and you may be owed those tips back.
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In District of Columbia, when your employer takes a tip credit, it can require you to contribute your tips only to a pool that is limited to employees in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips. This is known as a traditional tip pool. Eligible participants include workers such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. The pool cannot include back-of-house staff like cooks or dishwashers when the employer is using a tip credit. The employer must notify you of the required contribution amount and may only claim a tip credit on the tips you actually end up keeping after the pool distributes its share. The employer itself may not take any portion of the pooled tips, and managers or supervisors cannot participate. In the District, where the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $10.30 per hour in 2026, these restrictions on tip pooling ensure that the tips you share stay among workers who rely on gratuities as part of their regular earnings.
An employer that takes a tip credit can require tipped employees to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In District of Columbia, if you work two distinct jobs for the same employer—such as a hotel maintenance worker who also works as a server—you are a tipped employee only with respect to the job where you customarily and regularly receive tips. This means your employer can take a tip credit only for the hours you spend in the tipped occupation. For the hours you work in the non-tipped occupation, the employer must pay you the full minimum wage with no tip credit applied. In the example from the law, a maintenance person who also serves is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours of employment as a maintenance person. This rule prevents employers from using your tip earnings to subsidize wages in unrelated jobs. In the District, where the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $10.30 per hour in 2026, this means every hour you spend on non-tipped work must be compensated at the full minimum wage without relying on your tips.
In such a situation the employee, if they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for their work as a server, is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)
- Minimum cash wage
District of Columbia 3 $18.40 $8.10 $10.30 Not specified
Other years
- 2026
Every District of Columbia Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state