2017 Federal Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2017 Federal Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2016
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2016.
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. 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 beside it.
What changed this year, and why
The Wage and Hour Division's table of minimum wages for tipped employees for 2017, last revised on January 1, 2017, gives $2.13 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. 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 was the federal tipped minimum cash wage in 2017?
- $2.13 per hour. The Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees for 2017, last revised on January 1, 2017, gives that amount as the minimum cash wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, with the remainder of the federal minimum wage able to be met by tips up to the maximum tip credit the same row states.
- What if tips did not bring the employee up to the full minimum wage?
- The employer paid 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 fell short of the applicable minimum wage was owed the shortfall in wages.
- Where does the figure on this page come from?
- From the Wage and Hour Division's own archived table Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees for 2017, last revised on January 1, 2017. The federal row it was read from is quoted on this page, and the snapshot it was verified against is the one captured for this record.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under federal law, you are considered a tipped employee if you work in an occupation where you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This definition matters because it determines whether your employer can pay you the federal tipped minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour and take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligations. If you do not meet this threshold—for example, if you work in a job where tips are occasional or minimal—you are not classified as a tipped employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and your employer must pay you the full federal minimum wage without using a tip credit. Only the tips you actually receive count toward this determination; tips that are promised or expected but not delivered do not qualify. The $30 monthly threshold applies across all occupations, and whether you "customarily and regularly" receive tips depends on the nature of your job duties and industry norms.
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
Under federal law, the tip credit is the amount your employer can count from your tips toward its obligation to pay you the minimum wage. The employer must pay you a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, and the tip credit equals the difference between that cash wage and the full federal minimum wage. This means the employer is taking credit for the gap between what it pays you directly in cash and what the minimum wage requires. The tip credit system only works if your employer actually pays you the required minimum cash wage and you are classified as a tipped employee under the FLSA. You must receive enough tips each workweek, when combined with your cash wage, to reach at least the full minimum wage.
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
If your tips plus the cash wage your employer pays you do not add up to at least the full federal minimum wage in any given workweek, your employer is required to pay you the shortfall. This guarantee applies every workweek, not just on average over a pay period. The employer cannot rely on slow weeks being offset by busy weeks; each workweek must independently meet the minimum wage threshold when direct wages and tips are combined. If the total falls short, the employer must make up the difference out of its own funds. This rule ensures that the tip credit does not leave you earning less than the minimum wage for any week in which you work.
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
Under federal law, an employer cannot take the tip credit against your pay unless it first tells you certain things. Before paying you the reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour, the employer must inform you of the cash wage it is paying, the amount it is claiming as a tip credit, the fact that the credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received, your right to keep all tips except for contributions to a valid tip pool, and the warning that the credit will not apply unless you have received this notice. The notice may be given orally or in writing. If the employer fails to give you this information, it loses the right to take the tip credit at all and must pay you the full federal minimum wage. These rules come from the Fair Labor Standards Act and are enforced by the Department of Labor.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the amount of the direct (or cash) wage the employer is paying a tipped employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount claimed by the employer as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12 (the difference between the minimum required direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 and the current minimum wage of $7.25); that the tip credit claimed by the employer cannot exceed the amount of tips actually received by the tipped employee; that all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of these tip credit provisions.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
When a state law provides better protections for tipped employees than the federal FLSA, employers in the Federal jurisdiction must follow whichever rule is more favorable to you. For example, some states require employers to pay a higher cash wage than the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour, while others prohibit the tip credit entirely and require payment of the full minimum wage regardless of tips. In the Federal system, if state law sets a higher standard, that higher standard controls. This means you are entitled to whichever combination of cash wage and tip rules gives you the greater pay. Employers cannot pick and choose between federal and state rules to minimize their obligations.
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
Regardless of whether your employer takes a tip credit, federal law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of your tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. Your employer may not require you to hand over your tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. This rule applies even if you receive at least the full federal minimum wage in cash wages from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit at all. The tips you receive from customers belong to you, and managers and supervisors are barred from participating in tip pools or retaining any share of them. This protection ensures that tips remain with the employees who earn them from customers.
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
If your federal employer takes a tip credit and pays you the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour, any mandatory tip pool it requires you to join is restricted to workers in occupations where employees customarily and regularly receive tips. That means the pool can include people such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel, bussers, and service bartenders — roles where tips are a regular part of the job — but it cannot include back-of-house employees like cooks or dishwashers. This restriction applies only when the employer is using the tip credit; if the employer instead pays every worker at least the full federal minimum wage in cash, it may operate a broader pool that includes non-tipped staff. In either kind of pool, managers and supervisors are barred from receiving a share, and the employer itself may not keep any of the pooled tips for any purpose.
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
Under federal law, when you work two distinct jobs for the same employer—one as a tipped position like a server and another in a non-tipped role such as maintenance—you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment in the tipped occupation. Your employer can only take a tip credit for the hours you actually spend working as a server. During your maintenance hours, the employer must pay you the full federal minimum wage. This rule prevents employers from applying the tip credit to all of your hours just because some of your work involves tipping. For example, a hotel employee who works as both a maintenance person and a server can be paid the lower cash wage only during server hours; during maintenance hours, the employer must pay the full minimum wage.
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
FEDERAL: Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) $7.25 $5.12 $2.13 More than $30
Other years
Every Federal Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state