2022 Federal Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2022 Federal Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2022-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2021
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2021.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | 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 2022, last revised on January 1, 2022, 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 2022?
- $2.13 per hour. The Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees for 2022, last revised on January 1, 2022, 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 2022, last revised on January 1, 2022. 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, a person counts as a tipped employee if they work in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This definition applies nationwide under the FLSA and determines whether the special tipped-wage rules apply to you. If your job typically brings in more than $30 in tips each month, your employer may pay you the tipped minimum cash wage and may take a tip credit. If you do not regularly earn more than $30 in tips per month, you are not considered a tipped employee for federal purposes, and your employer must pay you the full federal minimum wage regardless of any tips you receive. Only tips actually received by the employee count toward meeting this threshold.
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, an employer that takes a tip credit must still pay you a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. The tip credit is defined as the difference between that cash wage and the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 per hour. This means the employer pays you $2.13 in cash and treats some of your tips as filling the gap between $2.13 and $7.25. The employer cannot claim a tip credit larger than the amount of tips you actually receive in a workweek. If your cash wage plus your tips fall short of $7.25 per hour in any workweek, the employer must pay the difference. The tip credit is only lawful if the employer has first given you the required written or oral notice about how the credit works.
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
Federal law requires that your total pay each workweek - the cash wage your employer pays you plus the tips you actually receive - must equal at least the full federal minimum wage. If your tips combined with your employer's direct cash wages do not reach the minimum hourly wage in any workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This is a workweek-by-workweek guarantee. Your employer cannot average your earnings over a longer period or rely on busy weeks to cover slow ones. If you fall short in a particular week, the employer owes you the shortfall in addition to the cash wage already paid. This rule applies whether or not the employer takes a tip credit.
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
Before an employer can take a tip credit against your wages, federal law requires it to inform you of five specific items. These include: the direct cash wage the employer is paying you, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount the employer is claiming as a tip credit; that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually receive; that you get to keep all of your tips except for amounts going into a valid tip pool limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been told about all of these provisions. The employer may give this notice orally or in writing. If the employer fails to give you this information, it loses the right to take the tip credit and must pay you the full minimum wage.
Notice to Tipped Employees: 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 state law and federal law provide different protections for tipped employees, the employer 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, and some states prohibit employers from taking a tip credit altogether, requiring them to pay the full state or federal minimum wage regardless of tips. If you work in a state with stronger protections, your employer must comply with that state's standard rather than the federal rule. This means your actual minimum cash wage and tip credit rules depend on where you work. If your state gives you more protection, you get the benefit of that higher standard.
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
Under federal law, employers - including managers and supervisors - are prohibited from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule applies whether or not the employer takes a tip credit. Your employer cannot require you to give your tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. Even if the employer pays you the full federal minimum wage in cash and takes no tip credit, it still cannot keep your tips. The only exception is that managers and supervisors may keep tips they receive directly from customers for service they personally and solely provide. For example, a restaurant manager who serves their own tables may keep those specific tips but cannot participate in a tip pool or receive other employees' tips. This protection ensures that tips belong to 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
Under federal law, if your employer takes a tip credit and pays you the lower cash wage, any mandatory tip pool you are required to join must be limited to employees in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips. Eligible participants include workers such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. This is sometimes called a "traditional" tip pool. The employer must notify you of the required contribution amount and may only take a tip credit for the tips you ultimately receive after the pool is distributed. The employer may not keep any of the pooled tips, and managers and supervisors are barred from receiving tips from the pool. If your employer pays the full minimum wage instead of taking a tip credit, different rules may allow a broader pool that includes non-tipped workers such as cooks and dishwashers.
Traditional Tip Pooling: 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, some workers hold two distinct jobs for the same employer - for example, a hotel maintenance worker who also works as a server. If that employee customarily and regularly receives at least $30 a month in tips for their server work, they are considered a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. The employer may take a tip credit for the hours the employee works as a server. However, no tip credit can be taken for the hours the same employee spends working as a maintenance person. For those non-tipped hours, the employer must pay the full minimum wage. This rule prevents employers from using the tipped wage rate for work that does not produce tips. The key distinction is between truly separate occupations and incidental tasks that are part of a single tipped job, such as a server who occasionally cleans tables or makes coffee.
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