Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Georgia. 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 $2.13 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in Georgia. 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 Georgia in 2026?
- $2.13 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 Georgia. 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 Georgia, you count as a tipped employee under federal law if you work in an occupation where you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. That $30 threshold is the line the Fair Labor Standards Act draws: if your tips in a typical month stay at or below that amount, your employer cannot treat you as tipped and cannot use the tip credit rules described elsewhere on this page. If your tips regularly exceed $30 a month, your employer may pay you the lower cash wage and apply a tip credit, provided it meets all the other requirements. The rule looks at the occupation you are in, not just individual pay periods, so seasonal workers who earn most of their tips in a few busy months can still qualify as tipped employees for the weeks they work in that role. Only tips you actually receive count toward the $30 figure; tips that go into a pool and are later distributed to you still count, but service charges the employer adds to a bill and keeps do not.
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 Georgia, the tip credit is the amount your employer subtracts from the regular minimum wage when figuring what it owes you, on the theory that your tips make up the gap. The FLSA lets an employer pay a tipped worker a direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour and then claim a tip credit equal to the difference between that cash wage and the minimum wage. The employer must still be able to show that your cash wage plus the tips you actually keep add up to at least the minimum wage for every workweek. If your tips in a slow week leave you short, the employer has to cover the gap, which is explained in the next section. The tip credit is not automatic: your employer can only use it after giving you the notice described below, and it can never exceed the tips you actually received. For Georgia workers covered by the federal rule, the minimum cash wage you must see on your paycheck is $2.13 per hour.
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 Georgia, your employer cannot use a slow week in tips as an excuse to pay you less than the minimum wage. The FLSA requires employers claiming a tip credit to show, for each workweek, that your cash wages plus the tips you actually retained equal at least the full minimum hourly wage. If your tips combined with the employer's direct (or cash) wages fall short of that minimum hourly wage in any workweek, the employer must make up the difference out of its own funds. The test is applied workweek by workweek, so a great week cannot be averaged against a bad one to hide a shortfall. This rule exists precisely because the cash wage underneath the tip credit is set at $2.13 per hour, well below the regular minimum wage, and the law puts the risk of a bad tip week on the employer rather than on you.
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 Georgia, before your employer can pay you the lower cash wage and claim a tip credit, it must give you specific notice. The FLSA requires employers to provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit: the amount of the direct (or cash) wage the employer is paying, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount claimed as a tip credit; that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received; that you keep all your tips except for contributions to a valid tip pool; and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these provisions. The notice can be given orally or in writing, but it must be given before the employer starts using the credit. If the employer fails to give this information, it loses the right to take the tip credit for that employee and owes the full minimum wage from its own funds, regardless of how much you earned in tips.
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
In Georgia, when a state labor law and the federal FLSA both apply but give different answers, your employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. That means whichever rule pays you more or gives you stronger protections is the one that governs your work in the state. For tipped workers, this matters because some states set a cash wage higher than the federal $2.13 per hour, and some states prohibit the tip credit entirely, requiring the employer to pay the full minimum wage with no credit against tips. Georgia workers look to whichever of the two laws - state or federal - delivers the higher cash wage or the tighter restriction on the employer's ability to count tips toward its minimum wage obligation. The rule is applied provision by provision, so an employer cannot mix and match: for each requirement, the version that is more protective to you is the one that controls.
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 Georgia, the tips customers leave you belong to you, not to the restaurant, the manager, or the supervisor. The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit. Even in a case where an employer pays you the full minimum wage from its own funds and claims no tip credit at all, it still may not require you to hand your tips over to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. The prohibition covers both direct retention - where the business simply pockets the tips - and indirect retention through a tip pool that funnels money to people who are not eligible to receive it. For Georgia tipped workers, this means the cash tips left on your table and the tips added to a credit card charge are yours to keep, subject only to a valid tip pool among eligible tipped employees.
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 Georgia, whether you can be forced into a tip pool depends on which wage your employer pays you. 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. This is called a "traditional" tip pool. Because Georgia follows the federal cash wage of $2.13 per hour and uses the tip credit, employers here who claim that credit can only include workers who themselves are in traditionally tipped occupations. Back-of-house staff such as cooks and dishwashers generally cannot be included in that kind of pool. The employer must also notify you of the required contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for tips you ultimately keep after the pool, and may not retain any of the pooled tips for itself.
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 Georgia, some workers hold two different jobs for the same employer - for example, a hotel maintenance person who also works shifts as a server. In that situation, the FLSA treats the employee as tipped only for the job in which they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips. So the worker in the example is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours worked as a maintenance person. For those non-tipped hours, the employer must pay the full minimum wage from its own funds. The rule prevents an employer from using a tip credit to discount wages for work that is not traditionally tipped, even when both jobs are performed for the same business. Georgia workers in dual-job situations should see the lower cash wage only on their timesheet for the tipped occupation; the rest of their hours must be paid at 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
Georgia 11 $7.25 $5.12 $2.13 More than $30