2018 Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2018 Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2018-01-01Source: Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2017
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2017.
| Item | 2017 | 2018 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Indiana employers who pay tipped employees and claim a tip credit under the Indiana Minimum Wage Law
What changed this year, and why
Indiana's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remained at $2.13 per hour in 2018.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Indiana?
- Employers in Indiana must pay tipped employees a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour if the employer claims a tip credit.
- What if an employee's tips plus the cash wage fall below the minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so the employee receives at least the full minimum wage for every hour worked.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In Indiana, the tip credit is the portion of the minimum wage that an employer may count as coming from an employee's tips instead of paying it directly. Indiana's Tipped Employees section allows an employer to pay a direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour to a tipped worker, claiming the rest of the minimum wage from the tips the worker receives. The cash wage of $2.13 is the minimum the employer must put on the paycheck; the tip credit covers the gap between that amount and the full state minimum wage. For this arrangement to be legal, the employee's tips plus the $2.13 hourly cash wage must together equal at least the full minimum wage for every hour worked. If they do not, the employer must pay the shortfall. Indiana employers may only use the $2.13 cash wage when they are claiming a tip credit, and they must be able to show that the worker qualifies as a tipped employee under the law.
Generally, employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour if the employer claims a tip credit.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Indiana law protects tipped workers from losing out when their tips are light. An employer is allowed to pay the reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour only on the condition that tips make up the rest of the minimum wage. If, in a given pay period, the employee's tips combined with the $2.13 hourly wage do not add up to the full minimum wage owed for the hours worked, the employer must make up the difference. In other words, the employer cannot keep the tip-credit benefit while the worker ends up earning less than minimum wage in total; the employer has to top off the paycheck so the worker receives at least the standard minimum wage rate for every hour worked. This guarantee applies regardless of how busy the restaurant or other tipped workplace was during the shift.
If the employee’s tips combined with the hourly wage do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
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.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
Generally, employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour if the employer claims a tip credit.
Other years
Every Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state