2025 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2025 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2025-01-01Source: Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2024
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2024.
| Item | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers in Kentucky who have employees in occupations where tips are customarily and regularly received.
What changed this year, and why
Kentucky's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remains $2.13 per hour for 2025.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Kentucky for 2025?
- Employers may pay a minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour to tipped employees, provided that the employee's tips combined with the cash wage equal at least the full minimum wage for each workweek.
- What must an employer do if tips do not bring the employee up to the minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so that the employee receives at least the full minimum wage for every workweek.
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 Kentucky, you count as a tipped employee if you work in an occupation where you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This is the threshold the state uses to decide whether your employer may pay you the lower tipped cash wage of $2.13 an hour instead of the full minimum wage. If your tips in a typical month are below that $30 line, your employer must pay you at least the full state minimum wage for every hour you work, with no tip credit taken against it. The rule is meant to apply to workers whose tips are a steady, expected part of their compensation, such as servers, bartenders, and bellhops, rather than employees who happen to receive an occasional gratuity. Employers in Kentucky must be able to show through their records that the worker meets this monthly tip floor before treating the employee as tipped and applying the reduced cash wage.
Any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips, the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In Kentucky, a tip credit is the difference between the full minimum wage and the lower cash wage your employer pays you directly. The state allows employers to pay tipped employees a direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour, but only if the employer can show through its records that your tips plus that cash wage bring your total hourly earnings to at least the minimum wage each week. The tip credit is not extra money your employer keeps; it is a calculation that lets the employer count a portion of your tips toward its minimum wage obligation. If your cash wage plus your tips fall short of the minimum wage in any week, the employer must make up the difference. This structure means the tip credit only works if your tips are substantial enough to bridge the gap between $2.13 and the full minimum wage.
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In Kentucky, if your direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour plus your tips do not add up to at least the minimum wage in any given week, your employer must make up the difference. The employer is responsible for ensuring that you earn at least the full minimum wage each week, even if your tips fall short. This protection applies every week, so you are never left earning less than the legal minimum because of slow business or low tip volume.
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In Kentucky, your employer must keep records showing that the tip credit was properly applied for each week. Before and while taking the credit, the employer must be able to establish through its records that, for each week where the credit is taken, your tips plus the $2.13 cash wage add up to at least the minimum wage. This record-keeping requirement is how the employer documents that it is entitled to the credit. If the employer cannot show this in its records for a particular week, it cannot rely on the tip credit for that week and must pay you the full minimum wage from its own funds.
if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In Kentucky, your employer is not allowed to keep any of your tips, and neither your manager nor your supervisor may take any portion of them for themselves. The only exception is when a deduction is required by federal or state law, such as tax withholding. This rule applies whether you work for tips alone or also receive the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour. Your tips are yours, and no one above you in the workplace can claim a share.
Use all or part of any tips or gratuities received by employees toward the payment of the minimum wage.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Kentucky, if your employer requires you to participate in a tip pool, the employer must keep the tip pool account separate from the business's other financial records. The account holding the pooled tips must be open and accessible to the people who participate in the pool. This means you and your co-workers have the right to see what goes in and what comes out of the tip pool account. You may also voluntarily agree among yourselves to divide tips, and amounts each of you retains from that division are treated as that individual's own tips. The segregation rule exists so that employers cannot hide or commingle pooled tips with their regular business funds.
If an employer requires the use of a tip pool, then the account used to hold the tip pool shall be segregated from the employer’s other business records and the employer shall make the account open to the pool’s participants.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In Kentucky, the tipped employee definition is tied to your occupation. You are a tipped employee only if you are engaged in an occupation where more than $30 a month in tips is customarily and regularly received. If you work two different jobs for the same employer, or split your time between a tipped occupation and a non-tipped one, the tip credit rules apply only to the time you spend in the tipped occupation. For any hours you work in a non-tipped occupation, your employer must pay you at least the full minimum wage with no tip credit. The $30-a-month threshold must be met in the tipped occupation for the employer to use the $2.13 cash wage for that work.
Any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips, the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
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.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
- Minimum cash wage
a minimum of $2.13 per hour
Other years
Every Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state