2026 Maine Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2026 Maine Tipped Minimum Wage is $7.55.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2025
| Item | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $7.33 | $7.55 | +$0.22 (+3.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Maine. 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 $7.55 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in Maine. 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 Maine in 2026?
- $7.55 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 Maine. 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 Maine, you are considered 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. This definition matters because it determines whether your employer is allowed to count a portion of your tips toward its minimum wage obligation. If you do not meet this threshold, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on a tip credit. The rule looks at the nature of your occupation, not just your individual tip receipts in a given month. So if you work as a server, bartender, or bellhop in Maine and tips are a regular and customary part of what you earn, you fall into this category even if some months are slow. Only tips you actually receive count toward this definition.
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 Maine, the tip credit is the amount your employer counts from your tips toward meeting the minimum wage. The cash wage your employer must pay you directly is $7.55 per hour in 2026. The tip credit equals the difference between that direct wage and the full minimum wage, so your employer must still ensure that your cash wage plus your tips add up to at least the full minimum wage each workweek. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. This means the tip credit cannot exceed what you genuinely earn from customers, and your employer cannot claim credit for tips you never saw. The rule is designed to make sure that even when an employer takes a tip credit, you still walk away with at least the minimum wage when your cash wages and tips are combined.
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 Maine, if your tips combined with your employer's direct cash wage do not add up to the full minimum wage in any workweek, your employer must make up the difference. This is a weekly test, not an average over a month or a pay period. So if business is slow one week and your tips fall short, your employer has to pay extra out of pocket to bring you up to the minimum wage for that specific workweek. This rule protects you from weeks when customer traffic is low or tips are otherwise insufficient, ensuring that your total compensation never dips below the legal floor regardless of how much you received in tips. Your employer bears the risk of slow weeks, not 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 Maine, before your employer can take a tip credit against the minimum wage, it must give you specific notice. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit: the amount of the direct cash wage being paid, the additional amount claimed as a tip credit, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips actually received, that all tips are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pool, and that the tip credit will not apply unless the employee has been informed of these provisions. This notice can be given orally or in writing. If your employer fails to give you this information, it cannot legally take the tip credit at all, meaning it would owe you the full minimum wage in cash regardless of what 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
Maine has its own tipped-employee rules that can be more generous than the federal FLSA, and when the two conflict your employer must follow whichever standard is most protective to you. For example, Maine requires a higher minimum cash wage than the federal floor, and your employer cannot use the lower federal figure just because it is also a rule. The federal tip credit provisions still apply to the extent they give you more, but any Maine rule that pays you more or restricts the employer more takes precedence over the federal baseline. This principle means you are protected by the better of the two regimes, not just one or the other, and your employer cannot pick and choose which rules to follow based on which one costs less.
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 Maine, regardless of whether your employer takes a tip credit, the law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This means your employer, your manager, and your supervisor may not take your tips, require you to hand them over, or use them for any business purpose. Even if your employer pays you the full minimum wage in cash and takes no tip credit at all, your tips still belong to you. The rule covers both direct retention and indirect retention through tip pools that benefit the house. Your tips are your earnings, and no one above you in the workplace hierarchy is allowed to claim a share.
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 Maine, when your employer takes a tip credit, any mandatory tip pool it requires you to join is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. This means the pool can include fellow servers, bussers, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, and service bartenders, but cannot include back-of-house workers who do not traditionally receive tips, such as cooks or dishwashers. If your employer does not take a tip credit and instead pays you the full minimum wage in cash, different rules may apply to the tip pool. But if the tip credit is being taken, the pool must be made up only of traditionally tipped positions. This restriction ensures that tips are shared only among workers whose compensation is built around customer gratuities.
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 Maine, if you work two different jobs for the same employer, you are a tipped employee only with respect to the job where you customarily and regularly receive tips. For example, if you work as a maintenance person at a hotel and also serve as a server, you are a tipped employee only for your hours spent as a server. No tip credit can be taken for your hours working in your non-tipped occupation, such as maintenance. Your employer must pay you the full minimum wage in cash for every hour you spend doing non-tipped work, and can only apply the tip credit to the hours you spend in your tipped role. This prevents employers from using a tip credit to underpay workers during hours when they are performing jobs that do not generate tips.
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
Maine $15.10 50% of the applicable minimum wage ($7.55) $7.55 More than $191
Other years
Every Maine Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state