2024 Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2024 Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage is $3.63.
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2023
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2023.
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $3.63 | $3.63 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers in Maryland who have tipped employees.
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage that Maryland employers must pay tipped employees.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Maryland for 2024?
- Employers must pay tipped employees a minimum cash wage of $3.63 per hour. This cash wage plus tips received must equal at least the full Maryland minimum wage rate.
- What counts as a tipped employee in Maryland?
- An employee who regularly earns more than a small threshold in tips each month.
- Does the tipped minimum wage apply to non-tip work?
- No. When a tipped employee is assigned duties that are not tip-related, the employer must pay at least the full state minimum wage for that time.
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.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In Maryland, when a restaurant employer uses a tip credit, it pays the tipped employee a direct hourly cash wage that is lower than the full applicable minimum wage, with reported tips making up the difference. For 2024, that minimum cash wage is $3.63 per hour. The employer counts the employee's tips toward meeting the full state minimum wage, but the combined cash wage and tips must reach at least the minimum wage for every hour worked in the workweek. The tip credit wage statement Maryland requires employers to provide shows the worker's effective hourly rate — cash wages plus reported tips divided by tip credit hours — so the employee can verify they are being paid at least the minimum. The wage statement does not change how the minimum wage obligation is calculated; it is an additional disclosure on top of the normal pay stub. If the employer pays the full minimum wage in cash without taking a tip credit, no tip credit wage statement is required.
For restaurants that utilize a tip credit (employer pays the employee an hourly cash wage of less than the applicable minimum wage with reported tips making up the difference), the purpose of the tip credit wage statement is to provide an additional notification of a tip credit employee’s effective hourly rate of pay with tips included as it relates to the applicable minimum wage.
Tip Credit Wage Statement Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
If a tipped employee in Maryland does not earn enough from their hourly cash wage plus reported tips to reach the full minimum wage in a workweek, the employer must pay the difference. This rule applies to every workweek separately: an employer cannot average a slow week against a busy one, and it cannot carry the shortfall forward. The minimum cash wage in 2024 is $3.63 per hour, and that amount plus tips must reach the state minimum wage for all hours worked. Where tips fall short, the employer owes "make-up pay" to bring the worker to the minimum. Maryland requires restaurant employers using a tip credit to issue a wage statement showing the effective hourly rate — cash wages plus tips divided by tip credit hours — so workers can confirm they received the full minimum wage in each workweek and that make-up pay was added where required.
Under federal, state and local wage laws, if tipped employees do not make enough in hourly cash wages plus tips (for tip credit hours) to earn at least the full applicable minimum wage per hour for the workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Tip Credit Wage Statement Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
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.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
- Minimum cash wage
Employers must pay at least $3.63 per hour.
Other years
Every Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state