Mississippi Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 Mississippi 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 Mississippi. 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 Mississippi. 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi. 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 Mississippi, 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. This definition matters because it determines whether your employer can pay you the lower cash wage and use a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation. If you do not meet this threshold—for example, if your tips average less than that amount in a typical month—you are not classified as a tipped employee for that job, and your employer must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on a tip credit. The tips must actually be received by you; projected or assumed tips do not count toward this test.
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
When an employer in Mississippi takes a tip credit, it pays a tipped employee a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour and claims a credit for the tips the employee receives, up to the gap between that cash wage and the federal minimum wage. The tip credit is equal to the difference between the direct wage the employer pays and the full minimum wage. This means the employer counts a portion of your tips toward its wage obligation rather than paying the full amount in cash. The employer must still ensure that your cash wage plus tips together reach at least the full minimum wage in every workweek. Only tips you actually received count when determining whether you qualify as a tipped employee and when applying the tip credit.
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
If you are a tipped employee in Mississippi and your employer takes a tip credit, federal law requires that your combined cash wage and tips equal at least the full minimum wage in every workweek. If your 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. This means your employer cannot rely on slow weeks or bad tips to shortchange you—it is legally responsible for ensuring you receive at least $7.25 per hour in total compensation. The employer bears this obligation every single workweek; if tips fall short in any week, the employer must pay the shortfall out of its own funds. This guarantee applies regardless of whether the tips you earn happen to be generous or meager during any particular period.
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
Before an employer in Mississippi can take a tip credit, it must give you specific information about how the credit works. 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, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount claimed as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12; that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips actually received; that all your tips are to be retained by you except for valid tip pooling; and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these provisions. The employer may give this notice orally or in writing. If the employer fails to provide all required information before taking the credit, it cannot legally claim the tip credit at all, meaning it owes you the full minimum wage for every hour worked.
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);
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Mississippi, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets the baseline rules for tipped employees, including a cash wage of $2.13 per hour and a tip credit. However, when state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. This means that if Mississippi were to enact a law requiring a higher cash wage or prohibiting the tip credit altogether, your employer would have to follow whichever rule gives you more protection—whether that comes from federal or state law. Some states require employers to pay a cash wage higher than $2.13 per hour or ban the tip credit entirely. In those cases, employees in that state receive the benefit of the more generous rule. For workers in Mississippi, the federal standards currently apply because the state has not set a higher minimum wage or a more protective tipped-employee wage rule.
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
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, your tips belong to you, not to your employer, your manager, or your supervisor. 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. An employer may not require you to hand over your tips to the business, a supervisor, or a manager, even in situations where the employer pays you the full minimum wage directly and does not claim any tip credit at all. This rule applies in Mississippi just as it does everywhere in the United States. The purpose is to ensure that tips—money given by customers to reward service—stay with the workers who earned them. If an employer violates this prohibition, it has broken federal law regardless of how well it otherwise pays its workers.
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
When your employer in Mississippi takes a tip credit, the law limits which tip pools you can be required to join. 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 sometimes known as a "traditional" tip pool. The employer must notify you of any required contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for the tips you ultimately receive after the pool is distributed, and may not keep any of the pooled tips for itself. Managers and supervisors are not allowed to receive tips from such a pool. If your employer does not take a tip credit and instead pays you the full minimum wage in cash, broader tip-pooling arrangements that include back-of-house staff may be permitted, but when the tip credit is in play, the pool must stay among traditionally tipped workers.
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 Mississippi, when you hold two distinct jobs with the same employer—such as working as both a maintenance worker and a server—the tipped-employee rules apply only to the job where you actually receive tips. If you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for your work as a server, you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment as a server. This means your employer may take a tip credit for the hours you spend serving but not for the hours you spend doing maintenance work. For the non-tipped hours, the employer must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on a tip credit. This rule protects you from having your employer count your tips as a credit against wages earned in a completely different occupation. It is different from situations where you spend part of your serving time on related duties like cleaning tables or making coffee—those are considered part of the same tipped occupation.
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
Mississippi 11 $7.25 $5.12 $2.13 More than $30