Missouri Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 Missouri Tipped Minimum Wage is $7.50.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Missouri. 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 $7.50 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in Missouri. 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 Missouri in 2026?
- $7.50 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 Missouri. 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 Missouri, 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 applies regardless of whether your employer pays you the full minimum wage or takes a tip credit against your wages. Only the tips you actually receive yourself are counted when determining whether you meet this threshold and when your employer calculates any tip credit. If you occasionally receive tips but not as a regular part of your job duties, or if your monthly tip total stays at or below $30, you are not considered a tipped employee for purposes of these rules and your employer must pay you the full minimum wage without using a tip credit.
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 Missouri, a tip credit allows your employer to count a portion of the tips you receive from customers toward meeting its minimum wage obligation to you. The employer must still pay you a direct cash wage, which in Missouri is $7.50 per hour for 2026. The tip credit equals the difference between that cash wage and the full minimum wage. Your employer must be able to show each workweek that your cash wages plus your tips together equal at least the minimum wage. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. If you do not receive enough tips in a given workweek to bring your total compensation up to the minimum wage when combined with your cash wage, your employer must make up the difference before your paycheck is finalized for that period.
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 Missouri, if your tips combined with the direct cash wage your employer pays you do not add up to at least the minimum hourly wage in any workweek, your employer must make up the difference. This is a workweek-by-workweek requirement, meaning your employer cannot average your tips across multiple weeks to avoid paying you what you are owed. The employer bears the responsibility for ensuring you receive the full minimum wage in every single workweek, regardless of how busy or slow business is. If you work a particularly slow week and your tips fall short, your employer must increase your cash pay for that week to cover the gap so that your total earnings reach the minimum wage threshold before your paycheck is issued.
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 Missouri, before your employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must provide you with specific information about how your pay is being calculated. This notice must include the amount of the cash wage the employer is paying you, the additional amount it is claiming as a tip credit, confirmation that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually receive, notice that you get to keep all your tips except for valid tip pooling arrangements, and an explanation that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these provisions. Your employer may give this notice orally or in writing. If the employer fails to provide all of this information before taking the tip credit, it loses the right to use the tip credit at all and must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on your tips to make up any portion of it.
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
In Missouri, when state law provides greater protections than federal law, your employer must follow whichever standard is most protective to you as an employee. This means that even though federal law sets certain baseline rules for tipped employees, Missouri law may require a higher cash wage, different notice procedures, or other additional protections that supersede the federal requirements. Your employer cannot simply follow the federal rules if Missouri law gives you more. For example, if Missouri requires employers to pay tipped employees a higher direct cash wage than federal law mandates, or if it restricts tip pooling more strictly, those state requirements control your employment situation. Always check Missouri-specific labor laws because they may provide you with stronger wage protections than the federal baseline establishes for tipped workers.
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 Missouri, federal law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of your tips for any purpose, whether they do so directly or through a tip pool arrangement. This rule applies regardless of whether your employer takes a tip credit against your wages or pays you the full minimum wage directly. Your employer cannot require you to hand over your tips to the business, to a supervisor, or to a manager, even if you are earning at least the minimum wage through your regular pay without any tip credit being applied. The only exception is that managers and supervisors may keep tips they receive directly from customers for service they personally and solely provide to those customers, but they cannot participate in tip pools or take any portion of other employees' tips. This protection ensures that tips you earn from customers remain yours to keep, subject only to valid tip pooling arrangements with other non-management employees.
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 Missouri, if your employer takes a tip credit against your wages, you can only be required to participate in a traditional tip pool with other employees who work in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips. This includes positions like waiters, bussers, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, and service bartenders. Your employer cannot force you to share your tips with employees who do not customarily receive tips, such as cooks or dishwashers, when the employer is using a tip credit. However, if your employer pays you the full minimum wage as a direct cash wage without taking any tip credit, then different rules apply and the tip pool can include employees from non-tipped occupations as well. Your employer must notify you of any required tip pool contribution amounts and cannot retain any of the pooled tips for itself or allow managers and supervisors to participate in the pool.
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 Missouri, when you work two different jobs for the same employer—one where you receive tips regularly and one where you do not—your employer can only take a tip credit for the hours you actually work in the tipped occupation. For example, if you work as both a hotel maintenance person and a server, and you customarily receive at least $30 per month in tips from your server work, you are considered a tipped employee only for your server hours. Your employer cannot apply the tip credit to your maintenance work hours, even though both jobs are with the same company. You must be paid the full minimum wage for all your non-tipped work hours. This is different from situations where you perform related duties in your tipped occupation, like a server who also cleans tables or makes coffee—those related tasks are still part of your tipped job and the tip credit can apply to them.
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
Missouri $15.00 50% of the applicable minimum wage ($7.50) $7.50 Not specified