New Hampshire Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 New Hampshire Tipped Minimum Wage is $3.27.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-09-01
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in New Hampshire. 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 $3.27 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in New Hampshire. 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 New Hampshire in 2026?
- $3.27 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 New Hampshire. 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 New Hampshire, a tipped employee is someone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This $30 monthly threshold is the federal standard that determines whether the tipped-employee rules apply to you. If your tips typically fall below that amount, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage and cannot use the tip credit provisions. If your tips regularly exceed it, your employer may treat you as a tipped employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act and may apply the tip credit, subject to the other rules on this page. The determination looks at what is customary and regular in your occupation, not just a single busy month.
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
New Hampshire employers may take a tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage they pay a tipped employee and the minimum wage that applies. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the minimum cash wage an employer must pay is $3.27 per hour. The tip credit lets the employer count a portion of the tips you receive from customers toward its minimum-wage obligation, so long as your cash wage plus your tips together reach at least the required minimum hourly rate for every workweek. The employer must actually pay you the cash wage directly each pay period, and only the tips you actually receive count toward the credit. If the cash wage is lower than the required minimum, the credit cannot make up the gap.
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 New Hampshire, if your tips combined with the cash wage your employer pays you do not reach the required minimum hourly wage in a workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This rule applies each workweek, not just on average over a pay period. Employers claiming a tip credit must be able to show that every tipped employee received at least the full minimum wage when direct wages and the tip credit amount are added together. Slow weeks, bad weather, or a light shift do not excuse the shortfall; the employer must pay the extra cash so your total compensation for that workweek meets the minimum wage floor.
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 New Hampshire can take a tip credit, it must give you specific information about how your wages and tips work. 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. The notice can be given orally or in writing. If the employer fails to provide this information, it cannot take the tip credit at all and must pay you the full minimum wage directly.
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
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the Department of Labor states that when state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. For workers in New Hampshire, this means the more favorable rule applies. If New Hampshire law requires a higher cash wage than the federal cash wage, or if it restricts the tip credit more than the federal rule does, employers in the state must follow New Hampshire's requirements instead. For 2026, New Hampshire's minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $3.27, which is higher than the federal cash wage. Because the state figure is more protective, employers in New Hampshire must pay at least $3.27 per hour in cash wages to tipped employees. Employers can find links to the New Hampshire state labor department at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/contacts.
Interaction with State Laws: 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 New Hampshire, 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. This means your employer may not require you to give your tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager, even if you receive at least the federal minimum wage per hour in wages directly from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit. The rule applies to managers and supervisors as well as to the business itself. Your tips belong to you, and no one in a managerial or supervisory role may take a share for any reason.
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 New Hampshire, an employer that takes a tip credit can require you to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. This means a traditional tip pool can only include workers like waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartends—people whose jobs regularly involve receiving tips. The employer cannot include back-of-house workers like cooks or dishwashers in a tip pool if the employer is taking a tip credit. The employer must notify tipped employees of any required tip pool contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for tips each tipped employee ultimately receives after the pool distribution, and may not retain any of the employees' tips in the pool. This rule ensures that tip pooling under a tip credit arrangement stays within the group of workers who traditionally rely on customer tips as part of their compensation.
Traditional Tip Pooling: 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 New Hampshire, when you work two jobs for the same employer, the dual-job rule determines when your employer can take a tip credit. For example, if you work as a maintenance person at a hotel and also as a server, and you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for your server work, you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment as a server. Your employer can take the tip credit for your server hours but not for your maintenance hours. The tip credit cannot be applied to time you spend in an occupation where you do not customarily and regularly receive tips. This protects you from having your non-tipped work subsidized by customer 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
New Hampshire $7.25 $3.98 $3.27 More than $30