2023 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2023 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2023-01-01Source: Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2022
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2022.
| Item | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers in North Carolina who have tipped employees and are covered by the state minimum wage law
What changed this year, and why
North Carolina's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remains $2.13 per hour for 2023.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in North Carolina in 2023?
- Employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour in cash wages, provided the employee receives enough in tips to bring total earnings to at least the full minimum wage. If tips plus the cash wage fall short, the employer must make up the difference.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In North Carolina, the tip credit is the amount an employer can count from a tipped worker's tips toward the state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The employer must still pay a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. Together, the $2.13 cash wage plus the tip credit must equal at least $7.25. This means the employer is using your tips to cover part of what it owes you in wages. If your tips plus the $2.13 hourly cash wage do not reach $7.25 in a given pay period, your employer cannot rely on the full tip credit and must pay additional cash wages to bridge the gap. The tip credit is not a bonus to the employer; it is simply permission to count a portion of your tips as wages for minimum wage purposes, subject to the requirement that you actually receive those tips.
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough in tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the minimum wage ($7.25).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
North Carolina law requires employers to make up any shortfall when tips do not bring a tipped employee's earnings up to the minimum wage. Employers must pay at least $2.13 per hour in direct cash wages to tipped employees, but that is only the starting point. The total of the cash wage plus the tips received must equal at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked. If an employee's tips in a given pay period fall short of what is needed to reach the minimum wage when combined with the $2.13 cash wage, the employer must increase the cash wage payment to close the gap. The employer bears this responsibility; the employee should not absorb the loss. This means that the $2.13 cash wage is a floor, not a guarantee of take-home pay, and employers must monitor tip earnings to ensure compliance with the minimum wage requirement for every pay period.
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough in tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the minimum wage ($7.25).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
Before an employer in North Carolina can take a tip credit and pay the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour, the employer must notify the tipped employee in advance. This notice is a legal requirement that protects workers by ensuring they know their employer is counting their tips toward the minimum wage obligation. The notice requirement means employers cannot retroactively apply a tip credit or surprise employees with reduced cash wages. In addition to providing advance notice, the employer must allow tipped employees to retain all of their tips and must maintain accurate and complete records of the tips received by each employee. These tips must be certified by the tipped employee either monthly or for each pay period. Without proper advance notice, the employer forfeits the right to take the tip credit and must pay the full minimum wage in direct cash wages regardless of how much the employee receives in tips.
However, for an employer to be able to count tips as wages and take a tip credit towards the minimum wage, the law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance and be permitted to retain all tips, and requires that the employer maintains accurate and complete records of tips received by each employee and such tips must be certified by tipped employees monthly or for each pay period.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
When both federal and North Carolina minimum wage laws apply, employers must follow whichever standard provides the greatest protection to employees. This means comparing the requirements under each law and applying the one that results in higher wages, better tip retention, or stronger worker protections. For example, if federal law allows a higher tip credit than North Carolina law permits, the employer must follow the state rule that limits the tip credit and requires higher cash wages. Similarly, if federal recordkeeping requirements are less stringent than North Carolina's requirements for certifying tips monthly or per pay period, the employer must follow the state's more demanding standard. The principle is straightforward: workers in North Carolina are entitled to the benefit of whichever law, state or federal, gives them more money or greater protection. Employers cannot cherry-pick the less protective rule when the two laws conflict.
Employers doing business in North Carolina are required to pay at least $7.25 per hour to all employees (agricultural and domestic employees are subject to the federal minimum wage).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
North Carolina law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of their employees' tips. All tips received by tipped employees belong to those employees, and employers cannot take a cut, retain a share, or use employees' tips for any business purpose. This rule applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit or pays the full minimum wage. Even when tips are pooled among multiple workers, the employer and the employer's agents, such as managers and supervisors, cannot participate in the pool or keep any portion of the pooled tips. The employer's only financial interest in tips is when taking a tip credit toward the minimum wage obligation, and even then, the tip credit reduces what the employer must pay in cash wages but does not give the employer ownership of the tips themselves. Employees in North Carolina have a clear right to retain all tips they receive, and employers who violate this rule face liability for unpaid wages.
the law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance and be permitted to retain all tips
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
North Carolina allows tip pooling in businesses covered by the state minimum wage law, generally those with less than $500,000 in gross annual sales, but with strict limits. Under a tip pool, tipped employees must retain at least 85 percent of all tips they receive. Only a small remainder may be shared with other workers through the pooling arrangement. Tip pools in North Carolina are limited to employees who work in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips, so employers cannot force servers or bartenders to share tips with cooks, dishwashers, or other back-of-house staff who do not typically receive tips from customers. The employer must maintain accurate and complete records of all tips received and the amount of tips earned under the tip pooling arrangement. These records ensure transparency and allow verification that the 85 percent retention requirement is met. Employees in North Carolina should understand that while tip pooling is legal, it is not unlimited, and the vast majority of tips must stay with the tipped workers who earned them from customers.
In businesses that are covered by NCDOL for minimum wage (generally businesses that make less than $500,000 in gross sales), tip pooling is permitted as long as the tipped employees retain at least 85 percent of the tips they receive, which means the employer must maintain accurate and complete records of the tips received and the amount of tips earned under the tip pooling arrangement.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Doing two jobs for one employer
North Carolina's minimum wage rules apply to employees based on their actual job duties, not just their job title. When a worker performs two different jobs for the same employer, one that involves tips and one that does not, the employer can only take a tip credit and pay the lower $2.13 cash wage for hours spent working in the tipped occupation. For hours worked in the non-tipped job, the employer must pay the full minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. For example, if an employee works as a server for part of the week and as a host or kitchen worker for another part, the tip credit applies only to the server hours. The employer must track hours separately for each occupation and ensure the employee receives at least $2.13 per hour plus tips for tipped work and at least $7.25 per hour for non-tipped work. This prevents employers from broadly applying a tip credit to all of an employee's hours when only some of those hours involve tipped work.
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough in tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the minimum wage ($7.25).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
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 Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees
Other years
Every North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state