2022 Texas Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2022 Texas Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2022-01-01Source: Texas Guidebook for Employers: Especially for Texas Employers (Texas Workforce Commission)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2021
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2021.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Texas employers who take a tip credit against the wages of tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
Texas's minimum cash wage for tipped employees was $2.13 per hour in 2022.
Common questions
- What was the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Texas in 2022?
- In 2022 a Texas employer that took a tip credit had to pay a tipped employee a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. Texas adopts the federal minimum wage, so the tip credit an employer may claim is the difference between that cash wage and the federal minimum wage.
- What happens if tips do not bring a tipped employee in Texas up to the minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference. A cash wage of $2.13 per hour plus the tips the employee actually receives has to equal at least the applicable minimum wage for every hour worked, and where it does not the employer owes the balance.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In Texas, the federal definition applies: a tipped employee is someone engaged in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. Only tips actually received by the employee count toward this determination. This threshold is what brings a worker under the special tip-credit rules described in this fact sheet. If a Texas worker's tips fall below $30 in a given month, or if they are not in an occupation where tipping is customary and regular, they are not classified as a tipped employee for FLSA purposes and the employer must pay 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 Texas, the federal tip-credit rules apply because Texas has not set its own separate tipped minimum wage. Your employer must pay you a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, but can count your tips toward meeting the minimum wage by taking a tip credit. The tip credit is the difference between that direct wage and the federal minimum wage, allowing the employer to claim up to $5.12 per hour as a credit. However, this only works if your cash wages plus your tips together equal at least the full minimum wage for every workweek. Only the tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. The tip credit cannot exceed the gap between the $2.13 cash wage and the full minimum wage.
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. The maximum tip credit that an employer can currently claim is $5.12 per hour: ($7.25 - $2.13 direct (or cash) wage = $5.12).
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 Texas, if your tips combined with the $2.13 per hour cash wage your employer pays do not add up to at least $7.25 per hour in a given workweek, your employer must make up the difference. This obligation applies every workweek without exception. The employer cannot average a bad week against a good week or delay payment. If your tips fall short in any workweek, the employer must pay the shortfall at the regular payday for the period in which that workweek ends. In effect, the employer bears the risk that your tips may not be enough - you are guaranteed to receive at least the full minimum wage each and every workweek, regardless of how generous (or not) customers may have been.
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 Texas, before an employer can take a tip credit against the minimum wage, it must give the tipped employee advance notice of specific information required by the FLSA. This notice must include the amount of the cash wage the employer is paying, the additional amount claimed as a tip credit, confirmation that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips actually received, that all tips are the employee's property (except for valid tip pooling among customarily tipped employees), and that the credit does not apply unless the employee has been informed of these provisions. The employer may give this notice orally or in writing, but it must happen before the credit is taken. If the employer fails to provide this information, it cannot claim the tip credit at all and must pay the full minimum wage without counting any portion of the employee's tips toward that obligation.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA:
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Texas, the federal FLSA rules apply, but when a state's own law sets a higher cash wage, prohibits the tip credit altogether, or otherwise gives tipped workers more protection than the federal rule, the employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. Some states require employers to pay a cash wage above the federal minimum or ban the tip credit entirely. Texas does not impose such requirements, so the federal cash wage and tip-credit rules remain the applicable standard for Texas tipped employees. However, if Texas were to adopt a higher cash wage or other more protective rule in the future, employers would have to follow whichever rule is more favorable to the worker.
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 Texas, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit. An employer may not require a tipped employee to hand over their tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. This protection holds even if the employer pays the full minimum wage and takes no tip credit at all. Managers and supervisors - defined as those whose primary duty is managing, who regularly direct at least two full-time employees, and who have hiring or firing authority - are treated the same as the employer and may not receive tips from a pool. A manager may keep only tips received directly from customers for service the manager personally and solely provided.
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 Texas, when an employer takes a tip credit, it can require tipped employees to contribute to a tip pool limited to employees in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips. This is known as a traditional tip pool. Eligible participants include waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. The employer cannot include non-tipped employees such as dishwashers or cooks in this type of pool. The employer must notify tipped employees of any required tip pool contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for the tips each employee ultimately receives after the pool is distributed, and may not retain any of the employees' tips for any other purpose. Managers and supervisors are also barred from receiving any share of the tip pool. If the employer pays the full minimum wage instead of taking a tip credit, different rules apply and non-tipped employees may be included.
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 Texas, when an employee works in two distinct jobs for the same employer - for example, a hotel maintenance person who also works as a server - the employee is considered a tipped employee only for the hours spent in the tipped occupation. If the employee customarily and regularly receives at least $30 a month in tips for their server work, the employer can take a tip credit for those hours, but no tip credit can be taken for hours worked as a maintenance person. The employer must pay the full minimum wage for all hours spent in the non-tipped occupation. This rule prevents employers from applying the lower tipped wage across the board when an employee splits time between tipped and non-tipped work. The key distinction is whether the employee is working in two separate occupations versus performing related duties within a single 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. The worker is employed in two occupations, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours of employment in their occupation as a maintenance person.
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.
Texas Guidebook for Employers: Especially for Texas Employers (Texas Workforce Commission)
- Minimum cash wage
The FLSA sets minimum wage levels (minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (the Texas minimum wage is the same), a minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour for tipped employees, overtime pay at one and a half times the regular rate of pay, and a minimum salary level of $684 per week for salaried exempt employees)
Other years
Every Texas Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state