2024 Texas Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2024 Texas Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Texas Guidebook for Employers: Especially for Texas Employers (Texas Workforce Commission)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2023
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2023.
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 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 2024.
Common questions
- What was the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Texas in 2024?
- In 2024 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.
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 Texas, 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. Only tips you actually receive yourself count toward this threshold - tips that go to other workers or that your employer takes don't count. This definition matters because it determines whether your employer can pay you the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour instead of the full minimum wage, and whether special rules about tip credits, tip pooling, and recordkeeping apply to your situation. If you don't meet this $30-a-month threshold, your employer must pay you at least the full minimum wage and cannot use the tipped employee provisions.
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, a tip credit is the difference between the cash wage your employer pays you directly and the federal minimum wage. Your employer must pay you at least $2.13 per hour in cash, and can claim a credit from your tips toward meeting the full federal minimum wage. However, the employer must verify each workweek that your cash wages plus your actual tips add up to at least the minimum wage. If your combined earnings fall short of the minimum wage in any given week, your employer must make up the difference. This means the tip credit is only valid if you actually earn enough in tips to bridge the gap between your cash wage and the minimum wage - if business is slow and you don't get enough tips, your employer still owes you the full minimum wage for every hour you worked that week.
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 your tips combined with your employer's cash wages don't add up to the full federal minimum wage in a given workweek, your employer in Texas is legally required to pay the shortfall. This means that if you earn the $2.13 per hour cash wage but your tips during a slow week only bring your total below the full minimum wage, your employer must make up the difference for every hour you worked. The employer must calculate this on a workweek basis and ensure you receive at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked. This protection applies regardless of how much you were promised or how busy the employer expected the week to be - your actual take-home must reach the minimum wage threshold every single workweek.
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 your Texas employer can pay you the lower cash wage and claim a tip credit, they must give you specific information about how your wages will be calculated. This notice must include: the amount of cash wage the employer is paying you (which must be at least $2.13 per hour), the additional amount the employer is claiming as a tip credit, notice that the tip credit cannot exceed the actual tips you receive, a statement that all tips you receive belong to you except for valid tip pooling arrangements, and notice that the tip credit won't apply if you haven't been properly informed. Your employer must provide this information before they start taking the tip credit. If they fail to give you this notice, they cannot legally claim the tip credit 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
When Texas state law provides better protections for tipped employees than federal law does, your employer must follow whichever rule is more favorable to you. For example, if Texas requires a higher minimum cash wage than the federal $2.13 per hour, or if Texas law prohibits employers from taking a tip credit altogether, your employer in Texas must comply with the Texas standard. Similarly, if federal law offers stronger protections on a particular issue than Texas law does, the federal rule applies. The principle is straightforward: employers cannot pick and choose between federal and state rules to pay you less - they must follow whichever standard gives you higher wages or better working conditions. This means Texas tipped workers may have different rights depending on which law is more protective for their specific situation.
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
Federal law prohibits employers in Texas from keeping any portion of tips earned by their employees, regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit or pays the full minimum wage. This means your employer cannot require you to hand over your tips to the business, and your managers and supervisors cannot take any part of your tips either. The prohibition applies whether your employer keeps tips directly or tries to access them through a tip pool arrangement. Even if your employer pays you well above the minimum wage and doesn't claim a tip credit, they still cannot touch your tips. However, a manager or supervisor may keep tips they personally receive from customers they directly serve. This rule ensures that tips belong to the workers who earn them from customers, not to the business or its management.
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, if your employer takes a tip credit and pays you the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour, any mandatory tip pool must be limited to employees who work in occupations where they customarily and regularly receive tips. This means the pool can include servers, bussers, bartenders, and similar tipped workers, but cannot include non-tipped employees like cooks, dishwashers, or maintenance staff. Your employer must notify you of any required tip pool contribution amount, and can only claim a tip credit based on the tips you actually keep after the pool distribution. Managers and supervisors are also excluded from participating in these traditional tip pools. However, if your employer pays all workers the full minimum wage without taking a tip credit, they can create a broader tip pool that includes non-tipped employees. The type of tip pool your Texas workplace can require depends on whether the employer is using the tip credit.
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
When you work two different jobs for the same employer in Texas, you're only considered a tipped employee for the job where you customarily and regularly receive tips. For example, if a hotel maintenance person also works as a server and receives at least $30 a month in tips from that server work, the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour only applies to their server hours. For their maintenance work, the employer must pay them at least the full minimum wage with no tip credit allowed. Your employer must track and record the hours you spend in each occupation separately. Related duties that are part of your tipped job - like a server cleaning tables, toasting bread, or making coffee - are still considered part of the tipped occupation. But when you spend time doing work in a separate, non-tipped occupation, that time must be paid at the full minimum wage.
In some situations an employee is employed in a dual job, as for example, where a maintenance person in a hotel also serves as a server. 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.
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