Utah Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 Utah Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Utah. 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 $2.13 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in Utah. 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 Utah in 2026?
- $2.13 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 Utah. 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 Utah, 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 the tips you actually receive count toward this threshold; tips that never reach you are not included. If you meet this definition, your employer may be allowed to pay you a lower direct cash wage and count a portion of your tips toward its minimum-wage obligation. If you do not regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips in your occupation, you are not a tipped employee for purposes of the tip-credit rules, and your employer must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on any 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 Utah, the tip credit is the amount your employer may count from your tips toward its minimum-wage obligation. The credit equals the difference between the direct (cash) wage your employer pays you and the federal minimum wage. Your employer must pay you at least $2.13 per hour in cash; the rest of the minimum wage can be covered by the tip credit. Only tips you actually receive count when determining whether you qualify as a tipped employee and when the tip credit is applied. Your employer must be able to show, for every workweek, that your cash wages plus the tip credit together reach at least 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.
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 Utah, if your tips combined with the cash wages your employer pays you fall short of the full minimum hourly wage in any workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This is a workweek-by-workweek guarantee: the employer cannot average a slow week against a busy one. You are entitled to receive at least the full minimum wage for every hour worked in each workweek once tips and direct wages are combined, and if the total is short, the employer owes you the balance.
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 Utah, before your employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you notice containing specific information: the amount of direct (cash) wage it is paying you, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount it is claiming as a tip credit; that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually receive; that all tips you receive are yours to keep except for a valid tip pool limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been told all of this. The notice can be oral or written. If the employer fails to give you this information, it cannot take the tip credit at all and must pay you the full minimum wage in cash.
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 Utah, when state law differs from the federal FLSA rule, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. For example, some states require a higher cash wage than the federal direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 per hour, and some states prohibit employers from taking a tip credit at all. Whichever rule—federal or Utah state law—puts more money in your pocket or gives you stronger protections is the one your employer must follow. You are entitled to the benefit of the more favorable standard.
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 Utah, regardless of whether your 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. Your employer may not require you to hand your tips over to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. This rule applies even if you receive at least the full federal minimum wage in cash wages from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit at all. The tips you receive from customers belong to you, not to the business or its managers.
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 Utah, when your employer takes a tip credit, it can require you to contribute to a tip pool, but that pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. Eligible participants include waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. Managers, supervisors, and the employer itself may not receive tips from this pool. The employer must notify you of any required contribution amount and may take a tip credit only for the tips you ultimately retain after the pool is distributed.
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,
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In Utah, if you work two jobs for one employer—for example, as a hotel maintenance person who also works as a server—you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment as a server, assuming you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for that work. No tip credit can be taken for your hours worked in the other occupation, such as maintenance. Your employer must pay you the full minimum wage for every hour you spend in the non-tipped role, and may take a tip credit only for the hours you actually spend in the 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.
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
Utah 12 $7.25 $5.12 $2.13 More than $30