2017 Utah Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2017 Utah Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Wage Claim (Utah Labor Commission, Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2016
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2016.
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Tipped employees in Utah
What changed this year, and why
In 2017, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Utah was $2.13 per hour.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Utah?
- Employers in Utah must pay tipped employees a minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour. If tips do not bring the employee's total earnings up to at least the full minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
Utah follows the federal tip wage rule. An employer may pay a tipped worker a direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour, but only if that wage plus the tips the employee actually receives together add up to at least the full state minimum wage. In other words, the lower base pay is allowed only on the condition that tips bring the worker's total earnings up to the minimum; if they do not, the employer owes the shortfall.
Tipped employees (adults and minors) may be paid $2.13 per hour, but only so long as the tips they earn, in addition to the base wage paid, combined are equal to or exceed the minimum wage.
Wage Claim (Utah Labor Commission, Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In Utah, the $2.13 cash wage was allowed only on the condition that the tips an employee received, added to that base pay, brought total hourly earnings to at least $7.25. When the tips fell short of that threshold, the arrangement was not valid and the employer owed the difference. An employer in Utah could not leave a tipped worker below the minimum wage simply because business was slow; the worker had to walk away with at least $7.25 per hour for every hour worked, and any gap between the cash wage plus tips and that floor was the employer's responsibility to cover.
Employees receiving tips of at least $30.00 per month may be paid a cash wage of $2.13 per hour, if the total of the cash wage and the tips total at least $7.25 per hour.
Wage Claim (Utah Labor Commission, Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Utah, employers must follow both state and federal wage laws when both apply, and comply with whichever standard is stricter. For tipped workers in 2017, that meant comparing the state's rules to the federal rules and applying whichever set of requirements gave the employee the most protection. If one law offered stronger safeguards on the cash wage, tip credits, or how tips were handled, the employer in Utah had to follow that more protective standard rather than the weaker one.
Employers must comply with both laws if both laws apply. An employer should examine the guidelines under both State and Federal law and comply with the standard which is the strictest.
Wage Claim (Utah Labor Commission, Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division)
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.
Wage Claim (Utah Labor Commission, Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division)
- Minimum cash wage
Employees receiving tips of at least $30.00 per month may be paid a cash wage of $2.13 per hour, if the total of the cash wage and the tips total at least $7.25 per hour.
Other years
Every Utah Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state