Raising the Wage in New York City

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Raising the Wage in New York City

THE CRISIS

New York City is becoming increasingly unaffordable for working-class families. One in every four New Yorkers is living in poverty, while we have the highest concentration of billionaires in the world. New York City was once a leader in wages, but now we’re falling behind high-cost-of-living cities like Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle. In consequence, working families are barely able to pay for rent, utilities, groceries, or childcare, leading to poverty, poor health, homelessness, and often forcing New Yorkers to leave the City that they love. We need to tackle the affordability crisis head-on by raising the wage in New York City.

THE MOVEMENT

The Raise Up NY coalition is continuing the fight for living wages and economic justice in New York. We are a broad coalition of workers, labor, community, and responsible businesses, and we are committed to ensuring that workers earn wages that cover the basics and help them thrive. In 2023, our coalition won a $17 minimum wage downstate and $16 minimum wage upstate by 2026. We estimate this win gives 1.1 million New Yorkers $670 more dollars  in their pockets every year.

But $17 an hour in New York City is not a living wage—the amount needed in order to afford basics such as food, childcare, health care, housing, transportation, and more. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage for New Yorkers is more than $30 an hour. It’s a popular proposal too. Voters came out in historic numbers to vote for the Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, who supports a “$30 by 2030” minimum wage as part of his affordability agenda. Certain sectors in New York City are also paving the way for a higher minimum wage. In 2025, the Worker’s Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos won a minimum hourly rate of $21.44, which will also continue to be adjusted annually for inflation.

Raise Up NY Steering Committee Members

ALIGN, National Employment Law Project, Strong Economy for All, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, For the Many, Make the Road NY, New York Communities for Change, Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, Churches United for Fair Housing, Worker Justice Center of New York, Tompkins County Workers Center, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 

BENEFITS OF RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

For workers and communities. A 2023 analysis by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University found that between 2016 and 2019, the poverty rate in New York City fell by approximately 15 percentage points among underpaid workers who benefited from the last round of minimum wage increases to $15.

For business. Higher wages reduce employee turnover, cutting significant employer recruitment and retention costs; and higher wages put more money into workers’ pockets, stimulating consumer demand and job creation

For government. Higher wages reduce reliance on government assistance and  increase tax revenue; taxpayer dollars would shift away from supporting poor workers and back to business

For public health. A $1 increase in the minimum wage is linked to an increase in the probability of children being in excellent health.

  • 10-11% increase in the probability of children being in excellent health.
  • 29-57% decrease in the probability of poor health.
  • 26-42% decrease in school absences due to illness.
  • 2% decrease in violent behavior in children whose caregivers lack a high school diploma.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is this legal? Doesn’t NY State law preempt a local wage increase? There isn’t a law in NY that says counties cannot raise the wage on their own. In 1963, the Court of Appeals used the minimum wage law at the time to rule that NYC could not raise its minimum wage. But in the intervening years, the landscape has been shifting and  the case has been criticized. We hope that this is the time for New York to catch up with the shifting tide. 

Will raising the minimum wage mean challenges for small businesses? We have strong business support in our coalition, and it’s actually a common misconception that raising wages is bad for business. Quite the opposite — raising wages means less turnover and fewer hiring and retention costs, because people are more likely to stay in their jobs when they feel they are paid fairly. Five different studies of New York’s $15 minimum wage showed that raising the minimum wage did not hurt hiring or employment levels, including during economic down-turns. Raising the minimum wage is actually an excellent way to boost the economy because it increases consumer spending — minimum wage raises go into the pockets of people who are most likely to need to spend it. 

RESOURCES

EPI – A ‘$30 by 2030’ minimum wage in New York City is a bold proposal

NELP – Why New York City Needs a Higher Minimum Wage

Data for Progress –  New York Voters Across the State Demand a Higher Minimum Wage

Columbia University Poverty Center – The Effects of the of the New York City Minimum Wage Increases on Earnings, Poverty, and Material Hardship: Evidence from the Poverty Tracker

For more information about this campaign, contact Oriana Shulevitz Rosado at oriana@alignny.org