As the affordability crisis spreads across the U.S. it is key for state and local governments to balance, and keep things affordable. According to NELP, as of Jan. 1st 2026 a total of 68 jurisdictions, including states, counties, and cities, have raised their minimum wage to above $15.00 an hour, while 43 of those jurisdictions are exceeding $17.00 an hour. 26 more jurisdictions will raise their minimum wage later in 2026, all of which will be made above $15.00 an hour.
Focusing onArizona itself, the state minimum wage rose to $15.15 per hour opposed to last year when it was $14.70. One interesting thing to note is that other jurisdictions inside of states can have higher minimum wages, like the city of Flagstaff, where the minimum wage is $18.35 an hour. According to NELP, the difference in wages is to fit the higher living costs of the locality, and is an effective way to stop businesses from relocating as well as preventing lower employment rates.
While some areas can have higher minimum wages than others, there is bound for somewhere to have the highest. Washington has the highest state minimum wage of $17.13 and one city in Washington named Tukwila surpasses $20 with a staggering $21.65 an hour being the highest minimum wage of any locality. While this might seem great at first glance, there are also downsides to having this high of a minimum, like small businesses can have a hard time staying alive because they have to pay their customers more, meaning less profits.
Some of the lowest minimum wages come from the southern states where it goes as low as $7.25 an hour (federal minimum wage). Laborontheline says that the low rates are related to the low regulations, and standards alongside with lower taxes. This means cheaper labor, and more profits. There is lots of history behind these choices, which does root back to racism and exploitations. Laborontheline says “The signs may change, but the system’s the same”.
It is amazing that the United States is taking the right step in the direction of helping the people, and their finances. Over the rest of 2026, the people of the U.S. can start seeing higher minimum wages, while a few stay the same. It’s just a system to keep the world spinning.
