State preemption of local minimum-wage law
Preemption is the legal doctrine under which a state legislature reserves to itself, exclusively, the authority to set wage law. As of 2026, twenty states either explicitly forbid local minimum-wage ordinances or have judicially established the same result. In those jurisdictions, a city cannot raise its own rate above the state floor; in the rest, cities and counties can and frequently do.[NCSL][EPI Preemption]
Preemption states
| State | Source of preemption |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Code section 11-80-11.1 (2016) |
| Florida | Stat. section 218.077 |
| Georgia | O.C.G.A. section 34-4-3.1 |
| Indiana | IC section 22-2-2-10.5 |
| Iowa | HF 295 (2017) |
| Kansas | K.S.A. section 12-16,130 |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Supreme Court, Restaurant Association v. Louisville (2016) |
| Louisiana | La. R.S. 23:642 |
| Michigan | MCL section 123.1384 |
| Mississippi | Miss. Code Ann. section 17-1-51 |
| Missouri | RSMo section 285.055 |
| North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. section 95-25.1 |
| Ohio | ORC section 4111.02 |
| Oklahoma | 40 O.S. section 160.5 |
| Pennsylvania | 43 P.S. section 333.114a |
| South Carolina | S.C. Code Ann. section 6-1-130 |
| Tennessee | Tenn. Code Ann. section 50-2-112 |
| Texas | Tex. Lab. Code section 62.0515 |
| Utah | Utah Code section 34-40-106 |
| Wisconsin | 2017 Wisconsin Act 327 |
Recent disputes
The Texas pre-emption statute survived the Austin minimum-wage challenge in Texas Workforce Commission v. City of Austin. Kentucky's 2016 ruling struck down both Louisville's and Lexington's ordinances. Birmingham, Alabama briefly enacted a $10.10 ordinance in 2016 before the state preemption statute took effect. Cook County, Illinois maintained a higher rate against state-suburban opt-outs, an unusual reverse-preemption case that survives because Illinois does not have a state preemption statute.