SEATAC, Wash. — The City of SeaTac will be raising its minimum wage from $19.06 an hour to $19.71 an hour for workers in the hospitality and transportation industries.
The increase will be starting Jan. 1, 2024.
The increase will make SeaTac's place the highest minimum wage in the state and one of the highest in the country in the coming calendar year. In 2023, Seattle had a minimum wage of $18.69 an hour and Tukwila was at $18.99 an hour. The minimum wages in these cities have not been announced yet for 2024. The city of Tukwila is expected to announce its new minimum wage by Oct. 15.
Any tips, service charges, commissions and gratuity earned by the SeaTac hospitality and transportation workers will not be used to offset the wage rates.
The Washington state minimum wage was also increased from $15.74 to $16.28 an hour for 2024.
Similar to the Washington state increase, SeaTac's was calculated by the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The United States Department of Labor calculates the CPI-W using the average costs of 200 common household goods such as food, housing, apparel and transportation, according to Investopedia.
The CPI-W represents about 32% of the total U.S. population, according to the DOL.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has stayed the same since 2009.
For further information about the SeaTac minimum wage increases, visit the city's website.
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