Montgomery County minimum wage hike will ripple through McDonald's staffing

Montgomery County’s minimum wage will rise July 1, and at a McDonald’s inside the county that means a floor-level crew member could see an extra 35 cents an hour if the restaurant is a large employer. For someone working 40 hours a week, that is about $14 more a week, or roughly $728 a year before taxes.

The county’s new floor will be $18.00 an hour for large employers with 51 or more workers, $16.50 for mid-size employers with 11 to 50 workers, and $15.95 for small employers with 10 or fewer workers. The change is required by county law and is based on a 2.0 percent increase in the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers in the Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria area in 2025. The increase can take effect on the first day of the pay period that includes July 1.

For McDonald’s crews, the bigger issue is not the headline rate but the gap between new-hire pay and what experienced workers expect. A 35-cent raise at the floor narrows the spread between entry-level crew and shift leaders, and that can create pressure to raise wages for longtime employees too. If managers do not adjust, the people who know the fryers, the drive-thru, and the rush-hour sequence may start looking across the street to another restaurant, a retailer, or delivery work that pays close to the same.

Franchise operators in Montgomery County will have to decide whether to absorb the higher payroll, trim hours, slow hiring, or push more labor onto the workers already on the clock. If a store is just outside the county line, it avoids the increase altogether.

The county has moved this pay floor up year after year since Bill 28-17, signed on Nov. 17, 2017, by then-County Council member Marc Elrich, now county executive. The large-employer minimum was $17.65 in 2025 and $17.15 in 2024, and Montgomery County lawmakers have continued to debate restaurant pay rules, including tipped wages.