Alaska and Oregon raise minimum wages for restaurant workers in July
Alaska cooks and dishwashers got a $1 hourly bump, while Oregon servers kept tips on top of a minimum wage that now tops $16.80 in Portland.
Restaurant pay floors rose in Alaska and Oregon this month, changing take-home pay immediately for cooks, dishwashers, hosts, servers and shift leads paid at or near the minimum. Alaska’s minimum wage moved from $13.00 to $14.00 an hour on July 1, while Oregon set its new hourly floors at $16.80 in the Portland metro area, $15.55 in standard counties and $14.55 in nonurban counties.
In Alaska, the jump means a worker on an eight-hour shift at the wage floor now earns $112 before overtime, up from $104, a difference of $8 per shift. Across a 40-hour week, that adds $40. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development tied the increase to Ballot Measure 1, approved on November 5, 2024, which set the state on a path to $15.00 an hour on July 1, 2027, with annual inflation adjustments beginning January 1, 2028.
Oregon’s wage floor depends on where the work is performed. The Portland metro rate applies within the urban growth boundary, including parts of Clackamas County, Multnomah County and Washington County. Workers generally should be paid the wage for the county where they work 50% or more of their hours each week, and employers can pay different rates when employees travel for work in different counties. For a minimum-wage worker on an eight-hour shift, that means $134.40 in the Portland metro area, $124.40 in standard counties and $116.40 in nonurban counties.
Oregon also drew a hard line on tips. State law says using tips to cover minimum wage is illegal, so employers cannot count gratuities against hourly pay, and management or the house cannot share in a tip pool. For servers and bartenders, that keeps tips on top of the wage floor instead of folding them into it. A 30-hour week at the Portland metro minimum now comes to $504 before tips. The 2026 Oregon increase followed a 3.3% consumer price index rise from March 2025 through March 2026, and the next state minimum wage increase is set for July 1, 2027.
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