A new bill introduced in Congress this week would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 an hour, a proposal that would more than triple the current floor and reshape the earnings picture for workers across the country. For Mississippi, a state that has not seen a wage increase since 2009 and currently ranks last in the nation for hourly pay, the stakes are unusually high.
The legislation, called the Living Wage for All Act, was introduced by four Democratic members of Congress: Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, Rep. Chuy García of Illinois, Rep. Lateefah Simon of California, and newly elected Rep. Analilia Mejia of New Jersey. It has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
What the bill would do
Under the proposal, large employers with more than 500 workers would be required to phase in the $25 wage floor by January 2031. Smaller employers would have until 2038 to comply. The bill would also eliminate sub-minimum wage categories, the lower rates that currently apply to tipped workers, young workers, and workers with disabilities.
The federal tipped minimum wage currently sits at $2.13 per hour. Employers are required by law to cover the difference if a worker’s tips do not bring their total hourly pay up to $7.25, though enforcement of that requirement is inconsistent.
The bill has not advanced beyond committee referral, and its prospects in the current Congress remain uncertain. Thirty states already have minimum wages above the federal floor, and more workers now live in states with a minimum wage of $15 or higher than in states still at $7.25. Seattle’s local minimum wage stands at $21.30, among the highest in the country. No state or city has yet reached $25.
Mississippi and the wage gap
Mississippi does not have its own state minimum wage. Workers here fall under the federal rate set by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has been $7.25 per hour since July 2009. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks with no time off, that translates to roughly $15,080 a year before taxes, about $900 below the federal poverty line for a single adult.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a single adult needs to earn $15,960 annually to reach the poverty threshold. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator puts the number considerably higher for actual financial stability. A single adult in Mississippi without children needs $20.69 per hour to cover basic expenses comfortably. A household with one working adult and three children requires $41.47 per hour. Two working adults supporting three children each need to bring in $26.57 per hour.
About 18% of Mississippi residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s median household income is $54,915, and the average income per person is $30,529.
What Mississippi workers actually earn
The picture looks somewhat different when you move beyond minimum wage earners. Average hourly earnings across Mississippi reached $28.70 in February 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With an average work week of 35.7 hours, that works out to roughly $1,024.59 per week, or about $53,278 annually.
Mississippi still ranked last in the country for average hourly pay, trailing Arkansas at $29.88. It also ranked sixth among states with the longest average work weeks, meaning workers here put in more hours for less money than nearly anywhere else in the country.
The District of Columbia holds the highest minimum wage in the nation at $17.95 per hour as of January 2026, according to the Department of Labor. Nineteen states raised their minimum wages at the start of this year, though none has yet crossed $22.
The buying power argument
A widely circulated social media claim holds that today’s minimum wage worker earns less in real terms than someone earning minimum wage in 1980. The numbers back that up. The federal minimum wage in 1980 was $3.10 per hour. Adjusted for inflation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI calculator, that $3.10 would equal roughly $12.64 in 2026 dollars. Today’s $7.25 would have been worth about $1.78 in 1980. Federal minimum wage has lost substantial buying power over the past four and a half decades.
Supporters of the Living Wage for All Act argue the bill addresses that erosion by tying the wage floor more closely to median wages across the broader economy rather than simply tracking inflation. Critics counter that a sharp increase of this scale could reduce employment and push prices higher as businesses pass on labor costs to consumers.
For Mississippi, a state that has spent 17 years at $7.25, the debate is less theoretical than it is elsewhere.