Questions and answers

Starting January 1, 2025, the minimum wage for measurable work done in unincorporated King County is $20.29 per hour. There are three temporary exceptions for smaller businesses, as shown in the table below.

No. Employers must pay employees all tips, gratuities, and all service charges except those that, under RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees serving the customers. Money paid toward an individual employee’s health benefit plan, housing, or other benefits does not count toward the hourly minimum wage.

The King County Council passed legislation in May 2024 to increase the minimum wage to help working families who struggle to meet the cost of living and to match the higher wages in nearby cities. The state’s minimum wage is not enough to meet the basic needs of working families in King County.

Local jurisdictions, such as city and county governments, can set a higher minimum wage as long as the wage is more favorable to employees than the Washington State minimum wage. Use this interactive map to identify the minimum wage that applies to your business.

The minimum wage will increase each year to reflect the annual rate of inflation. The King County Department of Local Services will announce each upcoming year’s minimum wage on its website by October 1 of the previous year.

Also, the reductions in minimum wage for smaller businesses are not permanent. They will get smaller, and then go away entirely, according to the following schedule.

Yes. The state uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is the average for U.S. cities, and King County uses the CPI-W for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Area.

Generally, everyone doing measurable work in unincorporated King County should be paid at least this minimum wage including the following.

• Full-time employees
• Part-time employees
• Temporary or seasonal employees, including employees of a staffing agency or similar entity
• Employees who are jointly employed by one or more employers (e.g. employee hired through the services of a staffing agency or similar entity)
• Paid interns
• Work-study employees
• Paid family members
• People who work on commission
• People under 18
• People who get paid in cash
• All employees of a franchise or a network of franchises
• Family members

Yes, all employees regardless of age are covered under this ordinance and must be paid the King County minimum wage.

Yes, all employees regardless of relationship are covered under this ordinance and must be paid the King County minimum wage.

Yes, all employees regardless of their job are covered under this ordinance and must be paid the King County minimum wage.

All franchisees must pay the new minimum wage of $20.29 per hour if the worldwide business employs more than 15 employees and has an annual gross revenue of $2 million or more, regardless of how many employees are employed at a particular location in unincorporated King County.

Yes. Due to constitutional preemption, federal employees are covered under federal law. Jurors in Washington State are not considered employees of the state or the court for which they are serving as jurors, even if they receive a stipend, so they are not covered under the ordinance. See Rocha v. King County, 195 Wn.2d 412, 460 P.3d 624 (2020).

Your first step is to notify your employer by certified U.S. mail with return receipt requested, or a comparable method, demanding that your employer pay the hourly minimum wage rate as required and provide payment of any unpaid wages plus interest to you. If your employer fails to pay the unpaid wages plus interest within 14 days of the return receipt date of the notice, then you may file a civil action.

It is against the law for any employer to take any adverse action against an employee or discriminate against an employee because the employee has exercised in good faith their rights under this King County ordinance.

Yes, this minimum wage applies to employees who do work in unincorporated King County. It does not apply to time spent by an employee in King County solely for the purpose of travelling through King County from a point of origin outside the county to a destination that is also outside the county, with no employment-related or commercial stops in King County except for refueling or the employee’s personal meals or errands.

Gross revenue means the total revenue generated by a business from all sources in a calendar year without deducting any expenses or losses.

Use the average number of employees employed during the last 12 months, regardless where each employee worked. All employees worldwide are counted, including full-time employees, part-time employees, temporary or seasonal employees, employees of a staffing agency or similar entity, jointly employed employees, paid interns, work-study employees, and all employees of a franchise or a network of franchises.

Yes. Full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees are used equally to calculate and average the total annual number of employees when calculating the correct wage rate. Each employee is counted as one person, regardless of the number of hours they work.

To determine the total number of employees, count all employees. The definition of an employee is any individual employed by the employer, whether on a full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal basis, including temporary workers, contracted workers, contingent workers, and persons made available to work through a temporary service, staffing or employment agency or similar entity.

Employers are not counted. The definition of an employer is any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, nonprofit corporation, or any entity, person, group of persons, or successor thereof, that employs another person and includes any such entity or person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee. Employees may be jointly employed by more than one employer.

Calculate the rate using the average number of employees over the past 12 months.

If an employer is new and did not have any employees during the previous 12 months, the employer should count the average number of employees they plan to employ in the first six months. After six months, the employer should count the average number of employees employed since the employer’s start-up date.

If the staffing agency and contracting employer are joint employers of the temporary workers, then both employers count the temporary worker to determine schedule size. The temporary worker is counted twice for this purpose.

Yes. Minimum wage requirements are the same for nonprofit (educational, religious, and charitable) corporations.

Business owners must pay the minimum wage for all work done in unincorporated King County.

No. Tips, gratuities and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to the hourly minimum wage rate. Employers in unincorporated King County must pay their employees all tips, gratuities, and all service charges except those that, under RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees serving the customers.

No. An employee’s immigration or citizenship status does not affect the coverage or application of this law.

The minimum wage must be paid for all work done in unincorporated King County.

The minimum wage must be paid for all work done in unincorporated King County.

All employers in unincorporated King County must maintain adequate records for at least three years to provide proof of compliance. These records must be available upon request by the department or if an aggrieved employee brings a civil action against an employer for violating the minimum wage ordinance. Adequate records include, but are not limited to, the following.

• The number of persons employed by the employer during the previous year
• The number of employees paid the minimum wage during the previous year
• Wages paid by the employer to all employees during the previous year
• The number of hours worked by each employee during the previous year
• Wages paid to each employee during the previous year
• The amount (if any) deducted from the wages paid to each employee during the previous year