$15 minimum wage is here, but it’s not a livable’ wage, group says

An estimated 1.29 million minimum-wage (nontip) Florida workers will start earning a $15 hourly wage Wednesday.

For those in the service industry who earn tips, the minimum wage will be $11.98 an hour.

But is the minimum wage a livable wage?

“At its simplest, a living wage is what one full-time worker must earn on an hourly basis to help cover the cost of their family’s minimum basic needs where they live without depending on public or private assistanc[e],” the Massachusetts Institutte of Technology offers in its Living Wage Calculator.

The Florida Policy Institute (FPI) has tracked the implementation of the minimum wage and how it compares to a livable wage since 2020.

The  FPI estimates that, statewide, a living hourly wage ranges from $19.57 for a single person without children to $34.10 for two adults with one child.

FPI relies on the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) — which analyzed the 2015-2019 American Community Survey U.S. Census data, wage data from the 2025 U.S. Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics — for its workforce estimates of people earning less than $15 an hour.

“Far too many Floridians will continue to struggle to make ends meet at a $15 minimum wage — even those in households with more than one person working full time or with single people without kids,” said Alexis Tsoukalas, senior policy analyst at FPI.

“So while passage of Amendment 2 in 2020 was a historic and important step forward, ensuring the minimum wage is a living wage should be top of mind for state policymakers, along with actually enforcing the current wage to prevent wage theft.”

According to FPI, an estimated 1.29 million Floridians were earning less than $15 an hour before Sept. 30. Most, 696,100, were women.

Of the 1.29 million workers:

• 569,000 were between the ages of 18 and 24.
• 345,800 were between the ages of  25 and 39.
• 146,400 were between the ages of  40-54.
• 139,800 were 55-plus.
• 436,700 people were white.
• 422,700 people were Hispanic.
• 280,900 were Black.
• 28,400 were  Asian American or Pacific islander.

• I'm the owner, so its up to me to make the business profitable, it's not my employees responsibility to work for less.

  – Kristine Ownley, co-owner of The Disco Dolls Studio

Florida voters approved the $15 minimum wage in 2020 in the form of Amendment 2 when the state’s minimum wage at the time was $8.46 an hour.

Amendment 2 required that the minimum wage be increased to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021, and by $1 a year thereafter until Sept. 30, when it hit the $15 mark.

Thereafter, the minimum wage increases annually based on inflation.

It was adamantly opposed by Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and other business that argued the increase would hurt small businessses struggling to recover from COVID-19 pandemic.

But not all business owners saw it as a bad thing.

Sisters Leigh Anne Balzekas and Kristine Ownley are co-owners of The Disco Dolls Studio, a clothing store, hair salon, and art gallery in Tampa. The business is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year.

The siblings worked with the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage in 2020 to support passage of the  $15 minimum wage.

They say the shop doesn’t have high turnover and its customer service is great, which they attribute to happy, well-paid employees.

Ownley told the Phoenix costs at the retail shop are high. “But so are living expenses. I’m the owner, so it’s up to me to make the business profitable, it’s not my employees’ responsibility to work for less,” she said.