Portland approves $19 minimum wage

Portland voters supported a question on Tuesday’s ballot to raise the city’s minimum wage to $19 per hour over the next three years. 

The city’s minimum wage currently sits at $15.50 an hour. Under the proposal that passed with 63% of the vote, it will jump to $16.75 per hour in 2026, $17.75 in 2027 and then $19 an hour in 2028. After that, the wage would keep pace with cost of living increases.

Currently, the state’s minimum wage is $14.65, but the Maine Department of Labor announced in September a 45 cent increase that will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

In 2020, Portland voters approved a referendum question that raised the city’s minimum wage to $15 by 2024. That ordinance, which had an effective date of 2021, can’t be amended for five years except with another referendum. 

Per Maine law and a 2016 citizens referendum, the state is required to make an annual adjustment based on the cost-of-living index for the Northeast Region. However, the cities of Portland and Rockland have had their own minimum wages, which they usually update based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.