Effective January 1, 2023, Missouri’s minimum wage is $12 per hour for all employees working at private, non-exempt businesses. Employers must pay tipped employees, such as servers at restaurants, at least half of the minimum wage, or $6 per hour. If the tipped employee's total compensation, including tips, is not $12 per hour then the employer must pay the difference to bring an employee’s total compensation to minimum wage.
The recent increase marks the end of a Missouri voter-approved initiate to raise the minimum wage 85 cents per year since November 2018. The $12 hourly rate is more than 60% higher than the $7.25 federally mandated minimum wage, which hasn’t increased since 2009.