Florida's minimum wage to jump to $10 per hour this week

The first of Florida's scheduled minimum wage raises under Amendment 2 will take effect this week. That state's minimum wage will jump by $1.35 per hour on Thursday, from the current rate of $8.35 to the new floor of $10.

After this week's leap, the minimum wage will increase by $1 per hour every year until it reaches $15 per hour in 2026. We don't need to tell you that we think this is inadequate, because we already have when confronted with laudatory coverage of wage increases in the recent past.


$15 an hour isn't enough right now, it definitely won't be enough in half a decade. For a bit of reference, the average rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Orlando was $1,000 this time five years ago. It is currently $1,559 a month.

Someone making $15 an hour five years ago would still meet the definition of rent-burdened, paying more than a third of their income on housing. Someone making it now would pay nearly two-thirds. The state minimum wage of $15 will take effect in 2026. If recent trends hold, it will be a starvation wage.