Restaurant Labor Costs in Washington
Washington’s minimum wage is $17.13 an hour and the state doesn’t allow a tip credit, so tipped employees receive the full minimum before any gratuities. That’s the highest statewide floor in the country, and several Washington cities set higher local rates on top of it. Server hours cost the same as kitchen hours here, which changes how a table-service rota should be built.
Figures verified July 2026
Statutory rates
| Rate | Per hour | Source |
|---|---|---|
| State minimum wage1 | $17.13/hr | U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour DivisionRevised 1 January 2026 |
| Minimum cash wage (tipped employees)2 | $17.13/hr | U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour DivisionRevised 1 January 2026 |
1 Some Washington cities set higher local minimums.
2 No tip credit; the full minimum applies before tips.
Next scheduled change: 1 January 2027. Washington adjusts its rate annually on 1 January.
On role-level pay data
Median pay by role for Washington is in the Bureau of Labor Statistics state estimates, linked below. With no tip credit, front-of-house medians here read higher than in most states because the base wage is genuinely higher.
From an hourly rate to a labor cost percentage
The rates above are what you may not pay below. What an hour costs you is larger, once the on-costs below are added, and the labor cost percentage calculator will turn the two halves into a figure you can compare. The prime cost calculator then tells you whether that number and your food cost together leave room for rent and profit.
Tips and tip handling
Washington doesn’t permit a tip credit. Tipped employees are paid the full state minimum wage per hour, and tips sit on top. For a full-service restaurant this is the single biggest driver of the labor line, because the cheapest hour you can roster is the same rate whether it’s spent cooking or serving.
If you need to write this down for your team, the tip-out policy generator produces a plain-language policy document, and the tip-out calculator handles the nightly split.
What else drives your labor cost here
No tip credit changes the arithmetic
With servers on the full $17.13 before tips, front-of-house hours stop being the cheap hours. A staffing model imported from a tip-credit state will look expensive here, and the fix is nearly always throughput rather than headcount.
Seattle and other city rates
Several Washington municipalities run minimums above the state figure on their own schedules. Check the city ordinance where you trade, because that's the rate that binds.
Paid leave and payroll taxes
Washington's paid family and medical leave programme, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation all layer over the hourly rate, and they scale with a floor that's already the highest in the country.
For what your percentage should be measured against, see the cost benchmarks by type of food business.
Run your own numbers
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum wage in Washington?
$17.13 an hour, the highest statewide minimum in the country. Some cities set higher local rates.
Can Washington restaurants take a tip credit?
No. Tipped employees must receive the full state minimum wage before tips.
How should I model labor cost in a no-tip-credit state?
Stop treating server hours as cheap hours. With no credit, front-of-house and kitchen cost the same base rate, so the return on faster table turns and tighter scheduling is higher than in tip-credit states.
Labor costs elsewhere
- Restaurant Labor Costs in the United StatesFederal floor, the tip credit, BLS median pay by role, and the national benchmarks.
- Restaurant Labor Costs in CaliforniaOne of the highest state floors, and no tip credit at all.
- Restaurant Labor Costs in ColoradoAn indexed state rate, a fixed tip credit, and a separate Denver ordinance.
Rates on this page are reproduced from the government sources listed below and were last checked on 20 July 2026. They are published for orientation and are not legal advice — before you set pay, confirm the current figure against the primary source for your jurisdiction, including any local ordinance that may exceed it. The headline rate at time of writing was $17.13 per hour.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division — Minimum Wages for Tipped EmployeesRevised 1 January 2026 · Government / statistical