Oregon’s Minimum Wage to Increase Each Year Through 2022
June 8, 2022Oregon’s minimum wage increases on July 1, 2022, but the raises will not be the same across the state. The minimum wage increases to $14.75 per hour inside the Portland urban growth boundary, $12.50 per hour in nonurban counties, and $13.50 in other areas of the state.
Oregon’s three minimum wages will be among the top state-level minimum wages in the nation. The highest minimum wage in 2022 will be in the District of Columbia ($16.10), followed by California ($15.00), Washington ($14.49), and Massachusetts ($14.25).
Oregon’s minimum wage levels were set by Senate Bill 1532 in 2016. The minimum wage increases on July 1 each year through 2022. There are three tiers of step increases based on geography.
Beginning in 2023, minimum wages in all tiers will be adjusted for inflation. This means the minimum wage will maintain purchasing power after the last step increase in 2022.
A Look Back at Minimum Wage Jobs in 2021
Between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, Oregon’s minimum wages were $14.00 per hour within the Portland urban growth boundary, $12.75 standard, and $12.00 in nonurban counties. Roughly 5.1% (108,400) of all jobs (2,142,400) paid minimum wage or less in Oregon in the third quarter of 2021.
The share of jobs paying minimum wage ranged from a low of 3.3% in Morrow County (243 jobs) to a high of 16.6% in Wheeler County (57 jobs). Multnomah County had 23,252 minimum wage jobs, the most of any county, which made up 4.4% of total jobs in the county.
Oregon’s metro area counties had a slightly smaller share of minimum wage jobs (5.0%) than its non-metro counties (5.3%). Deschutes County had the lowest percentage of jobs (3.8%) paying minimum wage among metro counties, followed by Jackson County (3.9%) and Multnomah County (4.4%). Clackamas County had the highest share of jobs paying minimum wage among metro counties at 7.4%.
Sixteen counties had a share of minimum wage jobs at or below the statewide share of 5.1%. The smallest shares were in Morrow County (3.3%), Hood River County (3.5%), Deschutes County (3.8%), and Jackson County (3.9%). Counties with a higher share of minimum wage jobs tended to be in rural areas. The highest shares of minimum wage jobs were found in Wheeler (16.6%), Harney (11.6%), Grant (9.4%), and Malheur counties (9.1%).
See the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries website for the Oregon Minimum Wage Rate Summary.