The Oregon legislature established an automatic yearly plan for raising the minimum wage in 2016, and the next scheduled increase is on July 1. There will still be three different minimum wages in the state in 2024, with a standard wage, a higher wage for the Portland metro area, and a lower wage for non-urban areas. The statewide increase is 50 cents.
The standard rate will increase from $14.20 to $14.70, the non-urban rate from $13.20 to $13.70, and the Portland metro rate from $15.45 to $15.95 per hour.
Every year by April 30th, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries determines the adjustment by calculating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate from the preceding year. The closest five pennies are used to round up any adjustments.
The standard minimum wage is the starting point for the calculation, and the other two are tweaked by the same amount. This way, the Portland wage is consistently $1.25 higher than the standard, and the non-urban wage is consistently $1 lower as per KGW News.
$14.70 per hour (Standard rate)
The standard rate impacts the counties below, as well as parts of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties that are outside the urban growth boundary:
- Benton
- Clatsop
- Columbia
- Deschutes
- Hood River
- Jackson
- Josephine
- Lane
- Lincoln
- Linn
- Marion
- Polk
- Tillamook
- Wasco
- Yamhill
$13.70 per hour (Non-urban rate)
The nonurban rate applies to the entirety of each county listed below:
- Baker
- Coos
- Crook
- Curry
- Douglas
- Gilliam
- Grant
- Harney
- Jefferson
- Klamath
- Lake
- Malheur
- Morrow
- Sherman
- Umatilla
- Union
- Wallowa
- Wheeler
Instead of a July 1st increase, Washington state’s minimum wage goes up every January 1st; in 2024, it went from $15.74 to $16.28. There will be no change to the federal minimum wage in 2024; it will stay at $7.25 an hour, as it has since 2009. Yet, 30 states have greater minimum salaries that they establish independently.