Pennsylvania Restaurant Workers
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is still $7.25 — the federal floor, unchanged since 2009. Tipped workers are paid $2.83. The MIT minimum living wage for a single-income household in Pennsylvania is $32.32 an hour. One Fair Wage and state partners are organizing for a $25 wage floor and an end to every subminimum wage.
The fight
A Pennsylvania state representative has introduced legislation to abolish the subminimum wage for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and the other categories of workers Pennsylvania law still leaves out. One Fair Wage is organizing behind that bill and building toward a $25/hour wage floor for every Pennsylvania worker.
What $2.83 means on a shift
$2.83 is what shows up on the paycheck. Everything above it is supposed to come from tips — from customers, on a slow Tuesday and a packed Saturday alike. The base has not moved. Neither has Pennsylvania’s full minimum wage, which has sat at $7.25 since 2009.
Meanwhile the MIT Minimum Living Wage for a single-income household in Pennsylvania is $32.32/hour. About half of Pennsylvania’s 6.2 million workers — roughly 3.1 million people — earn less than $25. The state’s median hourly wage is $20.
Who’s in
The Pennsylvania coalition is co-led by:
- One Fair Wage — the national OFW restaurant-worker network, research program, and the policy template that won D.C. (2022) and Chicago (2023).
The coalition expands as the campaign launches.
What workers are saying
“Restaurants don’t have a labor shortage, they have a wage shortage.” — Carrie, Philadelphia — restaurant worker and mother
The political moment
Pennsylvania is still pinned to the $7.25 federal minimum. The politics are not the obstacle the industry lobby claims they are. In Lake Research Partners polling of the most contested congressional districts in the country — including Pennsylvania’s 7th and 10th — 57% of voters said they support a $25 per hour minimum wage for all workers, after hearing both sides of the debate.
That is the argument the campaign is making in 2026: wages move working-class voters, and a $25 floor is not a fringe position in the districts both parties fight hardest over.
What the campaign targets
The campaign target is $25/hour for all Pennsylvania workers, an end to the tipped subminimum wage, and an end to the other subminimum carve-outs still in state law. The strategic frame builds on what worked in D.C. (Initiative 82, 2022) and Chicago (One Fair Wage Ordinance, 2023): worker-led coalition + legislative or ballot vehicle + research showing restaurants thrive at higher wage floors.
Three reports to start with
It’s a Wage Shortage, Not a Worker Shortage
The OFW research behind Carrie’s line — why restaurants can’t staff up, and what actually fixes it.
Read the report →Poll Testing $25 Minimum Wage in Competitive Congressional Districts
Lake Research Partners, October 2025 — the swing-district polling that included PA-07 and PA-10.
Read the poll →Small Business Restaurants Succeed With One Fair Wage
OFW’s national comparative series — restaurant industries in states with no tipped subminimum outperforming states that keep one.
Read the series →$2.83 Is Not a Wage. Pennsylvania Can End It.
Join One Fair Wage Pennsylvania as the coalition pushes to abolish the subminimum wage and win $25 for all.
Join OFW — free See all states