Minimum wage in Florida goes up $1 per hour starting Saturday, Sept. 30. What will that buy you?

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Updated ·5 min read
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As of Saturday, Sept. 30, minimum wage earners in Florida will start getting an extra dollar per hour in their paychecks.

It's part of a measure approved by voters in 2020 to raise the state's minimum wage $1 a year until it hits a $15 cap in 2026. The minimum wage for non-tipped employees will be $12 an hour, and tipped employees will get $8.97 an hour.

That's considerably higher than the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25, but it works out to be worth about  $10.17 when adjusted for inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And Florida had the highest rate of inflation in the country in July, more than double the national average of 4%, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Here's what that extra money can buy.

What can I buy with an extra $8 a day in Florida?

For $8 you can get a venti Caramel Frappuccino at Starbucks and a chocolate croissant. You can get into any state park in Florida and bring friends. You can buy a child's movie ticket to see "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie" (but not an adult one).

You can get four Powerball tickets, or two if you play it with Power Play or Double Play. Two tickets, if you get it with both. You can afford a Big Mac, but you can't afford to upgrade it to a meal.

Baby food is shown on sale in a Florida Publix Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
Baby food is shown on sale in a Florida Publix Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.

You can almost afford a 30-pack of Amazon's house brand of baby diapers, at $8.34. For a 30-pack of Huggies ($9.94) you'll need to save up for two days, or you can buy nearly six 2-packs of Gerbers' Natural for Baby Sweet Potato baby food servings at Publix.

What can I buy with an extra $40 a week in Florida?

  • A little over 10 gallons of gas (current Florida average is $3.51, according to AAA) but not if you want premium.

  • Monthly memberships to both Netflix's premium plan ($19.99/mo) and Hulu (no ads), which is going up to $17.99 per month on Oct. 12. Get the cheaper with-ads options for both of those and you can throw in Disney+ Basic, or you can try Disney+ Premium without ads, which is also increasing on Oct. 12, to $13.99 a month.

  • A ticket to the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg with the Dali Alive 360° add-on. Worth it. Or you can visit the Brevard Zoo ($31.95 for adults ages 12-64).

  • Two 12.6 oz cans of Similac Total Comfort infant baby formula, or one can of Enfamil NeuroPro infant formula.

  • The cheapest possible tickets to see the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville on Oct. 15, if you can borrow a buck from someone.

What can I buy with an extra $160 a month in Florida?

What can I buy with an extra $2,080 a year in Florida?

If you've gotten to this point and haven't spent any of it on the other stuff, or things other than that. You're a saver. So here's what you can now buy:

What is a living wage in Florida?

The living wage in Florida for a single childless person works out to $17.72 per hour, approximately $36,857.60 per year, according to MIT’s living wage calculator which attempts to calculate how much a person needs to be paid an hour to pay for necessities where they live.

Having a child increases the cost of living to a staggering $74,838, which is $13,000 more than Florida’s median household income in 2021.

Workers making minimum wage in Florida after Sept. 30 will make about $24,960 per year, before taxes.

Brandon Girod and Edward Bunch III, Pensacola News Journal, contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida's minimum wage goes up to $12 an hour for nontipped workers