Key Takeaways
- On June 16, Oklahomans will decide whether to raise the state minimum wage for the first time since 2009
- The minimum wage is currently set at the federal amount of $7.25 an hour
- The Oklahoma Policy Institute says this would not significantly affect the cost of living, using neighboring Arkansas as an example.
On June 16, Oklahomans will face a question that has been debated for more than a decade: should Oklahoma raise its minimum wage?
Dave Hamby, the communications director for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said that the organization has supported raising the minimum wage since its creation nearly 17 years ago.
“Someone should be able to work a job and put food on their table and a roof over their heads,” Hamby said. “Right now, someone who is working a full-time minimum wage job would actually be below the federal poverty level.”
Oklahoma’s minimum wage has remained $7.25 an hour since 2009. For a full-time worker, this adds up to $13,920 a year. This is more than $1,000 below the federal poverty level for a one-person household.
Hamby argued that keeping the federal rate while the cost of living rises is a “mismatch of values.”
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 30 states and the District of Columbia have adopted a minimum wage higher than the federal rate. Hamby said Oklahoma is an “outlier” when it comes to maintaining the federal minimum wage, and that fears of a minimum wage hike negatively impacting the cost of living are a “false flag.”
Hamby used the state of Arkansas, which borders Oklahoma, as an example of a state that has raised its minimum wage and not experienced significant inflation because of it.
“There is not a significant difference in the cost of living between Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Hamby said.
Arkansas raised its minimum wage to $11 an hour in 2021. According to a 2023 report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, residents of both states spend about $44,000 a year.
According to a University of California, Berkeley study, a 10% increase in the minimum wage between 2001 and 2012 led to a 0.36% rise in grocery costs. A 2025 Oklahoma Watch report on the effect a minimum wage increase could have on housing cited a Federal Reserve study that found a wage increase could lead landlords to raise rent prices.
SQ 832 includes a sliding scale for raising the minimum wage. Originally, the increase would start at $9 in 2025 and reach $15 an hour by 2029. Hamby said this was done to give Oklahoma business owners time to adjust to paying higher wages. However, delays in placing the state question on the ballot mean the minimum wage would first increase to $12 an hour if it passes.
SQ 832 would also make tipped workers such as servers eligible for the base minimum wage, instead of the current tipped wage of $2.13 an hour.
“Everybody who is working a job deserves pay that aligns with dignity,” Hamby said. “Paying somebody $2.13 an hour, that’s pretty low, and I don’t think that reflects the dignity we would want someone to have in that position.”
The National Restaurant Association, a trade association representing more than 300,000 restaurants in the United States, opposed the federal Raise the Wage Act during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a “Policy Brief,” the NRA claimed that hiking the minimum wage would harm small businesses.
Oklahoma voters will decide on SQ 832 on June 16. The voter registration deadline for that election is May 22, and the absentee ballot deadline is June 1.
