What is the minimum wage in Nevada in 2026?

Nevada’s minimum wage is $12.00 per hour for all employees. The rate is written into the state constitution — Article 15, Section 16 — and has applied to every employee since July 1, 2024, regardless of whether the employer offers health benefits. The Labor Commissioner’s most recent annual bulletin, effective July 1, 2025, confirms the rate remains $12.00. Unlike most states, Nevada allows no tip credit: tips can never be counted toward the minimum wage.

Where does the $12.00 rate come from?

Two sources of law set Nevada’s minimum wage, and the constitution controls. Article 15, Section 16 of the Nevada Constitution provides that, beginning July 1, 2024, “each employer shall pay a wage to each employee of not less than twelve dollars ($12) per hour worked.” The statutory schedule in NRS 608.250 — enacted by Assembly Bill 456 in 2019 — raised the wage in 75-cent annual steps between 2019 and 2024 and topped out the same summer.

The constitutional provision includes two built-in escalators, but no automatic annual adjustment:

• If the federal minimum wage ever exceeds $12.00 per hour, Nevada employers must pay the federal rate.
• The Legislature may establish a higher minimum wage by law; the constitution sets a floor, not a ceiling.

Because neither trigger has been pulled, the rate has stayed at $12.00 since July 1, 2024. The Labor Commissioner posts an annual bulletin each year announcing the applicable rate; the 2025 bulletin, posted June 23, 2025, lists $12.00 effective July 1, 2025, and the office’s FAQ — last revised April 2026 — continues to state the $12.00 figure. The current constitutional text contains no cost-of-living escalator, so the rate changes only if Congress raises the federal minimum above $12.00 or the Nevada Legislature acts.

Didn’t Nevada have two minimum wages?

It did — for almost two decades. A 2006 constitutional amendment created a two-tier system: employers that offered qualifying health benefits (defined in NRS 608.258) could pay one dollar per hour less than employers that did not. Under AB 456’s final step, the tiers would have been $11.00 and $12.00 as of July 1, 2024.

Voters ended the split. Ballot Question 2, approved at the 2022 general election, amended Article 15, Section 16 to eliminate the health-benefits tier entirely. As of July 1, 2024, the single $12.00 rate applies to all employees “regardless of offered employer health benefits,” as the Labor Commissioner’s bulletins put it. Whether an employer offers insurance no longer has any effect on the wage floor.

How has the rate changed over time?

The schedule below combines the statutory steps in NRS 608.250 with the constitutional amendment that ended the two-tier system:

Do tipped employees have a lower minimum wage?

No. Nevada is one of the minority of states with no tip credit of any kind. The rule appears twice:

• Article 15, Section 16(4) of the Nevada Constitution states that tips or gratuities “shall not be credited as being any part of or offset against the wage rates” the section requires.
• NRS 608.160 makes it unlawful for any person to take all or part of the tips bestowed on employees, or to apply tips “as a credit toward the payment of the statutory minimum hourly wage.”

A server, bartender or valet in Nevada is therefore entitled to the full $12.00 per hour from the employer, with tips on top. Tip pooling is a separate question: NRS 608.160 lets employees agree among themselves to divide tips, and the Labor Commissioner’s FAQ explains that under the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision in Wynn Las Vegas, LLC v. Baldonado (2013), employers may also establish mandatory tip pools — including across employees of different ranks — so long as all the tips are distributed to employees and the employer keeps no portion.

Is the minimum wage different in Las Vegas or Reno?

No. The minimum wage is set by the state constitution and applies statewide — the Labor Commissioner’s bulletin describes it as applying “to all employees in the State of Nevada unless otherwise exempted.” No Nevada city or county sets its own separate minimum wage, so the rate is the same in Las Vegas, Henderson, Reno, and every rural county.

Which workers are covered — and which are not?

Coverage is broad: the constitution defines “employer” to include any individual or entity that may employ individuals, with no small-business exception. The exclusions are narrow:

• Under-18 casual and trainee work. The constitutional definition of “employee” excludes a person under 18 employed by a nonprofit organization for after-school or summer employment, or employed as a trainee for a period not longer than 90 days.
• Independent contractors. NRS 608.255 provides that the relationship between a principal and an independent contractor is not an employment relationship for minimum wage purposes, along with participants in certain certified jobs-and-day-training programs for people with disabilities.
• Collective bargaining waiver. The constitution’s provisions may be waived only in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, and only if the waiver is set out in clear and unambiguous terms.

A 2023 amendment to NRS 608.250, effective January 1, 2028, will also expressly extend the pay-less prohibition to employers holding federal special certificates under 29 U.S.C. § 214(c) — the certificates that historically allowed subminimum wages for certain workers with disabilities.

The minimum wage also feeds directly into Nevada’s overtime law: NRS 608.018 gives daily overtime only to employees earning less than 1.5 times the minimum rate — currently $18.00 per hour — as explained in how overtime works in Nevada.

What can happen when an employer pays less than $12.00?

Paying below the minimum wage is unlawful under both NRS 608.250 and the constitution, and the law provides several consequences:

• Wage claims. The Labor Commissioner administers and enforces the minimum wage statutes; its office publishes claim forms an employee may file to assert unpaid wages, and it can investigate and order payment.
• Civil actions. Article 15, Section 16(7) entitles an employee claiming a violation to bring an action in state court, with remedies “including but not limited to back pay, damages, reinstatement or injunctive relief,” plus reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for a prevailing employee.
• Retaliation is separately barred. Section 16(6) prohibits an employer from discharging, cutting the pay of, or otherwise discriminating against any employee for using civil remedies or asserting rights under the section.

Minimum-wage rules interact with the rest of Nevada’s paycheck rules — when wages must be paid, and what happens at the end of a job — covered in the guide to Nevada labor laws and the page on final paychecks.