Oregonians making minimum wage will get a 50-cent bump per hour beginning Wednesday, resulting in an average of $573 more per year for someone working full time.
In the Portland metro, the floor for hourly wages will rise to $16.80. In 15 counties and parts of three counties in the Willamette Valley, Northwest Coast and southern Oregon, the minimum wage rises to $15.55 per hour, and in 18 mostly rural eastern Oregon counties, the minimum hourly wage will be $14.55. The rural wage is always $1 less than the standard wage, and the Portland minimum wage is always $1.25 more due to the higher cost of living.
A 2016 Oregon law requires the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to adjust statewide minimum wages annually for inflation. The bureau announced the 50-cent per hour increase in April, which reflects a 3.3% rate of inflation for the cost of food, energy, essential goods, housing and medical services between March 2025 and March 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…