The District of Columbia has one of the highest minimum wages in the country — $17.50 per hour as of July 2024, indexed to rise each year. This calculator applies that rate (or any wage you enter), splits your hours into regular and overtime, and projects your weekly, monthly, and annual gross earnings.
How it works
Pay is computed from your hourly wage and weekly hours:
- Regular hours are capped at 40 per week and paid at your base rate.
- Overtime hours are any hours above 40, paid at 1.5× your base rate under the federal FLSA, which DC follows.
- Weekly gross is regular pay plus overtime pay; annual gross is weekly × 52, and monthly gross is weekly × 52 ÷ 12.
The formula is weekly = min(hours, 40) × wage + max(0, hours − 40) × wage × 1.5.
Tips and example
At the DC minimum of $17.50/hr working 45 hours, you earn 40 × $17.50 = $700 regular plus 5 × $26.25 = $131.25 overtime, for $831.25 weekly — about $43,225 per year. Dropping to a flat 40-hour week without overtime gives $700 weekly, roughly $36,400 annually.
This shows gross pay only — income tax, Social Security, and Medicare are withheld separately. DC’s tipped cash minimum is lower ($10.00/hr as of July 2024), but employers must top up tipped workers to the full minimum if tips fall short. Always confirm the current DC minimum wage, which is updated every July 1.
DC minimum wage in depth
How DC sets its minimum wage
DC law indexes the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Each year by September 30, the DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) announces the following July 1 minimum wage based on the prior year’s CPI change. This automatic inflation-linking means the DC minimum wage tends to rise most years without requiring new legislation. Workers and employers should check the DOES announcement each fall to know the following year’s rate before it takes effect.
Tipped workers and Initiative 82
DC restaurants and hospitality employers have historically paid tipped workers a cash minimum below the standard minimum wage, relying on customer tips to make up the difference — a model called a tip credit. Voter-approved Initiative 82, passed in November 2022, phases out the tip credit entirely, requiring tipped workers’ cash wage to rise toward the full minimum wage in annual steps through 2027. After full implementation, tipped workers in DC will receive the full minimum wage from their employer regardless of tips, making DC one of a small number of US jurisdictions without a separate tipped minimum. The $10.00/hr cash rate noted above is part of this transition schedule.
Overtime and the 40-hour threshold
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires time-and-a-half (1.5×) for any non-exempt employee who works more than 40 hours in a workweek — and DC follows this rule. Importantly, the 40-hour threshold applies to a single workweek, not bi-weekly or monthly. An employer cannot average hours across two weeks to avoid the overtime requirement; if an employee works 45 hours in one week and 35 the next, the 5 extra hours in week one are overtime even though the two-week total is 80 hours.
Who is exempt from DC overtime rules
Not all workers are entitled to FLSA overtime. Common exemptions include salaried “white-collar” employees (executive, administrative, and professional roles) paid above the federal salary threshold, outside sales employees, and certain computer professionals. DC also has its own Minimum Wage Act that may differ from FLSA on some classifications. If you are classified as exempt by your employer, the overtime calculation in this tool does not apply to you.
Annual earnings and planning
Knowing your annual gross earnings — before tax — is useful for negotiating salary offers (is a proposed annual salary better or worse than your current hourly rate?), budgeting, assessing benefit eligibility, and understanding your gross income for loan and rental applications, which often ask for annual pre-tax income rather than net pay.