Quick Answer: Brooklyn, as one of the five boroughs of New York City, follows the NYC minimum wage of $17.00 per hour in 2026, effective January 1. This is the same rate that applies to Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. There is no separate Brooklyn-specific minimum wage — all five boroughs follow the same NYC rate.
- Brooklyn minimum wage: $17.00/hr (NYC rate)
- Annual salary at 40 hrs/wk: $35,360
- Tipped food service cash wage: $11.35/hr
- Living wage for Kings County (single adult): ~$27.00/hr
- Next increase: indexed to inflation starting 2027
Brooklyn New York minimum wage is the same as the rest of New York City — $17.00 per hour. Brooklyn (Kings County) is one of the five boroughs and follows the NYC metro rate under New York's two-tier minimum wage system. There is no separate Brooklyn rate, and the city does not allow boroughs to set their own minimum wages.
What Is the Minimum Wage in Brooklyn in 2026?
$17.00 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. This applies to all private-sector employees working in Brooklyn, regardless of employer size. The rate is the final step of a three-year phase-in that began in 2024 and is the same rate that applies to all five boroughs and the surrounding downstate counties (Long Island and Westchester).
Brooklyn follows the NYC metro rate under New York's Minimum Wage Act. The five boroughs — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — all follow the same $17.00/hr rate, along with Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.
Brooklyn Paycheck Example: What $17.00/hr Actually Pays
Because the Brooklyn New York minimum wage is a flat hourly figure, it's straightforward to work out what a full-time schedule actually generates before taxes. A standard 40-hour week at $17.00/hr comes out as follows:
- Weekly (40 hrs): $680.00
- Biweekly (80 hrs): $1,360.00
- Semi-monthly (~86.67 hrs): $1,473.33
- Monthly (~173.33 hrs): $2,946.67
- Annual (2,080 hrs): $35,360.00
That $35,360 annual figure is gross pay only — before federal, state, and New York City income tax withholding, plus FICA. As noted below, take-home pay after taxes on a full-time minimum-wage salary in Brooklyn runs closer to $27,600 a year, which is why the gap against the borough's living wage matters so much for household budgeting.
Overtime works the same way it does anywhere else covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York labor law: hours worked beyond 40 in a single week must be paid at time-and-a-half. At the $17.00/hr base rate, that puts the Brooklyn overtime rate at $25.50/hr. Employers cannot average hours across two weeks to avoid paying overtime — each workweek is calculated on its own.
Brooklyn Minimum Wage vs. Cost of Living
According to MIT's Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for a single adult with no children in Kings County (Brooklyn) is approximately $27.00 per hour — exactly $10 above the $17.00/hr minimum wage. This is one of the largest gaps between the minimum wage and the living wage of any US city.
Brooklyn's cost of living has risen dramatically over the past two decades, driven by housing costs. The median rent in Brooklyn is among the highest in the country, and a full-time minimum wage worker earning $35,360 per year ($27,600 after taxes) would need to spend well over 50% of their take-home pay on rent for a median one-bedroom apartment.
Brooklyn Tipped Minimum Wage
The Brooklyn New York minimum wage works a little differently for tipped roles. Food service workers in Brooklyn who regularly receive tips may be paid a direct cash wage of $11.35 per hour, with employers claiming a tip credit of up to $5.65 per hour toward the $17.00 full minimum wage. This is the same tipped wage that applies to all five boroughs. Other tipped employees in Brooklyn — such as nail salon workers and car wash attendants — are not eligible for the tip credit and must be paid the full $17.00/hr in cash.
The tip credit only works if the math actually clears $17.00/hr once tips are counted. Take a server who works a 30-hour week: at the $11.35/hr cash wage, the employer pays $340.50 in direct wages. For the tip credit to be valid, that server needs to collect at least $169.50 in tips over the week — the $5.65/hr credit multiplied by 30 hours — to reach the full $510.00 minimum ($17.00 × 30 hours). If tips fall short of that threshold in any given week, the employer is legally required to make up the difference in cash. Tip pooling among eligible front-of-house staff is allowed under New York law, but employers cannot include back-of-house staff like cooks or dishwashers in a tip pool that offsets the credit.
Brooklyn vs. Upstate New York: The $1.00 Gap
New York runs a two-tier minimum wage system, and the difference matters if you're comparing pay across the state. Brooklyn and the rest of New York City, along with Long Island and Westchester County, are on the $17.00/hr downstate rate. The remainder of the state — everywhere outside that downstate zone — is on a lower $16.00/hr rate, with a tipped cash wage of $10.65/hr and a $5.35/hr tip credit.
That's a $1.00/hr gap between Brooklyn and upstate New York, which adds up to roughly $2,080 more per year for a full-time Brooklyn worker compared to an identical job upstate. The gap exists because New York indexes its downstate metro counties to the higher regional cost of living rather than applying one statewide number, the same approach several other states with expensive metro areas — like California's local city ordinances or Washington's Seattle rate — use in a different form.
Exempt Salary Threshold: Who Qualifies for Overtime in Brooklyn
The minimum wage figures above apply to hourly, non-exempt workers. Salaried employees are treated differently, and New York sets its own bar for who counts as exempt from overtime — separate from, and higher than, the federal standard.
In Brooklyn and the rest of downstate New York, a salaried employee must earn at least $1,200 per week — $62,400 per year — to be classified as exempt from overtime under New York law. That's well above the federal Fair Labor Standards Act threshold of $684 per week ($35,568 per year). Because New York's threshold is more protective, it's the one that applies: a Brooklyn employer can't rely on the lower federal number to classify a salaried worker earning, say, $45,000 a year as exempt. Anyone paid below $62,400 annually and performing primarily non-exempt duties is generally entitled to overtime pay regardless of salary structure.
What Do Brooklyn Workers Actually Earn?
Despite the legal minimum of $17.00/hr, market wages in Brooklyn are generally higher due to the competitive NYC labor market. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the median hourly wage in the New York City metro area is well above $25/hr. However, workers in small, independent businesses — particularly in the restaurant, retail, and domestic service sectors — are the most likely to be paid at or near the minimum wage.
Brooklyn's economy is diverse, with major sectors including healthcare, education, technology, creative industries, and hospitality. The borough has seen significant job growth in tech and creative fields, but these jobs typically pay well above the minimum wage. The minimum wage is most relevant to workers in food service, retail, and personal care services.
