The minimum wage for Topeka and the state of Kansas is $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal minimum wage. Some state legislators have proposed measures to raise the state minimum wage incrementally during the next three to five years.
Kansas had the
lowest minimum wage in the country for years, according to Minimum-Wage.org. It increased the minimum wage from $2.65 to $7.25 in 2010. Tipped employees, student workers and some other exempt occupations are excluded from minimum wage requirements.
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A living wage for Topeka and Shawnee County is estimated at $9.48 an hour for one adult,
according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An adult with one child would need $20.72 an hour to meet living wage standards. An adult with two children would require $25.14 an hour for a living wage.
The poverty wage is $5 an hour for one adult and $7 an hour for an adult with one child, according to the MIT report.
In 2015, House Democrats proposed a minimum wage increase, pointing out that full-time workers making the state’s minimum wage would earn about $15,000 a year, just above the federal
poverty level for a family of two, according to The Wichita Eagle.
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A living wage for a full-time worker in Topeka is about $19,700 a year, according to the MIT analysis. Food preparation and serving related jobs bring about an $18,390 for an average annual salary. Average workers in personal care and services earn about $20,510 a year while workers in the grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations have an average annual salary of $22,260.
Proposals to raise the minimum wage include a measure by Democratic state legislators to increase the minimum wage to $11.32
during a five-year period, according to KWCH-TV. Another proposal from House Democrat Jim Ward would raise it gradually to $10.25 in three years.
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