Minimum wage workers will get a pay raise in 2018

With the new year, a new hourly wage will be coming for Washington state’s minimum wage earners.

Starting Jan. 1, the minimum wage statewide will go to $11.50 an hour from $11 an hour. The increase is the result of a statewide ballot issue voters approved in 2016.

For full-time minimum wage workers, that means roughly another $1,000 in their pockets by the end of the year.

Voters in several cities also approved minimum wage hikes. All will be higher than the state minimum.

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Here are the changes to the local minimum wage rate:

Tacoma: The current $11.15-an-hour rate will go to $12 an hour. The increase will apply to anyone working within the city limits, regardless of where the company is located.

SeaTac: This year's minimum wage of $15.34 an hour will rise 30 cents, to $15.64 an hour.

Seattle: The minimum wage is complicated in the Emerald City.

Employers with 501 or more workers this year paid $13.50 an hour with medical benefits or $15 an hour without. Those employers will pay $15 an hour with benefits or $15.45 an hour without in 2018.

Seattle businesses with fewer workers now pay $11 an hour with benefits or $13 an hour without. Starting in January, workers will earn $11.50 an hour with medical benefits or $14 an hour without.

KIRO