For Immediate Release: November 5, 2026
Contact: Lisa Thomas, 347-415-6431, lisa@alignny.org
New Polling: 60% in NYS and 75% in NYC Support
a $30 Minimum Wage Amid Wage Freeze
Raise Up NY Coalition Calls for Urgent Action to Remove Legal Off-ramps
Blocking a Cost-of-Living Raise in 2027
Albany, NY — New data from the 2026 Cornell ILR Empire State Poll has revealed that 6 in 10 New Yorkers and 3 in 4 New York City residents support a minimum wage of at least $30. Currently, New York’s minimum wage is frozen at $17 downstate and $16 upstate while the statewide living wage — what one must earn to cover basic necessities like rent, food, and utilities — is already nearly $30.
Among 2,628 respondents with a margin of error of ±2.6 points, the poll results show that:
60% of New York State residents support a $30 minimum wage as well as
75% of New York City residents
88% of Bronx residents
89% of Black New Yorkers and 81% of Latino/a New Yorkers statewide
“This polling makes two things abundantly clear: New Yorkers need a raise and a $30 minimum wage is popular policy,” said Theodore A. Moore, ALIGN Executive Director and a leader in the Raise Up NY coalition.
In October, Governor Hochul announced that the minimum wage would not go up on January 1, 2027 as expected. A provision in the state law blocks annual cost-of-living raises in years of increased unemployment or job loss; for 2027, it has been triggered. The Raise Up NY coalition has called for the removal of all off-ramps that freeze raises to provide immediate relief for working New Yorkers while highlighting the need for wage parity upstate, $30 by 2030 in New York City, and living wages across the state.
“The poll’s question about a $30 wage floor draws on the MIT Living Wage Calculator’s current estimate for a statewide living wage for New York,” said Russell Weaver, Director of Research at the Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab. “For a single adult with no children, the MIT Calculator puts that number at $29.89 an hour statewide. Across NYC, it runs from $29.01 in the Bronx to $38.21 in Manhattan, meaning that the best a minimum wage job could do in the City is cover under 70% of a single adult’s basic needs budget.”
“New Yorkers have made their voices heard at the ballot box. Now, our leaders must deliver on the promise of more money in our pockets, and we can start by strengthening our minimum wage law to ensure hardworking New Yorkers are never denied a raise again,” said Moore.
Raise Up NY is a coalition of labor unions, community groups, workers’ rights organizations, and businesses that support underpaid workers in the fight for fair wages and an economy that works for everyone. In 2023, the coalition fought to pass the Raise the Wage Act for a higher state minimum wage with annual cost-of-living increases, winning a partial victory when Governor Hochul adopted a minimum wage that reached $17 downstate and $16 upstate in 2026. But these raises are far from enough, and the fight for a living wage continues. The coalition is supporting local fights to raise the minimum wage in Tompkins County and Rochester, and now, we’re taking the fight to New York City. Once a leader in wages, the most expensive city in the nation is now far behind high-cost-of-living cities like Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. We need to tackle our affordability crisis head-on by raising NYC’s minimum wage to $30 by 2030. Coordinated by ALIGN, Raise Up NY includes steering committee members Strong Economy For All Coalition, Amazon Labor Union, New York Communities for Change, Women Creating Change, Legal Momentum, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, Make the Road New York, National Employment Law Project, Worker Justice Center of New York, Tompkins County Workers Center, Teamsters 804, and Workers Justice Project, among others.
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