Shining a light on the U.S. workers paid the least

Millions of workers are held back from achieving the American Dream because they are paid low hourly wages. This reality threatens their ability to support themselves and their families. Low pay is a widespread problem, resulting from outdated minimum wages that don’t keep up with cost of living and a weakening of workers’ bargaining power suppressing wage growth.

The Low Wage Workforce Tracker shows the current and historical number of workers paid low wages in the U.S. economy, by different wage thresholds and demographic groups. Understanding the scope of low pay in this country is a critical step in fixing the problem and ultimately creating a more equitable economy.

• By category
• Historical trends
• State data

For more information about this important topic, check out the Impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2023 fact sheet and State of Working America Wages 2022 report.