Your Local Factfinder

The current minimum wage is $7.25. 

The United States Department of Labor administers laws that affect the minimum wage. To find the minimum wage specific to your state, click here.

Minimum-wage workers today need to put in an obscene number of hours to live above the poverty line. For example, to live at the poverty level ($20,050.00) a family of four would need to work 58-hour work weeks, 52 weeks a year.

For information compiled by The Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding the Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, click here. In the pdf that opens, Table 1 (on page 3) gives the characteristics for the nation, while Table 3 (on page 5) has has the information organized by state.

For the current national unemployment rate, click here. You will find the rate at the top of the right-hand column.

For your state's current unemployment rate, click here. The states and their rates are listed in the right-hand column.

For unemployment rates in large metropolitan areas (with a 2000 population of 1 million or more), click here.

Below is a chart with some interesting concepts. Do the math for the nation and your state to see how the two compare for people with minimum-wage jobs.