Maryland’s Push for a $25 Minimum Wage Would Be Disastrous if it Happens

Activists with One Fair Wage are gathering signatures for a 2026 ballot measure that would set Maryland’s minimum wage at $25 an hour, eliminating exceptions for tipped workers and making the state the highest in the nation.

The group insists “$25 isn’t radical! It’s survival.”

Maryland already pays $15 an hour statewide, higher than the federal $7.25 and neighboring Virginia’s upcoming $12.77. Places like Washington, D.C., reach $17.95, but no state comes close to $25, which would mean over $52,000 annually for full-time work.

Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, calls the idea extreme.

“I think it’s insane. Maryland’s already trying to compete, especially with Virginia nearby, and you were losing businesses, especially the small businesses, which are disproportionately affected by high minimum wages, and to do this is just gonna exacerbate the problems that we’re having with the budget, of course, and of having good jobs for people.”

She warns that good intentions often backfire. Greszler points out that entry-level jobs help people start careers.

“You need these starting wages to be able to step onto the ladder and then be able to climb it. If that first step is $25 an hour or $52,000 a year, a lot of people would just never be able to step onto it.”

Teen employment has already fallen sharply, and this could make it worse.

“Half of people who earn it are under age 24. It’s primarily teenagers. And more than half of the people who are earning the minimum wage are just working part-time.”

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce agrees, saying the state’s economy struggles to keep jobs as it is.

“But Maryland’s economy is already struggling to create and keep jobs, and raising the minimum wage to $25 would make it even harder.”

Greszler doubts voters would approve such a leap.

“I think it’s such a big jump. I could see them going for a smaller one.”

She adds there’s “no way that that’s gonna be sustainable,” even while acknowledging rising living costs.

Similar efforts for drastic hikes have surfaced elsewhere, like in D.C. and parts of California, but Maryland’s proposal stands out for its statewide scope. Small businesses, the backbone of local economies, bear the brunt of these mandates, often leading to fewer hires, cut hours, or closures. Real job growth comes from opportunity, not government fiat that prices beginners out of the market.