Missouris higher minimum wage starts New Years Day despite legal challenges [Video]

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KCTV) – A new minimum wage starts Wednesday in Missouri. Now, qualified employees will make $13.75 an hour, but this new wage is facing a legal challenge from some business groups.

Effective New Year’s Day, Missouri’s new minimum wage is $13.75 cents per hour.

In 2026, it will rise to $15 an hour, and then raise each year based on the Consumer Price Index. Voters approved this change when they passed Proposition A in November.

Kara Corches with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is concerned the raised minimum wage will lead to increased prices.

“This would put Missouri as having the ninth highest minimum wage in the country,” Corches said. “We are not the ninth highest cost of living state. So we think that you’re actually going to be paying New York and California wages in Missouri.”

The Chamber filed a lawsuit in the Missouri Supreme Court to strike down Prop A. The Chamber was joined by the …