Tipped Minimum Wage in Takoma Park (2026)
Takoma Park is famous for its own progressive laws, but for restaurant pay the decisive document comes from Rockville — the Montgomery County minimum wage schedule. Inside the city, tipped staff are owed at least $4.00 an hour in cash with tips climbing to a county tier that reaches $18.00 as of July 1, 2026. The city's own $18.55 living wage, often confused with a minimum wage, covers only city contractors. Here is the full stack and the weekly math.
By the TippedPay editorial team · Updated $1
Key numbers at a glance
| Rule | Federal | Maryland (2026) | Takoma Park via Montgomery County (July 1, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full minimum wage | $7.25 | $15.00 | $18.00 (51+), $16.50 (11–50), $15.95 (≤10) |
| Tipped cash wage | $2.13 | $3.63 | $4.00 |
| Tip credit | Up to $5.12/hour | Up to $11.37/hour | Up to $14.00/hour at the large tier |
| Top-up rule | Weekly make-up pay | Weekly make-up + Tip Credit Wage Statement | Weekly make-up + Tip Credit Wage Statement |
How Takoma Park tipped pay works
Takoma Park does not maintain a separate private-employer minimum wage, so the Montgomery County minimum wage law governs its restaurants. The county tiers by employer size and adjusts each July 1 with the regional CPI-W: from July 1, 2026, it is $18.00 an hour at employers with 51 or more employees, $16.50 at 11 to 50, and $15.95 at 10 or fewer — per the county Office of Human Rights, which the Maryland Department of Labor mirrors on its wage law page. A year earlier those tiers stood at $17.65, $16.00 and $15.50.
Tipped workers get a county cash floor of $4.00 an hour, with tips making up the difference to the applicable tier, and a weekly make-up rule if they don't. Maryland adds paperwork: any restaurant using the tip credit must give each tipped worker a Tip Credit Wage Statement every pay period, showing the effective hourly rate with tips included. The state floor for tipped cash is $3.63, so the county's $4.00 governs in Takoma Park — and the target tips must reach is the county tier, not the state's $15.00. The full state-level mechanics are on our Maryland tipped minimum wage page, and the county-wide detail is on our Montgomery County page.
Worked example, mid-size employer, 30-hour week: the floor is 30 × $16.50, or $495.00, of which at least 30 × $4.00, or $120.00, must arrive as cash wages. Tips owe the remaining $375.00. Keep $400 in tips and the week pays $520.00 — an effective $17.33 an hour. Keep $300 and the total is $420.00, which is $75.00 short, and the employer owes $75.00 in make-up pay on the check. At the large tier the same week floors at $540.00. The server paycheck calculator runs any tier against your real schedule.
Takoma Park vs. Maryland and the federal floor
| Rule | Federal | Maryland (2026) | Takoma Park via Montgomery County (July 1, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full minimum wage | $7.25 | $15.00 | $18.00 (51+), $16.50 (11–50), $15.95 (≤10) |
| Tipped cash wage | $2.13 | $3.63 | $4.00 |
| Tip credit | Up to $5.12/hour | Up to $11.37/hour | Up to $14.00/hour at the large tier |
| Top-up rule | Weekly make-up pay | Weekly make-up + Tip Credit Wage Statement | Weekly make-up + Tip Credit Wage Statement |
| Overtime basis | 1.5× after 40 hrs/week | 1.5× after 40 hrs/week | 1.5× after 40; OT cash roughly $12.25 at the mid tier, plus tips |
| Adjustment schedule | None (unchanged since 2009) | Flat in statute | Every July 1, indexed to CPI-W |
The county numbers tower over the federal row: a Takoma Park server's cash floor of $4.00 nearly doubles the $2.13 federal cash wage, and the target tips must reach — up to $18.00 — is two and a half times the $7.25 federal minimum, per the U.S. Department of Labor's tipped minimum wage table for the baseline and the county's official notice for the local tiers. One wrinkle is genuinely local: a small slice of Takoma Park sits in Prince George's County, where the county minimum is $15.30 as of July 1, 2026 per the Maryland Department of Labor — if your workplace is on that side of the line, verify which county law its payroll uses.
What Takoma Park servers should watch
The living-wage confusion. Takoma Park's most-quoted wage number — $18.55 an hour for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, on the city's Bids and Contracts page — is a living wage for city contractors, not a minimum wage for restaurants. It does not raise a server's pay by a cent. The numbers that matter are the county tiers above.
Which tier, and the July 1 reset. Head count sets the tier — $18.00 at 51-plus employees, $16.50 at 11 to 50, $15.95 at 10 or fewer — and every tier moved on July 1, 2026 with CPI-W. Payroll systems that miss the mid-year reset short every hour after it; compare your stubs to the county notice each summer, and raise the mismatch with the county Office of Human Rights if it persists.
The weekly make-up and its paperwork. The test is the workweek, not the shift: cash plus tips must average at least the tier minimum, or the employer owes the difference. The Tip Credit Wage Statement you should receive every pay period is the receipt for that test — it shows your effective hourly rate with tips. Overtime past 40 hours runs on the full minimum, about $12.25 an hour in cash at the mid tier plus tips; the overtime calculator prices it.
The county line. Wage-wise, Takoma Park is a Montgomery County city with a Prince George's County shadow — the PG rate is $15.30 with a $3.63 tipped floor from July 1, 2026, both below the county numbers that otherwise govern. Ten minutes down University Boulevard, Hyattsville runs on the PG schedule entirely. Our city minimum wage tracker keeps the whole region sorted.
FAQ
What is the tipped minimum wage in Takoma Park in 2026?
$4.00 an hour in cash wages plus tips up to the Montgomery County tiers that apply in the city: $18.00 for employers with 51 or more employees, $16.50 for 11 to 50, and $15.95 for 10 or fewer, as of July 1, 2026.
Does Takoma Park's living wage apply to restaurant servers?
No. The city's living wage — $18.55 an hour for the fiscal year running July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, per the city's Bids and Contracts page — covers only contractors doing work for the City of Takoma Park, not private restaurants.
How much is a server guaranteed in Takoma Park each week?
Hours times the applicable county tier before tips. At the mid-size tier, a 30-hour week floors at 30 × $16.50, or $495.00, of which at least $120.00 must be cash wages, with tips owing the rest or the employer topping up.
What happens if tips don't reach the minimum in Takoma Park?
The employer must make up the difference for that workweek, and Maryland requires a Tip Credit Wage Statement every pay period showing the effective hourly rate including tips for anyone paid under the tip credit.
How does overtime work for tipped employees in Takoma Park?
Time-and-a-half the regular rate after 40 hours in a week. With tips satisfying the tip credit, the overtime cash rate works out to roughly the $4.00 cash wage plus half the applicable county minimum — about $12.25 an hour at the mid-size tier — plus tips.
Is Takoma Park's tipped wage higher than Maryland's?
Yes. The $4.00 county cash floor beats the state's $3.63, and the county full minimums of $15.95 to $18.00 all exceed the state's $15.00, so a Takoma Park server's tips must reach a higher target before the tip credit is satisfied.