✨💸 What SHOULD Minimum Wage Be In Your State? 💰✨

✨ Let’s talk real life for a second… what’s the minimum wage where YOU live? Here in North Carolina, the standard minimum wage is still $7.25/hour, and it’s been that way for over a decade and a half. 😩 When you really think about it, that’s barely enough to cover the basics, let alone live comfortably. Between rent, groceries, gas, and utilities, that kind of pay just doesn’t stretch the way it used to, especially for folks in bigger cities like Raleigh or Charlotte, where the cost of living keeps climbing every single year.

It’s honestly wild that in 2025, so many people are still working  multiple full-time jobs and STILL can’t make ends meet. There have been multiple bills introduced to raise the minimum wage here, but none of them have been passed yet. It feels like people are being asked to do more and more for less and less, and that’s just not sustainable.

💬 I really want to start a conversation about this! What’s the minimum wage where you live? Do you think it’s actually enough to survive on? And if not, what do you think it should be to reflect the cost of living today?

🚨 DISCLAIMER: Everyone’s situation is different, but one thing feels universal, the cost of living keeps rising, and wages haven’t kept up. It’s time we talk about what a real living wage should look like in today’s economy, not what it looked like 16 years ago.

💭 So, drop your thoughts below ⬇️ Let’s compare experiences and talk about what real change should look like.

#shifts #lemon8challenge #careeradvice #salarytransparency #CareerTips

2025/12/20 Edited to

70 comments

✨Shawntay 🌟's images
✨Shawntay 🌟

17.95

Lilly B's images
Lilly B

I think it’s $16.25 or $16.50 where I live but $7.25 is abusive no matter where you live.

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