OKPOLICY.ORG
At a recent League of Women Voters of Oklahoma forum, I spoke in support of State Question 832, which would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and make sure it keeps up with rising costs. Opponents kept pointing to California as a cautionary tale. But if we’re looking for comparisons, there’s a more honest place to start: Oklahoma itself.
Oklahoma is the outlier in this conversation. While most states have increased their minimum wage, we remain frozen in time. We are one of just a handful of states still paying the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour — unchanged since 2009, even as the cost of living has risen more than 50%.
This column originally appeared in The Journal Record on April 22, 2026.
Most states bordering Oklahoma have raised their wage floor: Arkansas at $12, Missouri at $15, New Mexico at $12, and Colorado over $15. Oklahoma isn’t a model other states are avoiding — it’s a cautionary tale they’ve already left behind.
In CNBC’s ranking of the best states for business, 11 of the top 15 states had minimum wages higher than ours. Oklahoma ranked 37th overall, landing in the bottom 10 for workforce, education, technology, and quality of life.
Low wages aren’t helping us win — they’re holding us back.
Another common claim is that raising wages would hurt small businesses. But higher wages help businesses fill jobs and keep workers longer. When pay is too low, businesses face constant turnover, hiring and training the same roles over and over. That cycle is expensive.
Better pay breaks that cycle. Workers stay longer. Businesses save money. Customers get better service.
And customers matter. Low-wage workers tend to spend what they earn close to home. When wages go up, that money flows back into the community providing stability for local businesses.
Decades of research show modest minimum wage increases do not lead to widespread job loss — businesses adjust through small price changes, better productivity, and lower turnover, not layoffs.
Meanwhile, the cost of doing nothing is clear. One in 5 Oklahoma children lives in poverty. Many full-time workers still struggle to make ends meet. A minimum wage worker would need to work nearly 90 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment.
That’s not a strong economy. That’s a system that isn’t working.
Voters on June 16 have the chance to act and show that we appreciate hardworking Oklahomans. By voting yes on SQ 832, we can turn fair wages into reality.
