Ontario Minimum Wage: Current Rates

This note carries the current Ontario minimum-wage dollar figures. The minimum-wage rule itself — how the obligation works, the separate rates for some groups, and the three-hour rule — is covered in Minimum Wage and the Three-Hour Rule. This page exists only to hold the stamped rates, which change on a schedule and must be confirmed live.

The pattern that doesn’t change. The general minimum wage is adjusted every October 1, indexed to the Ontario Consumer Price Index. Provincial law requires the government to publish the confirmed new rates by April 1 of the same year, so you get roughly a six-month runway before the October 1 effective date. That cadence — reset every October 1, announced by April 1, CPI-indexed — is durable. The actual dollar figures are not, which is the whole reason for this note: treat every number below as a snapshot, not the live rate.

As of October 1, 2025 (ontario.ca):

• General: $17.60/hour
• Student under 18 (working 28 or fewer hours per week while school is in session, or during a school holiday): $16.60/hour
• Homeworker: $19.35/hour
• Hunting, fishing, and wilderness guides: $88.05 for working under five hours in a day; $176.15 for working five hours or more in a day

Effective October 1, 2026. The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development announced the next reset on April 1, 2026, tied to a 1.9% Ontario CPI increase:

• General: $17.95/hour
• Student under 18: $16.90/hour
• Homeworker: $19.70/hour
• Hunting, fishing, and wilderness guides: $89.75 for under five hours in a day; $179.50 for five hours or more in a day

Where employers trip up is freezing these numbers into a payroll template and forgetting they expire. The October 1, 2025 figures stop being current on October 1, 2026, and the October 1, 2026 figures stop being current on October 1, 2027. Each new rate is set off the prior year’s general rate, so an out-of-date starting number quietly compounds. The fix is the same every year: when you update payroll for October 1, confirm the figure you are typing in against the live ontario.ca minimum-wage page, and check the April 1 announcement for the rate that takes effect that fall. Your pay records have to reflect the rate that actually applied during each pay period — see Employment Records You Must Keep.

This is general information, not legal advice. The rates above are stamped to a date and will go stale; confirm the current minimum wage on the ontario.ca “Your guide to the Employment Standards Act — Minimum wage” page before you rely on it, and get advice on your own situation.